Learning from Sky, Soweto, South Africa

The “Learning from” architecture workshop was held from 19 to 30 November 2012 at the Sky orphanage in the informal settlement of Kliptown in Soweto. Organized as part of the France / South Africa Seasons 2012 & 2013, the project proposed to start from the existing state of the orphanage and improve it. Technical problems were identified. Solving them by experimentation enabled us to improve hygiene, comfort, and pleasure. The elements studied beforehand had to be precisely adapted to the context. This professional training session included one hundred people from the Kliptown community who came to work voluntarily. On the last day, they were given a certificate to prove their skills. These are the people who will be responsible for further work and maintenance of the site.
The workshop included guest speakers: Kinya Maruyama, architect (Japan), and Carin Smuts, architect (South Africa). It was produced with the support of Lafarge and the French Institute of South Africa.