Ba Nthuli - Modular Student Housing TUT

Project: Light Steel Construction, Student Housing Solution

Location: TUT Pretoria

The project provides accommodation for 206 students. The building arrangement delivers 79 single rooms, 44 double rooms (88 beds), 4 rooms for those students with special needs and 35 self-build units. Ample collection and green gathering areas have been provided to enhance the quality living-studying environments of the inhabitants of @ Ba Nthuli residence.

The aesthetic and functional requirements were led by the research and the site analysis. The design development move(s) from detail assembly and construction detail development to local-site related context, to campus and precinct scaled influences.The flip between the various urban-project scales kept challenging the design product.

The site analysis leads the initial placement of the buildings due the favorable views, dilapidated structures and receiving sloped banks of the project site. The Daspoort Ridge had an influence on the roofscapes and the proposed plant species to be used for these spaces. The receiving slope and elevation difference between the campus ring road and the project site influenced the student gather areas and courtyard concept development.

The structure of the proposed buildings where influenced by said practical construction methodology and changed to concrete due to practical considerations.

The Daspoort ridge is a protected conservation area and this habitat has an undeniable influence on the language and specie selection to be chosen for the final landscaped area. The conservation area is directly adjacent to the project site and specie transfer from one eco-tone the next is inevitable.

The grassland inspired landscape of the project link various urban features on various scales.

Lastly, the application of modular systems to architecture can have good quality spaces and places to effect.