Liste des projets

Carin Smuts

  • Site : www.csstudio.co.za
  • Adresse : 64 Ocean View Drive, Sea Point 8005 Cape Town
Carin Smuts started working with impoverished marginalized communities of South Africa and Namibia since 1982 when 8 migrant workers from Lingelihle, Cradock, Eastern Cape South Africa approached The University of Cape Town School of Architecture for assistance to obtain land and build a skills training workshop. Carin, a third year architectural student took up the task. This was at the height of Apartheid and many challenges had to be faced. The state of emergency made meetings and planning building projects an illegal activity and yet the planning and building went on. In 1989 with Urs Schmid CS Studio Architects were established. For 30 years the practice has produced hundreds of public buildings in disadvantaged contexts both urban and rural. The main focus is to create better urban space. Most of the black and coloured townships of South Africa consisted only of hostels, housing and informal structures. The public realm and urban spaces was severely lacking. The public spaces were the churches, mosques, temples and some small shops, with most of the beer halls being burnt out or standing empty. The way Carin Smuts works is through participation and collaboration. The process starts as a consultative process involving many stakeholders. Many months go by where a clear understanding of the future users' needs are explored in a number of participatory and capacity building workshops. The process can also include theatre, poetry sessions, counselling etc... whatever the project dictates. Design workshops produce drawings and models and give the future user a chance to give meaningful input. During construction local contractors, sub-contractors and artists are involved on the building site. Many local economic opportunities are created. Locally available materials are used. When there are existing structures material is recycled and re-used. Buildings are simple boxes juxtaposed to create more complex solutions. Outside in-between spaces become as important as the enclosed indoor spaces. The buildings are multi-functional and all share the same characteristics as they are a product of the people who designed them through an interactive process. With extremely limited budgets, CS Studio has created many vibrant urban and public spaces to improve the quality of life for many people.

Wesbank Primary School

DATE: 2000

BACKGROUND

Wesbank is a RDP housing area that was created in 1995 to alleviate backyard shacks from communities all over Cape Town. It is therefore a totally new community with people from all walks of life. Residents reported constant gang activity while the crime rate statistics was the highest in the Western Cape. It is against this background that a brief was formulated to design a new primary school for 1120 children. In all the public meetings, the safety and security of the children was noted as a priority.

DESIGN

The site is a square peace of reclaimed dune situated along Wesbank road in the centre of the first phase of about 5000 RDP houses. The parking area and main entrance to the school creates an integrated urban space that addresses Wesbank road.

The school has been designed in such a way that it provides public infrastructure as well as a stimulating learning environment through creating a diversity of spaces. The overall concept is inspired by a medieval city with a moat around it to keep the unfavourable elements out. The idea was thus to pull the buildings away from the edges of the site and to create a learning ‘village’. The double storey classrooms accommodate the older learners while the younger children are accommodated in single storey classrooms. These classroom blocks are strung along a wavy walkway to form an inner public play square with the horizontal circulation and structural elements forming playful elements.

The public areas, namely the multi – purpose hall, library, computer centre and feeding kitchen can be totally cut off from the rest of the school if needed. For the design of the school, CS Studio tried to provide at least five different and varied outdoor activity spaces, namely the smaller courtyards, the larger entrance courts, the main central court with the split PT slab, the controlled play area at the north with the basketball and soccer fields and finally the general outdoor space around the buildings.

Irregular walkways become undercover and screened play areas for cold and rainy winter days as well as hot summer days. The walkways also become intermediate spaces, not only to facilitate circulation, but also to enhance the interaction between the students. The classroom blocks ‘clip’ onto the irregular walkways to the outside. This enables outdoor educational courts to be formed that also act as outside ‘playrooms’ during brake times. The ablution blocks are located close to the classrooms and are therefore easily visible and accessible to teachers.
The staircases, which introduce an end to the double storey walkway, widen to the ground to allow them to be utilised as seating elements forming part of the enclosed protected play area. The stairs widen to provide seating for break times.

The school has had a major stabilizing effect on the area and the community leaders further planned a multipurpose centre 1 km away where CS Studio facilitated the process with the community designing it and then constructing it.

Illustration