Somerset College ESTEAM Centre in Western Cape, South Africa
South Africa — The Double Unit
An exterior architectural precedent showcasing a covered concrete veranda with operable timber louver screens, balancing solar control and indoor-outdoor connectivity for an educational facility.
- What we like about this project
- The deep roof overhang is supported by remarkably slender cylindrical columns that visually lighten the massive concrete roof.
Materials
- exposed-concrete
- timber
- glass
- steel
Visual identifiers
- board-formed-concrete
- timber-louvers
- covered-veranda
- glazed-facade
- slender-columns
Style tags
- contemporary
- regional-modernism
- material-honest
Visual tags
- educational
- outdoor-transition
- solar-control
- hybrid-structure
- transparency
- campus-architecture
- Geometry
- Linear concrete colonnade and overhead slab running parallel to a double-height glazed interior facade with vertical timber louver panels.
- Facade system
- Curtain wall glazing interspersed with sliding doors and sliding vertical timber louver panels.
- Structural guess
- Cast-in-place concrete columns and cantilevered roof slab with steel framing members.
- Spatial scale
- Generous double-height veranda space with slender concrete columns and tall human-scaled sliding glass doors.
- Lighting
- Bright late afternoon sunlight casting long diagonal shadows and grazing across board-formed concrete and timber slats.
- Atmosphere
- Warm, shaded, and breathable, blending heavy raw concrete with tactile timber warmth.
- Environmental context
- Outdoor planted sloping landscape and tall trees adjacent to a modern educational campus veranda.
- Spatial experience
- Transitioning from the deep, shaded outdoor walkway under the concrete overhang into the open, light-filled multi-functional hall.
- Composition rhythm
- Repetitive vertical rhythm of slender columns and timber louvers balanced by the heavy horizontal concrete planes.
- Style reading
- Contemporary regional modernist educational architecture
- Program
- Educational facility multi-purpose hall and circulation veranda
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- exposed-concrete, timber, glass, steel
- Visual identifiers
- board-formed-concrete, timber-louvers, covered-veranda, glazed-facade, slender-columns
- Style tags
- contemporary, regional-modernism, material-honest
- Visual tags
- educational, outdoor-transition, solar-control, hybrid-structure, transparency, campus-architecture
- Geometry
- Linear concrete colonnade and overhead slab running parallel to a double-height glazed interior facade with vertical timber louver panels.
- Facade system
- Curtain wall glazing interspersed with sliding doors and sliding vertical timber louver panels.
- Structural guess
- Cast-in-place concrete columns and cantilevered roof slab with steel framing members.
- Spatial scale
- Generous double-height veranda space with slender concrete columns and tall human-scaled sliding glass doors.
- Lighting
- Bright late afternoon sunlight casting long diagonal shadows and grazing across board-formed concrete and timber slats.
- Atmosphere
- Warm, shaded, and breathable, blending heavy raw concrete with tactile timber warmth.
- Environmental context
- Outdoor planted sloping landscape and tall trees adjacent to a modern educational campus veranda.
- Spatial experience
- Transitioning from the deep, shaded outdoor walkway under the concrete overhang into the open, light-filled multi-functional hall.
- Composition rhythm
- Repetitive vertical rhythm of slender columns and timber louvers balanced by the heavy horizontal concrete planes.
- Style reading
- Contemporary regional modernist educational architecture
- Program
- Educational facility multi-purpose hall and circulation veranda
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture