African project
Project Kagiso
often seem far removed from the
finished product, usually hypothetical
in university, are great sharpening tools
for emerging designers.
Inevitably, working next to a nursery
meant a lot of cute pictures of kids were
taken, all of whom would fight to be in
front of the lens and be overcome with
excitement when seeing their photo.
We, as the second phase, inherited a site
behind schedule due to unforeseeable
setbacks (we had to get used to ‘TIA’,
or “This is Africa”, as a valid reason for
delays). A lot of hard work was required
with early starts, late nights, sweat,
sunscreen and unspeakable portaloo
conditions.
Two years prior to Kagiso, in 2013, I
was involved as a student in a similar
project called Aga Sikolo. I was on
the first phase of construction and
therefore never managed to see the
finished building in person. Fortunately,
the Kagiso site was only 40 minutes
from the Aga Sikolo site, which is in a
small village called Calais. This meant
that I was able to travel back and see
the school. I can safely say that seeing
the finished project filled with happy, adorable children was one of the most rewarding
and humbling things I have seen in my short architectural career.
In the year following Aga Sikolo, the SA3 building, a subsequent project, allowed the
nursery to expand its intake for the coming year and finished off a three year process of
Nottingham University’s involvement in creating the Calais campus.
On the penultimate day of construction, with so much still to finish off, we worked
into the dark using car headlights to illuminate the site in a desperate bid to finish the
project… The last day was manic. It was a frantic bid to get the project finished and in
a useable state to hand over as a functioning school. We worked into the evening with
growing numbers of the community turning out to help and see the conclusion. Everyone
worked incredibly hard and all credit is due to the second year students who made this a
reality.
With the last full day on site being so busy, a small party of us went back the following
morning before departing to Johannesburg to see the finished buildings in daylight.
Gumpole columns were used to support a timber truss and perlin roof structure upon
which the corrugated roof sat. This sailed above the curving brickwork to allow for cross
africandesignmagazine.com
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