A Pan-African research centre
Future Africa was to provide an integrated live-/work environment for post-doctorate students from all cultures and backgrounds, fostering fellowship, understanding and collaboration among the vast diversity of cultures and disciplines on our continent. The re-imagining of this typology called for centralised spaces for interaction, facilitating collaboration and cultural interaction.

FUTURE FACILITIES
• 280 one-, two-, and three-bedroom living units
• Central hall (Future Africa hub)
• Research commons
• Conference facility:
• 250-seater auditorium
• Two 50-seater multi-purpose rooms
• Six break-away rooms linked to the auditorium: doubling up as translation booths
Future Africa is not only about place (locality) or space (building). It is about the contribution a building can make to the ecology in which it is developed.
CONCEPTS EXPLORED
- Adaptability
• Systems and tectonics were deliberately dis-
entangled to allow for parallel off-site manufacture and on-site assembly
• Levels of permanence can be read in the tectonics
• Timber was used for the tertiary systems
• This open building allows for adaptive re-use and re-cycling, as well as more inclusive contracting - Regenerative design / catalytic development
• Breaking the buildings down in clearly defined elements offers the potential of outsourcing manufacture to small- and micro-enterprises
• Design to allow for the establishment of new industries and micro-enterprises that can be funded by community banking
• Informal systems in the developing communities already exist; if these can be augmented with quality control and moderation, a new sphere of democratised industrialisation will be established - Democratisation of building
• Opening the building industry up to allow for small- and micro-enterprises to participate in large projects is key to the project
• The level of ownership by contractors resulted in pride and a sense of accomplishment; traits lost to our industry since labour became a commodity - Parallel vs linear value / supply chains
• Local skills were curated rather than using established, imported building systems
• Materials sourced directly from or close to site
• Integrating the production of the various manufacturers negated the need for linear value chains by material being handled only once - Systems thinking / inter-connectedness
• The building is central to a system where people are key
• Integration of the local economy, ecology and landscape were critical
• The project and the impact during construction is just as important as the final product
The landscape design forms part of the system by re-introducing 56 orphan crops and allowing foraging to explore alternative cuisines and creative interaction around new tastes, textures and colours.