The walls of Walmer Crèche are clad in wooden shingles – recycled floorboards – punctuated by sash windows glazed with corrugated polycarbonate sheets
This case study was published as part of a longer essay by Tomà Berlanda on the use of waste as a building material in South Africa, published in our Waste issue (AR June 2021)
A structure on stilts emerges from the landscape of the Walmer township. Little of what is happening inside is revealed when approaching it: the building is raised off the ground, its walls clad in wooden shingles – recycled floorboards – punctuated by sash windows glazed with corrugated polycarbonate sheets. The walls are crowned with a clerestory of the same polycarbonate sheets.
An entrance ramp leads to a terrace located at the back of the building where a large pivoting door opens on to the inside. Here, the hustle and bustle of children and their teachers engaging with early childhood development is a complete surprise. Recycled timber pallets are organised within the structural grid produced by the vertical steel I-beams and provide a rhythm to the interior. The irregularity and slight differences in texture and colouring of the timber creates a soothing backdrop with positive thermal and acoustic properties, while the crown of polycarbonate sheets allows diffuse light to filter under the wooden roof structure and metal roof sheets.
The physical detachment of the room from the ground speaks to the distance it creates in the experience of children – removing them, at least for a few hours each day, from the precariousness of their surroundings, as they receive nutrition and education as part of a community help programme.
