BASEhabitat ITHUBA Primary School, Masterplan and IPHIKO classrooms, Southafrica by BASEhabitat

BASEhabitat ITHUBA Primary School Masterplan and IPHIKO classrooms Southafrica

... because we didn’t know that true form is inseparable from essence, and that it was childish to try to separate them. Joseph Roth

BASEhabitat ITHUBA Primary School Masterplan and IPHIKO classrooms Southafrica

Kunstuniversität Linz University of Art and Design Linz die architektur

BASEhabitat ITHUBA Primary School Masterplan and IPHIKO classrooms Southafrica

Kunstuniversität Linz University of Art and Design Linz die architektur

BASEhabitat Network Map

South Africa

current project enquiries realised projects participating students research

BASEhabitat Network Map

South Africa

current project enquiries realised projects participating students research

Preface

ITHUBA Johannesburg

South Africa 2015

Geographic location

Masterplan Primary school as a village

Preparation Workshop October 2009

Design and implementation Planning and construction of the ﬁrst classrooms IPHIKO

Stakeholders

Team Masterplan and Classroom IPHIKO 1

Team Classroom IPHIKO 2

Masterplan Continuation

Imprint

Preface

ITHUBA Johannesburg

South Africa 2015

Geographic location

Masterplan Primary school as a village

Preparation Workshop October 2009

Design and implementation Planning and construction of the ﬁrst classrooms IPHIKO

Stakeholders

Team Masterplan and Classroom IPHIKO 1

Team Classroom IPHIKO 2

Masterplan Continuation

Imprint

BASEhabitat has been cooperating with various NGOs since 2004 to realise construction projects. In recent years numerous pieces of remarkable research and project work have emerged from the students enthusiasm and engagement. Nowadays we can build houses where the indoor climate can be controlled without using any external power, houses that use the local resources instead of destroying them, houses that improve the environment and provide people with new challenges and employment. This can be done without restrictions, sacriﬁces, or additional responsibility. It just needs more intelligence, teamwork, passion, joy and beauty. In these matter there is no diﬀerence between the “rich North” and the “poor South” of the world. BASEhabitat is a testing place for this.

ITHUBA Johannesburg

The Magagula Heights township is around 30 km south of Johannesburg. With an estimated 50,000 inhabitants it is one of the smallest and poorest townships in the metropolis of Johannesburg. The S2arch NGO has been building the ITHUBA Skills College since 2008. It is situated fifteen minutes walk from the settlement. The aim of this initiative is to provide the young people in the townships with a good education and to provide a path out of the vicious circle of poverty and violence. This education project was extended by also setting up a primary school for 6 to 14 year olds. The Department of Architecture at the University of Art and Design Linz worked on the “ITHUBA Primary School” master plan together with BASEhabitat. The master plan has eight classrooms and administrative buildings. Together they also implemented the first two classes, IPHIKO. Over the following years, international architecture schools designed and built further buildings based on the ITHUBA Primary School master plan. The school grounds are home to a colourful collection of different types of architecture.

ITHUBA Johannesburg

South Africa 2015

Capital • Pretoria Border Countries • Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe Population • 54.0 million Age structure • < 15 years 28.4 % • 15–64 years 66.1 % • > 64 years 5.5 % Population growth rate • 1.33 % Population density • 42/km2 Oﬃcial languages • IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, Afrikaans, English, Sepedi, Setswana, Sesotho, Xitsonga, siSwati, Tshivenda, isiNdebele Literacy • 94.3 % (age 15 and over) HDI Human Development Index • 0.666, rank 116 Median age • 26.5 years (vs. Austria 43.2 years) Average life expectancy at birth • 62.34 years • male 60.83 years • female 63.87 years

South Africa 2015

Existing Buildings and Surroundings of ITHUBA Skills College

The Magagula Heights township is close to the Katlehong and Vosloorus townships and is around 30 km south of Johannesburg. It is one of the smallest and poorest townships in the metropolis of Johannesburg. Since 2008 the S2arch NGO has been building the ITHUBA Skills College, which is situated around ﬁfteen minutes walk away from the settlement. The neighbouring dairy provided the site on which the school and outbuildings for Ithuba Community College were built. Ithuba is the Zulu word for “opportunities”. The students of this secondary school are taught classic subjects such as English, mathematics and science. Technically able students are also given the opportunity to learn practical skills such as bricklaying, carpentry and electrical installation. The aim of this initiative is to provide the young people in the townships with a good education and to provide a path out of the vicious circle of poverty and violence. 350 children are currently taught and trained at the college. The Skills College has several single storey buildings, including classrooms, several workshops and accommodation.

Existing Buildings and Surroundings of ITHUBA Skills College

All the buildings were first designed by European architecture schools and then implemented locally together with local trades people. The TU Graz started with one of the first classrooms and a workshop in 2008, and the Salzburg|Kuchl University of Applied Sciences built an admin building for the teachers. Other universities such as RWTH Aachen University, FH Dessau, the University of Ljubljana, the TUM (TU München) and the Vienna University of Technology have since continued to drive the development of the college with their own projects. The aim of the project is applied research in the area of sustainable, cost-efficient construction in developing countries. The learning process should unfold on both sides: with the European students and with the local people.

ITHUBA Primary School A primary school for 6–13 year olds was to be planned and built. At the time there were up to 90 students in each class in the state school. The new primary school was not only planned to complete the educational offering in the Skills College but also to take the pressure off of the neighbouring state school. S2arch commissioned BASEhabitat with the development of a master plan for this in 2009. The Ithuba Primary School master plan and design for IPHIKO, the first two classrooms from the master plan, were developed by ten students at the University of Art and Design Linz as part of a semester project. During this process, the students alternately worked on the design in pairs and then developed the designs further in the larger group. Several master plans were created during the first phase; each using different pedagogical concepts in their architecture. The students decided to develop the robust master plan that Urs Kaps and Hannes Derntl created. In the end designs for the first two classes were created based on this. The IPHIKO design by Corinna König and Patricia Porsch was developed further. The final details and plans were developed by the whole design team, making the project as ready as possible to implement on the ground.

Masterplan Primary school as a village

The site for the master plan is south of the large football ﬁeld that is situated a little away from the existing Ithuba Skills College. An access road connects the whole school area with the existing Ithuba Skills College and the existing housing, and it ends between the football pitch and the site of the new primary school. Public and administrative functions ﬂank the street that the schoolchildren will use to access the new site with eight classroom units. The heart of the master plan forms a large shared courtyard. The higher grades (5–8) are located here. To reduce the scale for the younger children, a smaller, quieter courtyard is accessible from the large schoolyard. The four classes for the younger children are placed here (grades 1–4). To promote a good relationship between the older and younger children, each of the school classes should pair up with one of the higher grades, for example, 1st grade +3rd grade or 2nd grade +4th grade. Each pair will share a sheltered outside space and a garden. This is in line with the “guardian angel principle” educational concept. The aim of the master plan was to achieve a kind of organism with an urban quality comprising high-quality outdoor areas, classrooms and adjoining rooms arranged according to their orientation regarding solar optimisation. A school built like a village: with a main square, side streets and paths; with public and private outdoor spaces that are sunny and also protected from the rain.

Masterplan Primary school as a village

Hall

Administration

A B C D 3+4

Site plan public school ITHUBA skills college soccer ground ITHUBA primary school construction ﬁelds class units realised by the University of Art and Design Linz, Austria administration buildings and hall extension ﬁelds

7 8 0

Hall

Administration

A B C D 3+4

7 8 0

administration

teachers art workshop

hall

gym

small court main court

wood workshop

workshop court

administration

teachers art workshop

hall

gym

small court main court

wood workshop

workshop court

Preparation Workshop October 2009

Together with Elias Rubin and using experience gained from previous projects, a construction method was developed that was not only to be used for the IPHIKO build but was also supposed to show the local people how to build cheaply with local, natural materials. In preparation for the start of the project and in parallel to the design work, Elias Rubin ran a workshop on straw-loam. The architecture students first experimented with a mixture of straw and loam as a building material in the auditorium at the University of Art and Design Linz. They tested different samples for pressure, effects of moisture and workability. The idea was to get a feel for the materials that were to be used in advance and for this knowledge to be considered in the ongoing process.

Preparation Workshop October 2009

Design and implementation Planning and construction of the ﬁrst classrooms IPHIKO

IPHIKO means “wing” and is the ﬁrst implementation of two classrooms from the ITHUBA Primary School master plan. The design comprised two primary classes, a kitchen, a workshop, toilets, and a sheltered garden courtyard for the younger school children. The classrooms designed in the master plan, were based on educational reform principles. It provides areas for small groups to retreat and quiet zones for reading and doing handicrafts, as well as space for conventional lessons. Particular value was placed on the reference to outdoor areas as well as on space to learn and play in covered areas. The main aim was to create a building suitable for the climate with a comfortable indoor climate that doesn’t need heating or air conditioning. When building in the Southern Hemisphere, the main direction of the buildings is to the north (17°NNE). Situated at a sea level of 1,800 m, the nights there are cold in summer and freezing in winter. The building’s openings and roof react to the path of the sun to optimise the temperature and light situation in the classroom. To form an introverted classroom, the windows to the north are higher set to provide for daylight and heating in winter. Conversely, the windows to the south reach up to the roof and are open to the garden. As winter still oﬀers nine hours of sunshine, we tried to get the most out of the sun’s energy.

Design and implementation Planning and construction of the ﬁrst classrooms IPHIKO

The construction is quite simple. Slim reinforced concrete supports provide a structural scaffold that is filled with a lightly compacted mixture of straw and loam. The straw-loam mixture is tamped between the shuttering walls, compressed, and plastered when dry. This yields 30 cm deep outside walls that are well insulated. Solar heat also provides a comfortable indoor climate in winter without requiring conventional heating. A significant advantage of using straw-loam in the construction is that they are widely available around Johannesburg and that they can be recycled without using any extra energy. The dimensions of the load-bearing elements such as foundations, supports and beams are optimised to reduce primary energy needs and to keep costs to a minimum for both financial reasons and reasons of sustainability. Due to negative experience with both the quality and sourcing of wood in South Africa, the roof of the IPHIKO classroom pair was supported using a material-saving iron framework. The framework beams that the students welded on site allow the roofs to overhang, protect the cob parts of the building from rain, and make the facility seem light and airy.

2 5

3 4

1 2 3 4 5 6

IPHIKO ﬁrst and second building unit class room (ﬁrst building unit) kitchen workshop toilets class room (second building unit) sheltered open space

2 5

3 4

1 2 3 4 5 6

IPHIKO ﬁrst and second building unit class room (ﬁrst building unit) kitchen workshop toilets class room (second building unit) sheltered open space

The slim steel construction separates the roof covering from the thermal surface. The roof’s rear ventilation and the wide and subtle roof overhang provide eﬃcient protection from overheating in the summer. In winter, the large windows collect solar heat the design thereby makes sure that the sun can get into the windows of the classrooms. The classroom roofs were also insulated to minimise temperature highs.

6 cm 5 cm 89 cm 2 cm 10 cm 2 cm 100 cm 2 cm 103 cm 25 cm 10 cm 15 cm

Space creating structure corrugated iron iron rafter iron framework beam bituminised clipboard c-steal-proﬁle|insulation shutterboard window window sill straw-loam|plaster (inside and outside) reinforced concrete base reinforced concrete slab reinforced concrete foundation

6 cm 5 cm 89 cm 7 cm 35 cm 230 cm 25 cm 10 cm 15 cm

Load-bearing structure corrugated iron iron rafter iron framework beam c-steal-proﬁle steal angle reinforced concrete supports (ﬁxed to the base) reinforced concrete base reinforced concrete slab reinforced concrete foundation

29° 80°

48°

6 cm 5 cm 89 cm 2 cm 10 cm 2 cm 100 cm 2 cm 103 cm 25 cm 10 cm 15 cm

6 cm 5 cm 89 cm 7 cm 35 cm 230 cm 25 cm 10 cm 15 cm

29° 80°

48°

Comfort and beauty The clay plastering and the sloping ceiling in the classrooms provide a high quality of sound. The clay walls and plastering also regulate the humidity in the classroom. Cross ventilation is possible. Using clay for walls and for plastering allowed the people in the area see the material in a new light. The common prejudice that it is a material used exclusively by the poor was forgotten as soon as the walls had been plastered; they looked both stable and beautiful. The further development of the use of clay, the reduction of expensive, non-renewable materials and the high integration of the local community, led to widespread identiﬁcation with the building and an awareness of this new kind of construction was created and is being reproduced in the village.

South Africa is one of the main exporters of iron beams and proﬁles; straw and loam are readily available in the local area. This construction method can be easily transferred to smaller buildings and housing. During the implementation it wasn’t just the knowledge and skills that the students and Elias Rubin brought to the table that counted, but above all the team spirit and motivation. Realising a construction project autonomously and as part of university studies is a formative experience that often makes the impossible possible.

Three months were spent on the implementation of the second unit. During this time the ﬁrst building was also plastered and furniture for the whole IPHIKO project was made. The building team was diverse: next to architecture students, there was an expert in brickwork, a locksmith, a carpenter and a bookkeeper. The project managers were committed to involving the local workers as much as possible and passing on and exchanging know-how from the diﬀerent areas.

Construction was completed in two phases. Elias Rubin and architecture students from the University of Art and Design Linz led the construction site for the first classroom in spring 2010 together with local workers. The implementation took ten intense weeks. In summer 2010, the second class was realised based on the initiative led by the students Corinna König and Patricia Porsch, who took on both the project and construction management for the project. Before the construction of the second classroom started in the middle of July 2010, the experience that was gained from the first project was worked into the design. Instead of additional rooms, a large differentiated, covered outside area was created. The window details were also re-planned to befit the material used in the walls. 36

Stakeholders

S2arch – Social Sustainable Architecture is a non-profit organisation founded by Christoph Chorherr. The organisation has been creating education and care institutions in South Africa for many years, including running two schools. The buildings were planned and built in cooperation with different schools of architecture. The TEBOGO and BAYA projects resulted from previous cooperation projects between S2arch and BASEhabitat. Elias Rubin has been studying architecture at Vienna University of Technology and at the University of Art and Design Linz since 2002. Since 2005 he has been progressively more involved in planning and realising social projects using ecological construction methods. He worked in an advisory role during all phases of the ITHUBA master plan and the IPHIKO classes. He led the first construction phase at Magagula Heights. Working under the name “buildCOLLECTIVE” together with Marlene Wagner, he has been a constant partner of S2arch throughout the local implementation and placement of construction projects.

Stakeholders

Corinna König studied architecture at the University of Art and Design Linz and at the ENSAG Grenoble, France. In addition to her involvement in IPHIKO, she was also involved in other BASEhabitat projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Peru and India. While she was studying she gained experience in various architecture oﬃces such as Schneider|Lengauer and Luger|Maul Architekten. Her love of crafts, foreign cultures and languages are reﬂected in her résumé. She has been working as a university assistant for BASEhabitat and the Department of Architecture at the University of Art and Design Linz since 2014.

Patricia Porsch studied architecture the University of Art and Design Linz. She had her son, Julian, while she was studying and he accompanied her to South Africa to work on the IPHIKO project together with Florian Zöchbauer (who is now her husband). She has been working at Moser and Hager Architects in Linz since 2014. Other important stakeholders for the design and implementation process for the ﬁrst classroom unit were: Clemens Quirin, studio manager of BASEhabitat; Richard Steger, supervising tutor for the design team; and of course the design team themselves and the implementation team on the ground. In addition to BASEhabitat’s support, the following experts also played an important role in realising the second classroom: Elisabeth Erber, Roland König, Florian Zöchbauer and Jürgen Sedlmayr.

ITHUBA primary school masterplan

IPHIKO classroom 1

Concept and design Jürgen Almhofer-Amerig, Janina Biskamp, Johannes Derntl, Rafael Hintersteiner, Urs Kaps, Corinna König, Katharina Peball, Gerald Pilz, Patricia Porsch, Johannes Wolfsteiner Planning phase 10|2009–02|2010 Design supervision Roland Gnaiger, Richard Steger Design consulting Barbara Bacher (landscape design), Oskar Pankratz (building physics), Elias Rubin Project coordination Clemens Quirin Cooperation with S2arch – social sustainable architecture, Austria Financial support Land Oberösterreich, S2arch – social sustainable architecture, Weissenseer – Building Intelligent Skins, Ulrich Bauträger GmbH, Durst Bau Construction management Elias Rubin Local team Goodman, Innocent, Pet, Thamsanqa, Thabo, Themba Participants Hind Ahmed, Carolina Aguayo Arellano, Janina Biskamp, Johannes Derntl, Katharina Doblinger, Ann-Kathrin Freude, Felix Ganzer, Julius Jell, Urs Kaps, Corinna König, Viktoria Lehner, Silvia Mair, Belinda Meinhart, Gerald Pilz, Patricia Porsch, Philipp Scheihing, Katrin Spindler, Sebastian Vilanek Realisation on site 02–03|2010 Thanks to our cooks Prudence and Jane!

IPHIKO classroom 1

IPHIKO classroom 2

Concept and design Corinna König, Patricia Porsch Planning phase 05–07|2010 Design supervision Roland Gnaiger Cooperation with S2arch – social sustainable architecture, Austria Financial support S2arch – social sustainable architecture, Hasberger Seitz & Partner Rechtsanwälte GmbH, Hagebau Schubert Melk, Ardex Loosdorf, Stift Melk, Familie Zöchbauer Realisation on site 08–11|2010 Construction management Corinna König, Patricia Porsch Construction support Elias Rubin, Roland König (masonry), Florian Zöchbauer (metalwork), Jürgen Sedlmayr (carpentry) Organisational support Elisabeth Erber Local team Bongane, Emanuel, Ernest, Goodman, Innocent, Lucky, Nathi, Pet, Raymond, Sanele, S’celo, Siﬁso N., Siﬁso, Talent, Thabo, Thamsanqa, Themba, Tsepo, Tumelo, Vincent, Qwest Participants Jan Rieß, Aeneas Bernhardt, Alexander Naumer, Irene Sedlmayer Thanks to Marlene Wagner, Natalie Moyschewitz, Marlies Hierzer, University of Ljubljana, Phumlani and to our cooks Prudence and Jane!

IPHIKO classroom 2

Masterplan Continuation

The expansion plan needed to ensure certain town planning qualities but at the same time had to remain as open and ﬂexible as possible so that the individual building stages could develop and to allow for individual implementations. Since IPHIKO was ﬁnished, buildCOLLECTIVE and additional universities worked on the completion of the primary school together with students and graduate of the Ithuba Skills College and students from HTL Mödling. All the building structures are in line with the basic ideas from the master plan, which again highlights the strength of the original master plan. 2011 2 classes: FH Kärnten (Carinthia University of Applied Science) Hall: University of Ljubljana Playground in the central courtyard: buildCOLLECTIVE and Bank Austria employees 2012 2 classes: buildCOLLECTIVE and former students of the Ithuba Skills College 2014 1 class: buildCOLLECTIVE and students from HTL Mödling 2015 Completion: buildCOLLECTIVE and former students from Ithuba Skills College In parallel to the work on the ITHUBA Primary School, an additional school was built on the West Coast, south of Durban in 2010.

Masterplan Continuation

Imprint

Copyright © 2016 · Published by BASEhabitat All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise. BASEhabitat · University of Art and Design Linz Kunstuniversität Linz die architektur · Hauptplatz 8, 4020 Linz, Austria · Phone +43.732.78 98 293 · Mobile +43.676.847 898 293 · basehabitat@ufg.at · www.basehabitat.org

Editing · Corinna König Text · Clemens Quirin · Corinna König · Cornelia Bräuer Copy editing · Cornelia Bräuer · Claudia Mazanek Translation · Gearóid O’Callaghan · Amy O’Callaghan Photos · Katharina Doblinger · Corinna König · Leon Krige · Patricia Porsch · Katharina Peball · Matthias Forcher-Mayr · Sebastian Vilanek · Marlene Wagner Drawings · Students

Graphic design · Clemens Schedler, Büro für konkrete Gestaltung Typeface · Questa Sans designed by Jos Buivenga & Martin Majoor Pre-press Production · Boris Bonev Paper · Lenzing Impact 250 g · Lenzing Impact 100 g Printing · Thurnher Druckerei 1st edition · 500 copies, June 2016 ISBN · 978-3-901112-80-5 Price of sale · 6.– EUR

Imprint

BASEhabitat University of Art and Design Linz Kunstuniversität Linz die architektur Hauptplatz 8, 4020 Linz, Austria Phone +43.732.78 98 293 Mobile +43.676.847 898 293 basehabitat@ufg.at www.basehabitat.org

BASEhabitat is a project studio within the Department of Architecture at the University of Art and Design Linz. Professor Roland Gnaiger founded BASEhabitat together with students in 2004. It has since implemented numerous projects in the ﬁeld of humanitarian architecture worldwide. Approaches based around suﬃciency and the maxim of “helping people to help themselves” are based on the following: social and cultural integration, environmentally friendly construction, the use of local resources, and the aesthetic demands of the architectural design as requirements for sustainable and self-determined development. In addition to construction projects on the ground, workshops are regularly held on working with loam and bamboo as construction materials. There is also a summer school that takes place every two years with active, international participation. BASEhabitat has been a member of the UNESCO Chair Earthen Architecture since 2014. To live up to the increasing worldwide interest in BASEhabitat’s work and the need for projects in the area of humanitarian architecture, the University of Art and Design Linz has decided to establish a postgraduate BASEhabitat master’s degree.

ISBN 978-3-901112-80-5