Wynberg Girls High School – New Sports Pavilion

This project falls into thew category of what we refer to in our office as a Covid Project. It was started at the beginning of the lockdown in South Africa and was completed after the second so- called surge. This meant that most of the work had to be done remotely and great care had to be exercised on site. Despite these complications the project was completed on time and budget.

The brief given to the architects was to extend and make something of a rather forlorn box-like building which had functioned as a quasi-pavilion for many years.

The first idea was to build a new building housing new change rooms behind the exiting building – however to make the addition easier and to deal with the insertion of new services and natural light and ventilation the new building was separated from the old by a one-meter service corridor open to the sky.

The second idea was to open the front of the exiting building with sliding folding doors and to add a canopy to the front of the old building which would not only provide cover but would also bring into alignment several competing geometries relating to the alignment of the exiting building and the basketball courts in front.

Finishes were kept to the bare minimum. Floors were polished concrete, walls rendered plaster and corrugated sheeting used for the roof.