Design Process

29 September 2014

The windy conditions that introduce our rainfall season had a visible effect on the tent during our site meeting yesterday and made the urgency for a new structure for Rehoboth very clear. We had a chance to present our design proposals to members of the congregation and collect more information from the site and its surrounding context.

After meeting with more lecturers and another site visit, it is clear that one of the bigger design challenges would be for us to negotiate between the community’s visions, the reality of the conditions on the site and the implementation of our experience. Today we returned to our drawing boards where we had to use our judgement in changing the deign proposals according to the input of the congregation members and our lecturers. It also marks the start of our focus on very specific parts of the design that each student will further work on for the rest of the project through the participation of congregation members. These parts or themes include among others a focus on acoustics, lighting, structure, ventilation and thermal performance.

Group models of design proposals

The Brief & site visit

21 September 2014

It started out as a chilly Sunday morning, but as we arrived at the site  immediately warmed up. There we were strolling through the streets, trying to do site analysis and experience the surrounding context; figure out how we were going to address the client's brief... and then the music started. 

[The team on site]

In stead of church bells announcing the service was about to start, you could hear voices from blocks away, their song calling for all and anybody to join.

[music station - where the magic happens]

[Karima & Pieter engaging with community members]

We hurried back and found people praying, singing and dancing inside the tent structure. Welcoming smiles, curious glances and warm embraces from the community greeted us - strangers, who as we later found out during the service, had been foretold in a prophecy to come across their path in their journey to the further establishment of their vision.    

[Youth in front of the kindergarten structure, also where Sunday school is held]

The brief for us as students and designers is as follows: 
In two groups create design proposals to house the client's vision of a new Community centre to accommodate the existing programs of kindergarten, adult literacy classes and the church. as well as allow for growth and should be able to accommodate more people during events like their Gala evenings and the True Love movement for youth development, during which the youth choir and dance group perform. 

[Ali being a true architect;
sketching away]

[George talking to the church representatives]

[Determining wants & needs]

Introduction to the Rehoboth Family

15 September 2014 -
11 Architecture Honors students + a real Client & Community from an informal settlement = the possibility for creative solutions to arise just became a reality.

On this Monday afternoon at about 16h00 we (the students) came together with our Mentors & Nkhensani Masuluke (aka Pastor Wonder). 
Nkhensani told us about the organisation that his family and himself take part in; that of the Rehoboth Family & Community Centre which was established in 1999. 
He told us how since 1999 they had payed off a lot situated in Mamelodi East and were now (2014) the owners of this piece of land.

[The church service]

This however had not stopped them from establishing a community based range of activities, like a church, kindergarten, adult literacy classes as well as youth development programs. They also host annual and monthly events. Their main focus is the uplifting of their community. 

[Pastor Wonder in action]

Their Vision is that of Habakkuk 2:14 - "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." What they try to achieve through this vision is that the spreading of knowledge will inspire growth and uplifting of the community. Touching the lives of one family, will spread and filter into the rest of the community.

[The community]

Nkhensani and his father, (Pastor James) approached the University of Pretoria as to receiving help with the design of the new Community centre they invisioned (finally moving out of the tent). The University referred them to the Department of Architecture (Boukunde) and that's how our group and Rehoboth came to cross paths.