Ubuntu Centre Zwide Community Port Elizabeth

The architects were Field Architecture, John Blair Architects and Ngonyama Okpanum Hewitt-Coleman

The project was commissioned by the Ubuntu Education Fund to provide a centre of operations for its health and educational outreach programmes serving the township of Zwide, a community with up to 80% unemployment and a 30% HIV rate.

CITATION

 The footprint of the building was seemingly generated by the pathways across the site, with the various trapezoidal public and semi-public spaces treated as "incidents” along these circulation routes.

Although the continuous, off-shutter concrete wall-roof structure is said to emulate the supportive notion of "ubuntu”, it has precedence in international "folded” tendencies of recent years. Yet, this bold gesture provides a refreshing take on the more fragmented morphological approach generally encountered in South Africa, succeeding admirably in achieving a distinct civic presence but without being overbearing, monumental, regimented or overly secure.