Usually representing spirits, ancestors or the primordial couple, these figures were placed in shrines and treated with great respect. Through a wide range of style, scale, belief and function the couples depicted share a timeless, serene equality necessary to the continuity of their societies.

The Outreach Foundation Community Centre / Local Studio

Architects: Local Studio
Location: Hillbrow, Johannesburg, South Africa
Interior Décor: Local Studio
Project Year: 2015
Photographer: David Southwood
Website: www.localstudio.co.za

Main Contractor: E4 Construction
Structural Engineer: Ancast North
Lighting Designer: Darkroom Lighting

- 04 January 2016
- Ajwang' Robert
Communal Centres , Urban Renewal , Urban Architecture , Streetscape , Selected Works , Editor's Choice , Education Centres ,

From the Architect:
The Outreach Foundation Community Centre was completed in early 2015, and is one of the first new social infrastructure projects to be built in Hillbrow since the 1970’s. The project is situated within the broader Hillbrow Lutheran Church/ Friedenskirche precinct, a site given to the Lutheran church by Paul Kruger at the turn of the century. The actual building site is the staggered rooftop of an unfinished community hall built as part of the German Consulate in the 1970’s.

The Outreach Foundation Community Centre / Local Studio

The building houses 3 primary functions: a computer centre on Ground Floor, a Dance Studio at 1st Floor and offices and meeting areas at 2nd floor. These functions are collected within an angular volume draped over the two levels of the site. The building also presents its primary function, which is the dance studio to Twist Str. through a 12m window.

The Outreach Foundation Community Centre / Local Studio

The building is in and of itself a small piece of urban design, and houses a vertical street (in the form of an open staircase) which leads users from a central courtyard up to the public roof garden. This roof garden, which was partially funded by housing companies in the area, complements the building and forms a platform from which users of the centre can interact with the city below.

The Outreach Foundation Community Centre / Local Studio

The form of the building is actually very simple and entirely goverened by the programs housed. However, the choice of white Chromadek corrugated steel and clear corrugated polycarbonate as cladding materials abstract the buildings image and clearly establish the building as a new addition to this part of the city.

The Outreach Foundation Community Centre / Local Studio

A satellite intervention also included the construction of a steel bench, which peels off the wall on the opposite side of the street, allowing pedestrians a view of the dancers while resting on their commute.

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African School of Excellence / Local Studio
Its almost a confusing picture, the idea that you can enter space and only the occupants give it color, an architecture bound by its users, a captive of its occupants. You almost want to sit and smile at how the space interacts with the students, their uniforms, their quaky mannerisms and impe...

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