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Design primer competition for an aids orphanage

UN Millenium Development Goals

At OLIFANTSFONTEIN in South Africa
In 2006
By Architecture Sans Frontières - UK
Local partners: Archaos and Hearts of Hope
Donors: Squire and Partners

The AIDS crisis in South Africa has left 12 million orphans aged 0 to 17 (2005). The purpose of the Design Primer Competition for an AIDS orphanage was threefold; to generate ideas or a design primer, to raise awareness of the scale of the AIDS crisis in South Africa and further afield, and to raise money.

It was a theoretical exercise to challenge students to consider how to improve the provision of facilities for AIDS orphans with an emphasis on innovative design ideas in terms of materiality and spatial and formal relationships. It offered an opportunity to enrich a simple building through consideration of shelter, privacy and small scale detailing.

From a notional brief of accommodation, locally sourced materials, budget requirements and environmental considerations a diversity of design ideas emerged. These ranged from pragmatic to playful solutions, at different stages of refinement. Themes of ownership, thresholds and identity were explored through formal and organic solutions in the landscape at different scales.

Category: Competition Medium / Technology / Material: local resources Typology: Orphanage
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