Ground Up

Positioning the project as a broader alternative settlement solution scenario not only for Ikemeleng but for South Africa in general, the project’s proposal of creating an adaptable housing framework and an incremental process coupling productivity and community participation are found remarkable. The proposed open-ended system generates a continuous process of community participation, social negotiation while providing the basic infrastructural needs efficiently. The drawings and the visual successfully depict the lively living and building processes that simultaneously progress on site. However, the design lacks the localizing the solutions and do not sufficiently explore the many various potential ways of adapting this generic framework. The proposed materials are not local or sustainable materials and also common/community programs are not defined sufficiently

Reading and understanding the project as part of an evolving process, not only for Ikemeleng but for the entire South Africa, that will accommodate future configurations and adapt different programmatic activities are a significant component. As well as considering the superimposition of different scenarios (participation, equity and social infrastructures) within this framework. The characterization on the project in this context is a fundamental part of the overall composition. However, the universal approach adopted for the construction elements does not acquire the necessary critical regionalism to ground the project to the existing conditions of the community of Ikemeleng.