The Natural Building Collective was appointed by the City of Cape Town to integrate natural and alternative building techniques into the construction of an Early Childhood Development Centre (ECD) in Delft, Cape Town.  This initiative would provide a safe place for around a 160 of the community’s infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers to learn, develop, play and grow. The City of Cape Town’s budget for this project did not cover the cost of artists trained in the use of natural materials essential for creating a transformational and creative educational space. They would guide teams of local labour in the use of materials at hand to create glass-bottle and cob walls, the utilization of eco-bricks, and demonstrate the potential of recycled and other non-conventional materials.  The Sophia Foundation recognizes the inherent potential of natural and alternative building materials and in 2016 sponsored the cost of 2 artists as well the cost of producing 10 short “how-to” videos on tyre building - film being the perfect medium to increase the project’s potential to inspire, promote and train across time and space.

 

Once the building of the ECD was complete, the ECD hub at Delft was given a mandate to provide training in support of other ECD’s in its area.  A Resource Centre for training would be built on the ECD site but this time as a model building constructed from natural materials.  The Sophia Foundation sponsored the materials used in its construction in 2017.

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Contact: Peter McIntosh