CAT - Child Aid Tubatse

What is happening on site? Week 3 to 4:

2012-02-03T15:18:00.001+02:00

Everyonedropped their plans and moved UP and DOWN like headless chickens as the … BigRoof arrived in 2 trucks on Monday 23/01/2011. The truck drivers only called toannounce their coming when they were already in Steelpoort around 7am (drovelike Michael Schumacher to trace them from Steelpoort).

Cannotrecall the kind of exercise we had as the truck drivers thought they knewbetter on how best to park their trucks- On they carried ignoring ourinstructions and advise (on how best to get to the main gate to offload)

A 'U' turn atour neighbour s site just before our main entrance was attempted (the truck gotstucked - the soil was muddy). The fiasco started- we danced until we dropped.Almost 3 hours trying to move the truck out of the mud (shovels, bricks, logs,concrete, spades, stones) until the front of the truck was dislocated from themain body-

Then wethought we had won the day s challenge when finally the truck moved- (we werefooling ourselves). The truckthat got stuck was the one with the heavy machine that produces steel sheeting.The other one had 2 big rolls of sheet. The real party started (from 5m to 8 mlong sheets were produced and packed aside). It took us until 7pm to geteverything in order

See deliveryinvoices from Annikie when you come on Wednesday.

We areexpecting supporting logs this week and resuming of putting up the roofstructures. We haveconstructed a shack from the old roof sheets, put up a fence and old car tiresfor our new pre- school. (See pictures)

We currentlyhave less than 10 kids and are expecting more beginning of February.

Of courseour computer courses are continuing in the steel container.

We arecontinuing to hold our workshops and some administrative activities under thebig tree- a pity (we are cutting it tomorrow).

Lookingforward to this week s deliveries, meeting you and other daily project chores

Cheers, Nondumiso

nearly all set up for the roofing team next week: floor, footings and also the plastering is getting there !

2011-11-03T18:32:00.005+02:00

and the external floor is being done, so next will be the roof . . .

2011-10-04T20:39:00.000+02:00

new office and kitchen are getting there

2011-09-19T17:22:00.000+02:00

well, we are now really in the final phase for the sandbag structure of the kitchen and the 'new' office space, as the window-frames are in, the DOKA frames less under pressure, the mesh for the plaster is up for the external walls and we are looking at an alternative for the inside, comprising the ceiling.

The foundations for the roof structure are done and all the 'hole' are again closed and the antire area will be compacted - ready for the external floor!

This will be a change in the building, as we have now finished the training phase and the sandbag structures, now we are focussing on the floor and roof-structure to happen, so that we can build under cover from sun and weather conditions.

We had Tolo and Lungelo, the 'Joburg Archivists' on site to do some video footage and interviews with some of the involved people on site.

finalsing the new office unit and the kitchen.

2011-09-09T20:53:00.000+02:00

. . . site visit together with Niels and Susi from Durban, sorting some issues . . .

2011-08-24T12:16:00.000+02:00

progress can be measured in different ways, we are making progress . . .

2011-08-19T12:23:00.000+02:00

. . . collecting the donated plumbing material.

2011-08-05T15:14:00.013+02:00

This is our plumber Bekious from Tubatse, who has arrived at Harscan Distributors in Johannesburg to collect together with our driver the materials for the CAT-community centre in Tubatse, thank you a lot Malcolm Harris, from all the team at Humana, for your donation of these incredible Hep2O plumbing products.

Site Meeting with the team in Tubate.

2011-07-01T11:26:00.000+02:00

all pictures taken by Marlene Wagner

. . . and another Humana work week end!

2011-07-01T11:05:00.000+02:00

. . . seems that all structures are up, now we need to straighten them.

2011-06-06T12:58:00.000+02:00

Humana: full hands on weekend in Tubatse from 28. - 29. May!!

2011-05-30T16:34:00.001+02:00

“On Saturday, May 28, a group of 60 key staff from various Humana People to People projects came together to participate in a building day at the Child Aid Tubatse Community centre.

There were busy activities throughout the day that resulted in the big hall having all its wall frames constructed and placed on the floor. The Doka frames in the new office building were put in their right place.

Bagging of the kitchen and lecture room took place with the walls going up. Doka frames for the two storey building were painted yellow. The septic tank was dug half way down 1.25 metres missing only the same depth to be complete. All rubble was removed to fill into the access road to the Child Aid centre.

It was a good and productive day with time for the Humana People to People staff to be informed on the history of the community centre and the prospects of its use in the future by project leader Nondumiso Khetwa.”

yours

Niels Matthiessen

. . . work, well it is going on, sometimes a bit slow . . .

2011-05-25T11:14:00.002+02:00

and this is a typical site meeting!

2011-05-18T12:05:00.000+02:00

the revised northern edge of the project (plan ground and first floor & elevations)

2011-05-16T12:35:00.000+02:00

. . . with the integration of the DOKA-frames one gets a better idea of the final looks . . .

2011-05-16T12:00:00.001+02:00

. . . and on we go, after security room, the new office, the kitchen, etc. . .

2011-05-11T13:57:00.000+02:00

. . . Vinn and the sand bags have arrived. . .

2011-05-05T15:26:00.000+02:00

Easter and all the other holidays are over now . . .

2011-05-04T10:33:00.001+02:00

What a great moment to be back on the site and see that everything is prepared for the starting of the sand bagging for the various units. The volunteers where on site an waiting, the last uprights for the structural columns where assembled, all the site was perfectly clean, and all the materials for the Sandbag walls where on the site including a visitor from one of the neighbouring houses.
When the Vinn people arrived they started to prepare the documents and are ready to start early in the morning . . . more to be seen on this blog tomorrow!!

. . . and also this week, busy, working on site . . .

2011-04-20T16:06:00.000+02:00

Limpopo from its coldest side, with heavy clouds and the next rain to be coming soon, the site is using this moment to move on with the works, and the last floor slabs are being finished, so by the end of this week all floor slabs are done, and Vinn has no excuses not to start the sandbagging.
Trusses ready to be used, and by then the entire building site (after Easter) will be all cleaned and ready to start the next phase.
Nondumiso and Webster are looking very enthusiastic about the next steps.

. . . besides building and finishing foundations we are still detailing . . .

2011-04-18T15:44:00.001+02:00

. . . the kitchen is one of the elements that is getting special attention at the moment. But also Nondumiso's idea of the Lapa, the outside-kitchen is an option . . .

Progress report for Week 15, day 3 & 4

2011-04-14T16:36:00.000+02:00

Today Thursday the 14 April we could not realise some of our intended tasks and plans since it is raining heavily as I am writing this e-mail. We managed to work until around 12pm and it started raining until now so we could not continue with our work. We have realised the intermediate support wall of the toilette foundations.

Webster

Another week has passed and work is moving on

2011-04-13T11:38:00.003+02:00

The bases of the columns are cemented in, . . .

. . . the hall is ready to get the floor slab . . .

. . . on the realised floor slabs the holes are again closed.

Webster, Philipp and myself are checking on the overlap for the uprights of the column . . .

. . . a minimum needs to be achieved, so in some places we will need to adapt . . .

. . . Philip was to quick in some points.

This is Bekias Molobela, the plumber who is working with us now.

And here besides Philip and Webster you see Lucky Riba, who will be working on the electrical issues of the project.

Cedric's workshop is getting fuller, the DOKA elements are coming . . .

. . . and even all the off-cuts are treated well . . .

. . . not a question of size . . .

. . . Cedric really likes his work, and you can feel his positivity, and let me say, with some pride, that my plans are helping a lot!!

. . . as it proceeds, we keep an eye on the developments!

2011-04-08T10:22:00.002+02:00

The column's reinforcement is now in place.
The DOKA-frames are getting their brise soleil and are now ready for being inserted into the sandbag walls.

. . . and work still continues . . .

2011-04-07T10:35:00.002+02:00

BRS, with Fani, our supplier of the reinforcement for the columns . . .

. . . the suppliers site, BRS!

Fani's guys finishing the structures.

Fani and Webster discussing some details about our engineer, who has been a great font of inspiration.

. . . last wiring . . .

Fani's Veld office . . .

. . . from the inside . . .

. . . the holes are ready to take the columns . . .

. . . more 'excavations' . . .

Dexter, alias Cedrik, in his workshop studying the architectural plans . . .

. . . with the prototype at the back of his workshop . . .

Dexter's pink workshop from the outside . .

Dexter rapping the sliding door frames to the bucky for transport to his workshop space!!

The building site in a rainy Limpopo, with the column bases in front of the bucky and more Doka panels ready to go to Dexter's workshop to continue the carpentry work!!

. . . and we do feel very safe since we have 'cool' security on the site!

“USED CLOTHES - HELP TUBATSE” A CHARITY EVENT IN VIENNA

2011-03-22T12:47:00.008+02:00

(Monday, 21 March 2011) Last weekend HUMANA Austria in cooperation with the South African Embassy and the association “Friends of South Africa – FoSA” was hosted a special event for the benefit of Child Aid Tubatse Project of HUMANA South Africa and “CAT – Child Aid Tubatse Community Centre”, the latter a project initiated by HUMANA Austria and realized in partnership with Prof. Dr. Dustin Tusnovics, architect in Vienna – Johannesburg, with the support of our industry partners as Lenzing AG., Doka, voestalpine ... only to name a few.

It was a great pleasure for us as well as for the guests that His Excellency Mr Xolisa Mabhongo, Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to Vienna and the architect Dr. Dustin Tusnovics – being in Vienna for a short visit and returning to Johannesburg the same day – gave us the honour of their presence.

The result of this eventful afternoon: fresh first-hand-information from the building site in Tubatse, interesting exchanges of experience, app. 200 kg used clothes for the support of the project . . .

. . . marvellous South African food – our special thanks to the friends from FoSA –, good mood and many new friendships for the future.

HUMANA Austria thanks by this the Embassy of South Africa and all the “Friends of South Africa” for their commitment and their active contribution to the great success of this event.

by Kathahrina Feldmann,
MAS – vice-chairperson of HUMANA Austria, Partnership Director

Preparations happen also in Austria . . .

2011-03-10T11:56:00.002+02:00

Site meeting in Tubatse

2011-02-23T09:55:00.000+02:00

The meeting started of with a long discussion of the envisaged structural alterations, explaining what will happen where.

Even though a series of informations are still needed from our engineer Flemming, the exact positioning and the measurement that will help Flemming to conclude his elaborations have been taken.

and the 'new' reinforced columns have been signed on the floor slabs.

Philip Magane is the 'boss' of the contractor doing the work on site. And thanks to his engagement we have been able to meet a series of other professionals and suppliers in and around Tubatse.

Then we verified all our considerations and measurements taken so far, and here it becomes evident how complex the extra reinforcement will actually be.

Big strategic 'off-site' meeting in Johannesburg

2011-02-17T16:34:00.002+02:00

with:
Flemming Gustafsson - engineer sorting out the foundation and the sand-bag buildings,
Niels Matthiessen - head of Humana/South Africa,
Webster Magunje - job captain on site in Tubatse,
Dustin Tusnovics - architect, host of the meeting and the man behind the camera and
Sarah Calburn - my partner in crime!!

. . . and work continous

2011-02-12T11:46:00.001+02:00

and then finishes in a nice game, on the new trampoline.

Work has resumed on the building site

2011-02-11T10:52:00.002+02:00

Today, Thursday the 10th of February 2011 marked the start of our
Construction work with the new contractor (Magane Enterprises).  As we
all know that we met with them last Thursday to agree on the work and
to be done and all the terms of reference, they have now started the
work after receiving the Contract of work with the Job Description,
Specifications and the expectations.

Today (Thursday 10 February 2011) in the morning they started by
digging the foundation in the Main Hall so as to add the third line of
bricks on the Foundation.  That was successfully done and finished.

After digging the foundation we the moved to preparing and pouring
concrete on the foundation for the Library. We managed to reach halfway
and are going to finish tomorrow before lunch. The new team together with
the Volunteers were all in high spirits and that made it all possible to achieve
what we achieved today.

The plan for Friday the 11th of February is to finish pouring the
concrete for the library and possibly start brick-laying on the
foundation for the main Community Hall.

by Webster Magunje (Humana)

January 2011 - after a long summer break, we are all back to the building site - and this is the situation.

2011-02-01T18:07:00.007+02:00

. . . most floor slabs are done, and the sandbags are ready to be set used in the walls . . .

. . . due to the heavy rain, many areas are overgrown with grass, which is been eliminated now . . .

. . . as soon as the weather stabilises, and all the contractors are back on site, work will resume . . .

. . . the foundations for the roof are at present being calculated and will be the next excavations to happen . . .

. . . Nondumiso is busily studying the latest news for the building site . . .

. . . in the meantime a container has been rented to relocate the office for the period of construction . . .

. . . and this is Webster, who is currently supervising the building process and liaison person between all partners involved, not always an easy task . . .

. . . South Africa is a political nation . . .

. . . with the most beautiful landscape, especially at the moment, thanks to the incredible amount of rain that has fallen in Limpopo. Let us get ready for the next steps.

SAP – HUMANA: Computers for “CAT – Child Aid Tubatse Community Centre” in Ribacross

2011-01-17T16:36:00.003+02:00

Press release:

SAP Austria Ltd. handed over 10 computers and equipment to HUMANA People to People Austria in a small ceremony in the SAP training center in Vienna. The devices will compete their journey to South Africa in the coming weeks, where the visitors of the new community center of the HUMANA Children's Aid project in Tubatse, Limpopo Province, will use them for computer training and internet access.

CAT – Community Centre is built this year by HUMANA Austria in close coopration with the named Austrian architect Prof. Dr. Dustin A. Tusnovics and the child-aid project “CAT – Child Aid Tubatse” of HUMANA People to People South Africa. The building-complex is situated in the village Ribacross, about 10 km south of Burgersfort in Greater Tubatse, Limpopo, on the R 37. It will be completed in spring 2011 and will then be open to a 25,000 people from surrounding villages.

At total of 1,000 m2, there will be an assembly hall, two workshop-rooms for jobtraining courses, a new office for the child-aid project, a medical center for the care of HIVpositive people and their families, a "Stopp crime"-center for women and young victims of crime, a school kitchen, a day boarding school and a large library with computers and internet connection.

HUMANA spokeswoman Katharina Feldmann:” The community centre in Tubatse will provide increased oportunities for the child-aid project “CAT-Child Aid Tubatse” to improve the lifes of the people in the region. HUMANA financed the project with the surplus of sale and collection of clothes. However, we are pleased, that we could win several well-known companies - like SAP – to be enthusiastic about this project. The computers we have got now are a great value for our friends in Tubatse. We are very grateful and thank SAP warmly on behalf of children and their families in Tubatse! "

Press release:

SAP – HUMANA:

Computers for “CAT – Child Aid Tubatse Community Centre” in Ribacross

Press release:

SAP – HUMANA:

Computers for “CAT – Child Aid Tubatse Community Centre” in Ribacross

FOSA-Xmas Market in Vienna, 4. December 2010 (click for more)

2011-01-16T17:21:00.001+02:00

Building CAT-Centre Tubatse!

A lot of nice people, a cosy location in the city of Vienna, juwelery and handicraft from Kwa Zulu Natal, books, original victuals like – biltong, honey, Amarula - , a lot of interesting chats and over all the wonderful smell of koeksister, bobotie and bredie – this was this year’s Xmas Market of the Friends of South Africa /FOSA/ in Pointers Vienna last Saturday.

HUMANA Austria was there – informing about “CAT – Child Aid Centre Tubatse”, selling symbolic sandbags to raise funds for the construction of our project.

Highlight was the visit of H. E. Xoslisa Mabhongo, Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa in Vienna, stressing in his speech the importance of the activities of HUMANA Austria – raising funds by clothes collection and sale – for building a common good future together with our friends in Tubatse.

He handed over a pretty full big bag of used clothes to the representative of HUMANA Austria, who in her turn forewarded warm and heartful thanks for the support and the constructive cooperation with the Embassy and the Friends of South Africa, a cooperation, which will be deepened and enlarged in the future.

/Katharina Feldmann, HUMANA Public Affairs/

NEXT STEPS - 2011

2010-12-04T11:52:00.000+02:00

well, at the moment we are preparing for the forthcoming summer and the x-mas holidays that see all South Africa stopping with work from mid December to mid January.
But we will be hastily starting to work on the completion of the floor slabs, so that we can get the sandbag walls up as soon as possible.

We are finalising all the details to be able to realise the big roof structure starting with end January so that we can do all the remaining building work under the shadow giving roof up in Tubatse

. . . . . . . . . .

SO HAVE A HAPPY FESTIVE SEASON FOR NOW AND SEE YOU ALL AGAIN IN 2011!!!

First Sand bag structure - the security room

2010-12-04T11:44:00.000+02:00

Also a first test run with sandbags has been done . . .

. . . and the security room was realised up to approx. 1 meter,

. . . we only had to undo all of the structure again, because the sandbag wall cannot be put under the natural ground level -

learning from mistakes.

Working on the site

2010-12-04T11:14:00.000+02:00

Since August Humana has put Webster, a young man with great experience to the building site, and so finally we are all under control . . . . ,

. . . . as he is checking that the architect takes decisions, Humana gets the money allocated to the project, the volunteers have a clear idea of what they are doing, building materials are on site, machines get hired on time, etc etc etc . . . . ,

. . . so imagine the job Webster has taken over!

but finally the building site has started and the foundations are being done.

so far we have made the foundation and the brick wall that will contain the infill on which the slab will be cast.

Working drawings

2010-12-04T10:33:00.000+02:00

Even if little happened on the building site up in Limpopo, we used the time to further develop a series of elements and details:

We elaborated the sections and ceiling details of all rooms as E-Lite has agreed to sponsor these.

Thanks to the help of Doka we have received all the shutterboard panels needed to do our so called DOKA-frames around the Sliding doors (donated by Primador) but as the maximum length was 250 cm we had to change some of the details and re-elaborated all the relevant plans.

We did the electrical layout for which we are still looking for sponsors.

Engineering challenge

2010-12-04T10:12:00.000+02:00

After three months of real challenges to find an engineer, we where finally ready to start in August with working on the foundations again. In the meantime we had to delay all our work schedule accordingly.
Eugene van der Walt did the geotechnical analysis and the soil test.

We also defined a building company that would work together with the volunteers from Tubatse to realise the foundations that where defined together with Flemming Gustafsson.

In the meantime Oreneille in our practice in Johannesburg re-elaborated all the foundation drawings as to give the construction company T&M Enterprises all the necessary information to proceed.

lecture on March 1st 2010, 18:00, attention new venue!

2010-02-22T16:08:00.000+02:00

"Readymix Architecture" is the term Tusnovics has coined for his extremely rapid construction of community buildings in rural and township areas. This idea runs in counterpoint to the usual "solutions" to "Poverty Relief", as it sets up apolemic which directly engages the contemporary South African "roll-out" of non-urban RDP housing that currently holds us hostage. Tusnovics's are inventive and climatologically sensitive buildings that are consciously “communityforming”.
These projects are not the usual run of the mill NGO fare, but demonstrate a sustainability and design integrity that are able to mount an instant critique of the way most things are "provided" to townships and rural areas.
All these projects directly engage the "public" realm, a realm that is notably unconstructed in most low-cost South African 'urban' developments.

text by Sarah Calburn

workday 4: sand bag workshop starts

2010-02-11T17:12:00.000+02:00

Sand from the foundations is moved to the space of the courtyard, as the entire area was freed of all elements, like the JoJo, the plants,

and Neville, our Vinn partner for the sand bag structure,

together with his partner Carl,

and we took of for the clay testing phase, getting samples,

and trying out what a wall cover could look like,

getting involved in serious discussions on techniques and methods,

on adding materials and consistency as well as finishes,

to apply some samples to see what will happen in the next days,

finding that the elder ladies had some specific experience on the traditional use of clay!

workday 3: getting the bottles for the facade

2010-02-11T16:58:00.000+02:00

whilst the foundation work proceeded,

another group started to collect bottles, to insert into the walls,

various bottle stores where plundered,

and the bottles where brought to the site,

with three cars,

transport was sorted quickly, and we started sorting the bottles, and cleaning them,

the pile grew bigger and bigger,

in the meantime the digging was finished.

workday 2: digging the foundations

2010-02-11T16:34:00.001+02:00

February 5, 2010

the second day was dedicated to the initial digging of foundations, as well as getting all the gardening area re situated as partly covered by the new building,

the happy face of Motebang,

and Jason, who both enjoyed there involvement a lot,

the building site turned into a real one,

as more and more volunteers came on the scene,

the first foundations started to look well done and gave more and more of an idea of the entire project,

Peters was assigned to be the first leader of the building group, that will be getting the training to eventually set up their own business for building,

but also the ladies of Humana where set up for heavy duty building/digging/working,

the harder labour was to be done by men, but in the volunteer group, ladies are welcome,

the emotion was very high as slowly the entire dimension of skills transfer as well as the project dimension become reality,

towards the end of day two,

so relaxing in the shade of a tree was a good idea,

workday 1: Measuring the plot

2010-02-11T15:52:00.000+02:00

February 4, 2010

as we arrived on the building site, Dustin, Jason and Matiban, (two collaborators from Sarah's office in Jo'burg) we started to explain the projekct and the layout as well as the process of working for the next weeks.

day one: putting the plan on the ground!

the situation of the varous spaces and the concept of shading under the FBR,

with professional traduction we managed to explain with Matiban's help to explain everything to the community, that was more then attent to follow every detail,

we then proceeded on the measuring phase, getting each and every corner of the entire building on the plot!!

we had a good reaction from the community as they started to see the actual dimension of the project!

Drawings for the first building workshop starting February 2010 on site

2010-01-22T20:19:00.000+02:00

Site plan and some square meter indications.
(click image to enlarge!!)

Floor plan of the main building and toilette facilities.

East and west elevations.

South and north elevations.

Foundation plan.

DOKA window elements.

Sections.

Pictures of the working-model

2010-01-10T18:33:00.000+02:00

A new lay-out idea

2010-01-06T15:20:00.000+02:00

This new layout envisages a clearer structure of all the building units and maintains the court-yard idea as a central, but enclosed patio like setting.

The existing building is flanked by the security room to the south and the new office block and kitchen are again set on the northern side. the two storey library unit is at the top of the court-yard and the lecture room and the hall form the left side of the patio.
The cantilevered roof generates an ideal shady area all around the units and around the patio, which now also has a covered link at the southern end to give a mayor sense to the court-yard.
This has really become my favourite lay-out as it seems to solve all of the aspects that have been elaborated during the first workshop week in Tubatse.

looking forward in many comments from all of you, and pls start a discussion with all the community and staff members !!

Further aspects on structure and roofing

2010-01-06T15:05:00.001+02:00

The idea of a big roof to cover the entire structure has come up showing that in this way a more feasyble realisation could be envisaged.
The higher volumes, and double-storey building units will pop up above the roof, thus an interesting lightin and ventilation system can be envisaged

section through the hall:

(click to enlarge images !)

the roof structure is basically held up by a series of gum-poles.

the facade of the hall:

detail of the setback/raised roof part permitting ventilation and lighting.

elevation of the office units:

the gum-poles form a series of triangles that create an ideal support for our roof.

3D-sketch of the office roofing structure:

3D-sketch of the structure for the hall:

looks very complicated, and I can tell you, have tried to make it not to difficult, but the structure is very simple an will enable us to build the big roof with no difficulty.

Building concept and some technical aspects and questions

2010-01-04T16:15:00.000+02:00

The concept for the units for the office and lecturing spaces is based on the idea of creating a unity between the structure of the building (three sides sand-bag-walls) and the more open front and the roofing structure. In this way, the trusses that support the actual roof (corrugated iron sheeting) rest on the walls and the cantilevered part is additionally supported by a gum-pole structure. Thus we can generate cross-ventilation within the units by having windows at the lower side and ventilation windows at the higher end of each unit, permitting the hot air to escape at the top, the trusses with a hight of min. 35-40 cm carry the ceiling (insulated and panelled) on the inside of the spaces and above, the roof battens rest on the upper part of the trusses to carry the corrugated. This enables the sun to heat the metal roof that propels the air and pulls it under the roof and above the ceiling with a natural cooling effect.

(click images to enlarge !)

The realisation as mentioned above wants to be very simple but effective to passive heating and cooling for winter and summer. The cantilever of the roof needs to be set to enable this according to the inclination of the sun in summer (87°) and winter (42°).

open questions at this point:

can the eco-beam trusses be used to achieve this cantilever?

how far can you go without additional support (we are envisaging 1,50 - 1,80 m) on the lower side and mabe up to 3,5 m on the higher side to generate the ever pleasant shade on the court yard side of the buildings.

(click images to enlarge !)

The other aspect to investigate is the aspect of availability of materials:

sand we know that we can find;
foundations, with rocks (bricks?) and cement, we can create a good base;
the floor needs to protect from humidity so what ever we use as finish, a damp course will be necessary;
gum-poles will be necessary to a big extent to support the roofing;
material for the front like shutter board (will try DOKA again);
sheeting material, could be metal, but alternatives are welcome;
windows, sliding doors and glasing as well as ventilation slits will have to be bought;

looking forward in having a little discussion on this soon!!

Engagement – Participation – Sustainability – Tour ’09 (the results)

2009-12-20T14:19:00.000+02:00

The Report of the first Workshop Meeting in Tubatse 3. to 7. December 2009.

3. December 2009:
Arrival of Kathi and Henning (both from Humana Austria) together with Dustin (the architect) was celebrated with a really warm welcome and a great singing from all the staff members of Child Aid Tubatse under the guidance of Nondumiso and assisted by Angie (from Humana South Africa) and the volunteer Nam (from South Korea) who was working on computer training and a differentiated waste system as well as being friend to the kids from the close by families.

Meeting with Humana Staff was set as the first meeting, originally planned for 10 in the morning, but due to our late arrival only happened at 2 pm, to be followed by the second appointment at 3 pm, the meeting with Community Representatives, three priests, two youth leaders, one community developer to discuss the process of the coming two workshop days and what we should envisage to achieve: well it was clear that we all gathered to talk about a community centre, but the how and who was to be defined.

At first the idea of the community being the actual designers, builders, enablers and eventually the ones that should profit of the project gave us a lot of questioning looks, but as we moved on and through the ‘idea of a two storey structure we made the real difference’ and we really had the community representatives on board.
The tension for the second day, the actual workshop day, was rising!

4. December 2009:

Workshop Day 1 started an hour late to allow the more than sixty members of the community and the Humana staff to come to the building site where a tent was set up to run the workshop. The idea for the first day was to start a process of Mapping of the Community.

At first we explained the way we wanted to envisage the realisation of the centre as a process of engagement and participation for a sustainable project. The focus in this entire process was based on a model for a buttom-uo procedure that was based on the aspect of giving ownership and responsibility to the community from the first moment on and to have the community also directly involved in the designing and building phase.

The community members where divided in five groups, three male age groups and two female and the where asked to develop graphic elaborations of the community by analysing the needs and the possibilities, by focussing on local materials and skills, the resources and the waste within the community and the availability, the distance to the site and other aspects that could be of significance as we ‘whities’ from Europe did not know anything of all this
What we understood for the community project was that each group had real commitment, and with great serious engagement, they drew ‘plans’ in very different methods (see the posting of these maps) that will enable everybody to know who and where to find the skilled members to involve in the building, but also where to find sand, stones, gravel, grass, empty glass bottles, branches and other materials or ‘waste’ that could be eventually used for the building.

In the evening we defined a timeline for the project and the realisation, as well as the workshops needed during building up to the official opening, which was defined to take place on 1. December 2010 (World Aids Day).
Phase one was started , the second phase, workshop week 2 is planned to take place in February 2010, with the foundation to be realised then and then the third phase to take place from August to October 2010 with the actual building taking place, leaving the month of November for landscaping and final preparations for the big opening.

5. December 2009:
Workshop Day 2 was started with reduced tension, as the ice was broken the day before, and today was a more creative phase to begin, the layout of the community centre as such.
The Workshop was today focussed on the site, the qualities as shade of the trees, but also the direction of wind and weather, being often a real problem in this part of the country, as well as the formulation of shaded space as the sun was a real challenge in Tubatse.

The requirements of the original brief where verified, the office space, the teaching space, the library and computer room, as well as the kitchen and the big hall. It emerged that library and computers where better if separated, as the two functions could not happen contemporary, so we decided to augment the original two 50 square meter spaces to three with 40 square meters each. We had a long discussion on the positioning of the new kitchen facility and also the existing building to accept the existing building as part of the project and the kitchen in the northeast angle of the envisaged setting.

The setting was a big U-shape that opens southwards with a beautiful courtyard like open area for venues to happen on the premises. The buildings are spread in an arch around this open space wit the library being a second floor unit above the computer room and the big hall for 120 people being a space with a sloping ceiling, from the double volume to a single storey building height at the southern end. The two halves of the complex will be covered with two distinct roof structures generating lots of shadow in the court yard, but also having the necessary offset to protect from sun and rain on the north-western corner. With great enthusiasm the community got involved in the building of a model that was then discussed after completion with everybody and used to also start envisaging material qualities as well as structural ideas.

During the realisation of the model, Nam was involved in the realisation of a test solar cooker, a cardboard box with a mirror that reflects the sun into the black painted interior covered with a glass panel that heats up the air at the interior up to some 250 – 300 degrees, able to cook almost anything, even if our experiment didn’t work, as the mirror was only aluminium foil and the pot was aluminium coloured and didn’t heat up enough to cook the spinach on the inside.
The final part of workshop day two was the definition of the name. A series of ideas where set up, and after a final round of discussions we went to the voting and “CAT – Child Aid Tubatse” emerged as the best name for the community centre.

6. December 2009:

Our forlast day in Tubatse started with a big shopping tour to get the necessary food and drinks to celebrate the Sunday with an early braai, good music and some final considerations between the various community members and the European visitors.

7. December 2009:

The defined project elements: (the dimensions are approximations!)

Office (exist building) 40 m2, this will be integrated into the new skills centre,
Office 40 m2, space for 3 to four work settings,
Teaching 40 m2, for classes and computer courses,
Library 40 m2, a second floor unit , open view on the surrounding,
Kitchen 20 m2, big enough to serve the new centre,
Toilets 2 male, 2 female toilets and a shower for each, plus sinks,
Hall 120 m2, a big enclosed space for 100 people,
Security 15 m2, a security room near to the entrance,

Roof providing shade a weather protection,
Courtyard an open space within the structure for events,
Vegetable garden the relocation of the vegetable garden due to the new building,

Engagement – Participation – Sustainability – Tour ’09 (the program)

2009-12-20T13:35:00.000+02:00

A - What is the main goal?
B - How will we go about it?
C - What will happen in the two workshop days?
D - Questions and what are the needs?

A - What is the main goal?

The idea is to develop, compile, plan, finance and realize a community centre, on the basis of coachings and workshops, together with the community concerned. Local resources and skills should be the main motor used, developed and strengthened.
This means a course of action, which depends less on investment and travel expenses from European partners rather than more responsibility and inclusion for and of the target community, in which the local project management and competencies are residing, with the main focus on capacity building, the process of developing skills, which will be implemented by the community.
The goal is to implement a Community Centre within the framework of the Child Aid Project Tubatse in the province Limpopo/South Africa.
The building will comprise an area of 250 - 300 m2 and should fulfil the following functions:
• Assembly hall for 100 persons – with a required floor space of 120 m2.
• 2 training classrooms – each needs 50 m2. The first room acts as the “communications centre” with computers, TV, radio, books, magazines and internet access. The second room will be used as the productions centre, where sewing as well as meetings and trainings for 20 people will take place.
• An office – this room with ca. 40 m2 is at the disposal of the Child Aid team and will be used for administrative purposes.
• Kitchen and toilet: these rooms with ca. 40 m2 will need the necessary infrastructure.
• Outdoor shade: a space for social events, workshops and an eating area.
The whole project structure will be realized with local building materials, taking into account costs, efficiency and transport. The involvement of the community makes the manufacturing of local building components (i.e. clay bricks) possible and shows the will for involving the people. Child Aid staff and local volunteers will actively implement the project.
Currently there exists a well and a small building on the property. The latter is used as storage room and housing space for the project workers. Planned parallel to the building is a 0,5 ha big vegetable garden.
The topic of sustainable energy will be covered through solar energy, as there are app. 250 days sunshine a year in South Africa. Additionally, the alignment of the building copes with the approach: the active solar energy (which counts twice as much compared to Austria) will be used and alternative concepts (i.e. solar cookers, water heating systems and natural active cooling system) are supposed to make the whole project self-sufficient.
The idea of the Coaching Model for a project of the International Development Cooperation is based on the local resources, skills and available manpower.The main focus lies on the right motivation, a good idea and the realization of an exciting project in Tubatse.
On the basis of two accomplished projects and a third in process, I have experienced what it means to work with ca. 25 students from Europe for 6 to 7 weeks building a complete Skills Centre (ca. 350 m2), the Lesedi Nhahle Crèche and a kindergarten trainings centre (420 m2).

This project is not focussed on the work performance of voluntary students from Europe but rather the aspect of capacity building within the local community.The topic Coaching will work within 3 phases and the different tools applied on-site refer to the Transdisciplinary Design Framework.

a. identification and structuring: compiling programme, mapping resources, workshop of acknowledgement, 1:1 simulation, name finding
b. analysis: planning workshop, skills programme, resources, 1:1 model, memo of understandings
c. from results to implementation: beginning of construction, workteam workshops, skillswork, planning discussions, ownership workshops.

There will be planning phases in between the different design or work states, for which I will develop a handbook of implementation on open-source basis, so that future projects have a manual orientation.

The goal is to develop an ecologically self-sufficient structure based on local resources, whereas the project will be supported by all partners of my network: S.L.U.M_network5, the Global Village Network6 and the Peace and Collaboration Development Network.

B - How will we go about it?
Workshops, planning phase, building phase, experiment, implement, document, hand over, open source, manual.

C - What will happen in the two workshop days?
The basic idea is to focus in the entire process on the concept of ‘need-based-design’, standing for the application of ‘appropriate technologies’ for real sustainability.
Day one: assessment of skills, resources, materials, etc;
Day two: the project outline, with final sketches and a model, and a name!!
We will divide the community in 6 groups, female – male and then in three age groups, and each group will individually develop ‘solutions’ and the relevant information for each step.
The actual ‘mapping’ will happen when each group will draw a ’map’ indicating the availability and distances from/to the actual building site of each and every aspect, without forgetting the essentials of:

Culture,
Ecology,
Technology,
Politics,
Economics,
Community,
Spiritual means

and the result of all this will be developed into the project of the Community Centre that we want to realise together!

C.1 – WORKSHOP-DAY ONE:

C.1.1. - SKILLS:
What skills do we find around the premises?
Who can do what?
How do we find them?
Who is in contact with?
What facilities can we find?

- brick-layers, brick-makers, tire repairs, car wash, exhaust pipe welders, car mechanics, machine makers, electricians, plumbers, doctors, teachers, architects, designers, web-designers, bloggers, farmers, artists, potters, video, grass matt makers, grass furniture makers, etc.

C.1.2. - MATERIALS:
What can we use for building?
What natural materials are found?
What artificial materials are found?
What waste can be re-used/re-cycled?
In what condition are the things we find?

- clay, sand, stone, grass, branches, trees, wood, timber, glass, bottles, paper, cardboard, metal, plastic, water, sheeting, cloth, fabrics, net, shading, etc.

C.1.3. – RESOURCES and WASTE:
Waste is a resource and free.
Food, and everything natural is good for compost,
Glass bottles and plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, tin cans,
Plastic, other non reusable materials.

Where do we find what?
Energy supplies?
Where are the skills?
Where are the materials?
How do we link to the world?
How do we move skills and materials?
Where are the shops to buy what we don’t have?
How do we raise the money?

C.2. – WORKSHOP-DAY TWO:

C.2.1. - SITE:
What are the qualities of the site?
What is not so good on the site?
Where is the place with best shadow?
Where do you want to sit on the site?
What facilities do we want to find in the community centre?
What orientation does it need?
Do we have water or a well?
What are the ground qualities?
What can we do with the free space in-between?

C.2.2. – Project: All this will be developed in 6 groups and then each group will present their ideas, and we will then build a scale model of the centre in order to visualise our ideas in one single project outline, for which we will find a name that will symbolise the concept and the idea of what has been developed.

C.2.3. – Next steps: Finally we will define the responsibilities as well as a clear working plan, so that when we meet again in 3-4 months we can proceed in starting the second phase and eventually realise the building!

D - Questions and what are the needs?

“Engagement in a common idea,
participation of all involved,
to realise a really sustainable project.”

CAT-video, a walk through the 4 amazing days

2009-12-16T00:07:00.000+02:00

The Patrons to the Project

2009-12-15T23:41:00.001+02:00

Engagement – Participation – Sustainability – Tour ’09

2009-12-15T14:40:00.000+02:00

The concept for the first workshop in Tubatse, based on the coaching idea, envisages 5 days in Tubatse.

Arrival in Tubatse (coming from Haenertsburg) on Wednesday, 2.12.2009

Leaving Tubatse (for Jo’burg) on Monday, 7.12.2009

This leaves us with 5 days for working:

- the dates in the program are interchangeable until now, and want to indicate the time needed, but I hope in Nondumiso’s skill to define the best days for each step.

- we envisage

– one day for definition of program, meeting of stakeholders, etc

- two days for the ‘mapping workshop’ with all the community. Up to 80 people can/should participate. Day one: assessment of skills, resources, materials, etc; day two: the project outline, with final sketches and a model, and a name!!

- two days for internal assessment, a next steps plan, and visits to local communal institutions, shops, service facilities, etc

- the definition of what happens on what day is as I said open, and I would want to verify which two days will suit best for the mapping workshops, as we need some 80 members of the community to take part, for two days, is it fine to use Friday and Saturday??

- I would then use Sunday for an internal assessment day, nd a braai with all the community??? to celebrate the beginning of the project.

- requirements for the workshop and how this can be developed.

- we need six flip charts if possible, as we will devide the community members in six groups: ladies, gentlemen and then each in three age groups, so that we have six different teams that will work.

- I guess we will be working a total of 6 hours, three in the morning, three in the afternoon, as to really work out all the information necessary and available! Looking forward to start this thrilling project,

Dustin

Vienna, 24.10.2009