Inkwenkwezi Secondary School - Du Noon Township, Cape Town - South Africa
by Noero Wolff
Du Noon, besides having the iconic Table Mountain as a backdrop, is a typical South African township with ca. 3000 dwellings, where over 80% of the residents have less than 11 grade education and an income below 200$/ month.
In this scenery, at the edge of the settlement, Inkwenkwezi Secondary School, the first highschool in the area, has the challenging mission to state the importance of education and the opportunities it offers while being both an appealing and accessible place to be. Housing over 1,100 pupils with ages between 13-18, the school answers the predominant security issues without being institutional. The classrooms are organized around and open towards an interior courtyard, following large folds which articulate the common space, disrupting the monotony of corridors. The Library and the main hall stick out, ascending to double and triple height spaces, looking over the township as positive point of reference.
In spite of being the biggest construction in the entire precinct, due to its fluid organization and adoption of local language i.e. through the use of color and fragmentation of space, Inkwenkwezi, Xhosa for morning star, fits in while positively standing out.