Creche X3

 

The second year design studio at the Nelson Mandela University School of Architecture is currently in the process of designing and building a new 80 SQM crèche in the informal shack settlement of Airport Valley, Gqebera, Port Elizabeth. The design proposes a new building, including two classrooms and a storage area, to replace an existing dilapidated shack which is structurally unsound, has no floor and is unfit for purpose as a place for early childhood development.

 

Students will be responsible for the design and will also construct the building themselves. The project proposes an opportunity for students to engage collaboratively in a professional environment with real construction and materials, an authentic project context and underpinned by a socially sympathetic cause and real world ethical responsibility. It aims to create a situated, critical and inclusive teaching and learning environment while adding value to the greater community.

 

The project is part of a bigger picture which looks to interrogate the design/build project as a medium to offer students a "diverse range of life-changing educational experiences for a better world"; contribute to society, and in our own way (on the ground) contribute towards the university’s current #caseforchange and a more humanizing teaching and learning practice.