PROJECT DETAILS

Carefully grafted in the existing campus fabric of the Central University of Technology (CUT) Bloemfontein, is the Teacher’s Education Building. The building accommodates a wide range of laboratories, an auditorium and offices for staff.

In various subtle ways, the Teacher’s Education Building is not only moulded by its context, but also aims to reveal the potential of overlooked spaces, through for instance, while the building fronts on the neglected backsides of existing buildings, it tries to bestow a certain quality of place on these spaces through creation of in-between courtyards. The building also adapts to, and accentuates the existing pedestrian routes by providing a ‘focus’ on to the route that used to meander along the eastern side of the Management Building. Thus, the insertion of the Teacher’s Education Building revealed several latent possibilities of the site.

The building has a subdued yet appropriate material palette. The light cream colour of the walls match the finishes of the Management Building and the adjacent residences, while the red brick and sandstone tiles call to mind Bloemfontein’s architectural heritage, and acknowledges the fact that the new building has a small frontage on President Brand Street. While the building acts as an ‘infill’ and adapts to the surrounding context, it is by no means nostalgic, yet it contributes to the contemporary authority of the CUT as an educational institution.

COMPLETION DATE

2012

* In joint venture with: Tomane Moteane Architects