ukuqala1
Ukuqala means „beginning“ in Xhosa, one of the 11 official languages in South Africa.
The beginning was made with the diploma thesis of Leslie Koch and Ulrike Perlmann at the Institute of public building and design at the University of Stuttgart, Prof. Arno Lederer in 2010. The pilot project started with a guideline of sustainable building and the introducing of practical building as part of theoretical studies. Since then over 70 students have been in South Africa to build for the Non-governmental- organisation Thembalitsha in Grabouw, a neighboring township of Cape Town. Thembalitsha ist an individual south african nonprofit organisation that helps children, who are both directly and indirectly affected by HIV.
The organisationʻs „Village of Hope“ takes in Aids orphans and HIV-infected children, where they are given the most important gift: Hope. Hope of a untroubled childhood and the longest life possible.
In the last couple of years the institute at the University, together with the students has developed a masterplan for the Village of Hope and built step by step three houses for the volunteers and children in need.
The construction of the houses was a joint effort between the students from University of Stuttgart and local inhabitants of Grabouw. The local south africans were hired and paid with donated funds. The young Stuttgarters, on the other hand, worked without reciprocation.
In preperation, the residences were planned meticulously and constantly rethought. Careful consideration for humans and the surrounding environment was always taken in the planning process. Use of sustainable building materials was a main focus. Here is where tradition meets innovation; reliable and traditional building materials, as well as familiar round forms from South Africa are found throughout the building. Through quality labor from the students, the traditional aspects have been presented in a new light. The building should not be seen as randomly placed, but help and even inspire local inhabitants from Grabouw to discover new building elements and techniques that could eventually be used in building their own homes.
Images and Plans
Technical Description
The houses were build with local materials, which were bought max. 20km from site. The timber structure is made from local pine wood. The "pine trees" are carrying the load.
In between, the walls are made with "lightclay", a mixture of straw, clay and water. All walls are stamped and roughly 28cm thick and a very good insulataion in hot summers and cold winters. Some of the windows are made of old recycled used washingmachine doors. A sponsored sailing tarp was used for building furniture. Instead of buying steel window bars, the students developed a safe alternative by using a very strong and local timber: black whattle.