Temporary Silindokulhe Pre-School

africanCities, Architizer, Collectif SAGA, Low Density, Project, Technology and fabrication

Africa, africanCities, Citizen interaction, Cultural diversity, Educational Building, Facilities, Lack of facilities, Low budget, Low-tech building, NGO, On Discourse and Practices, Port Elizabeth, Poverty line, Project, Raw materials, Second life, Sharing knowledge, Social commitment, Social contributor, Social culture, Social infrastructure, South Africa, Structural Plywood

In February, Saga flew to Port Elizabeth, South Africa. There they collaborated with different organizations that already had roots in a local impoverished community, Joe Slovo. These organizations include: Love Story, an NGO that works towards social development in impoverished communities; and Indalo, the brainchild of Alliance Française of Port Elizabeth which aims to use architecture as an agent for social change. The project had already begun and consists of developing four community buildings around an existing nursery school.

Architizer featured project.

Joe Slovo is located on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth and is known as a township: one of a series of informal areas that were developed during Apartheid to host mostly poor black and colored communities. They are not dense areas and have usually developed rapidly with no real planning. Usually the municipality gives a plot to a family for free and they have free range to build what they like, as long as they respect the property limits. Access to water and electricity is limited, which makes the living conditions harsh.