location Kalahari Desert, South Africa contact Nic Lottering Project: Wild Silk Africa, South Africa Project Description: This project was commissioned in 2004 for a 2,500 m² ($2,4 million) industrial development for a Southern African client for the sustainable harvesting and processing of a naturally occurring wild silk found in the Kalahari desert.The design focused on intensive job creation and community involvement, using traditional and modern construction methods. The use of traditional African symbols in the form of the Tree, Silk and Silk Worm found significant resonance with the local community and the development serves as an example of a highly sustainable approach to an industrial development in a socially complex community.In our world where nature's increasingly desperate plight mostly goes unanswered, a project that effectively utilizes a natural resource, in an economically viable way, whilst maintaining it sustainably, is quite rare. It is because of this that the design, whilst born from utilitarian reasoning, also attempts to represent the symbiotic relationship between nature and man - specifically the roles played by man, tree and worm. The main building was made up from the same elements as the 'Kameeldoring', namely a strong and solid trunk (brick walls) supporting a generously proportioned green canopy (wide overhanging roof) providing shade to the inhabitants of the Kalahari. The toilet / rest area building stylized the worm through its geometric shape and colour. The office building completed this triangle of peaceful co-existence through its human scale, whilst retaining elements from and mimicking its great neighbours, the tree. Throughout the interaction between these three elements the silk (shade cloth) ties it together, just as the production of silk gives the whole project meaning. These sun shading devices serve as a striking visual reminder that even the humble worm has a role to play in nature and, in fact, all our lives. It is to be treasured, along with the rest of nature. |
