Liste des projets

Carin Smuts

  • Site : www.csstudio.co.za
  • Adresse : 64 Ocean View Drive, Sea Point 8005 Cape Town
Carin Smuts started working with impoverished marginalized communities of South Africa and Namibia since 1982 when 8 migrant workers from Lingelihle, Cradock, Eastern Cape South Africa approached The University of Cape Town School of Architecture for assistance to obtain land and build a skills training workshop. Carin, a third year architectural student took up the task. This was at the height of Apartheid and many challenges had to be faced. The state of emergency made meetings and planning building projects an illegal activity and yet the planning and building went on. In 1989 with Urs Schmid CS Studio Architects were established. For 30 years the practice has produced hundreds of public buildings in disadvantaged contexts both urban and rural. The main focus is to create better urban space. Most of the black and coloured townships of South Africa consisted only of hostels, housing and informal structures. The public realm and urban spaces was severely lacking. The public spaces were the churches, mosques, temples and some small shops, with most of the beer halls being burnt out or standing empty. The way Carin Smuts works is through participation and collaboration. The process starts as a consultative process involving many stakeholders. Many months go by where a clear understanding of the future users' needs are explored in a number of participatory and capacity building workshops. The process can also include theatre, poetry sessions, counselling etc... whatever the project dictates. Design workshops produce drawings and models and give the future user a chance to give meaningful input. During construction local contractors, sub-contractors and artists are involved on the building site. Many local economic opportunities are created. Locally available materials are used. When there are existing structures material is recycled and re-used. Buildings are simple boxes juxtaposed to create more complex solutions. Outside in-between spaces become as important as the enclosed indoor spaces. The buildings are multi-functional and all share the same characteristics as they are a product of the people who designed them through an interactive process. With extremely limited budgets, CS Studio has created many vibrant urban and public spaces to improve the quality of life for many people.

Guga S'Thebe Arts, Culture and Heritage Village

DATE: 1996-1999

WON GLOBAL AWARD 2008
WON DESIGN AND HEALTH INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY AWARDS IN 2010

BACKGROUND

“Guga S’thebeKudala Usophulela” is a Xhosa idiom praising an aging serving platter for its enduring friendly service. The platter serves everyone welcomed in the house and has served many generations and different types of people from all walks of life, preparing and nourishing them for the future.

The site is located on the corner of Washington and Church street in Langa, the site where thousands of people burnt their passes before marching to town in 1954, sits to the east of the site. The building deals with the significance of the site while clearly being a public building despite its modest size. The aim of the project is to provide a home for arts, culture and heritage for the Western Cape, which is unique and culturally reflective.
DESIGN

This is clearly a post Apartheid building. In the first place it deals with the community’s needs as principle guide to the design, and secondly the response is rooted on the site. The architecture is unique but it is generically closer associated to the fragmentation of a squatter camp than the monotony of the Apartheid Township. The design process took over 18 months to complete. Different schemes with models were investigated, until a final design was agreed on. It was a difficult process as it was initially required by the older generation that a large ‘rondawel’ should be built to reflect the predominant rural and cultural historical background of the residents. On the other hand, the youth aspired to sports cars and mobile phones. The final solution is a contemporary building.

When we observed the aerial photographs, we noticed the distinct paths people used across the site. These were used to generate the main concept of the design. The design therefore consists of various ‘separate’ building components forming a “village”. The building spaces are arranged around these main circulation paths with courtyards forming external rooms nestled in between the internal spaces. This enables a rather small building to become a much larger facility with a number of indoor and outdoor rooms.

The building is only 820 square meters in total but includes four artists’ studios, two of which will be used for performing arts and two for visual arts. The ‘cone’ space is designed to be an events and visual arts multi – purpose space which makes reference to the traditional ‘rondawel’ vernacular. For small intimate performances it is able to host 150 spectators. The outdoor stage and seating is used for bigger performances. The forecourt and ablutions boasts ceramic artwork by local artists and young people who were trained in ceramic work to welcome visitors into the building.

A phase II children's theatre was completed in 2015 to the South of the original building. This project was a collaboration between students of the RWTH Aachen University, Dusseldorf Peter Behrens School of Architecture and Georgia Institute of Technology.

Thousands of tourists from all over the world visit the building on a daily basis. It is also used locally for cultural exchange programmes.

Illustration