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Architects: Collectif saga
- Area: 220 m²
- Year: 2017
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Manufacturers: Aveng Steel, Howeden Donkin Fans, Mpact
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Lead Architects: Collectif saga, Uncedo
Text description provided by the architects. Since 2014, saga has been involved in a community project in Joe Slovo West, an informal area in the suburbs of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The team has been working together with local residents on the implementation of various facilities within the precinct. After a first building in 2015 (community hall), the team went back to Joe Slovo to continue with the second phase of the process.
Joe Slovo West is a fast developing area, constantly renewing itself: it is a permanent construction site; governmental houses being built to replace the existing self built shacks. Some of the residents have been waiting for more than ten years to obtain such a house, the same for every household; basic concrete block shell of 36 square meters. This massive construction programme called RDP is a nation-wide initiative launched in 1994, promoting free housing for the under privileged.
Overcoming the precarious life conditions, some local community members actively engage in various initiatives to improve their area. For nearly ten years, Patricia Piyani, founder of a local preschool and soup kitchen, has been taking care daily of many children from 1 to 6 in her community. Patricia did not have the chance to go to school when young, which led her to dedicate her life to give the opportunity of a proper education to the children of her area. Her initiative slowly grew and the number of children in her preschool is increasing; the need for new facilities arises.
The first step is to interrogate what is there, already, what we can use and transform, with whom we can work and what we need to bring. We have to learn about the environment, make the time available to understand the broader context. All together, a project is born, made from local resources and people, an attempt to provide an appropriate shelter to this generous initiative. The design is negotiated collectively; the use of local refurbished and reclaimed materials is imposed: the process has to be incremental, every step of the design being based on experimentation. Materials and objects collected from all over the city are assembled together, reused, distorted, to create a whole new story, based on a collective effort.
The preschool is a shelter for new experiences for the children, offering large views toward the surroundings, playing with shadows and light, showing the reality of its construction. Raw materials are assembled to form a warm learning environment, offering three large classrooms naturally ventilated, and widely open towards the broader landscape. The canteen space, enclosing the outside playground, offers to the children and community members a shared space, a canvas for new tales, games and other events. Sanitation is provided, using mainly rainwater, and a large office was built for Patricia and the four teachers. The building reflects the story of the preschool, it is singular in its dimensions and aspect, it is man-made; its construction contains a multitude of collective stories, so many beginnings for new opportunities.
