<< || >>
baseconceptsprojectscontact / sponsors


LIVING TEBOGO - South Africa
Heating with the sun, cooling with the construction


"Tebogo - the first solar passive energy house in the southern hemisphere!"
Wolfgang Feist, Father of the passive energy house idea, Germany

Orange Farm is a township in the southwest of Johannesburg. The social situation is characterised by poverty, AIDS and unemployment. The appearance of the development is dominated largely by buildings or shacks made mostly of sheet metal, corrugated iron or parts of cars. In summer it can become unbearably hot in these shacks (up to 45°C), while during winter nights it can be noticeably cold (to 2°C).
We were commissioned by the Tebogo Home for Handicapped Children. The Austrian NGO SARCH set up this contact for us. The home for almost 50 children had become too small. In a group of 25 students we planned and built a dining building with a new kitchen, and a therapy building with sanitary facilities. A generously dimensioned pergola, a garden hall, connects the buildings with each other. The buildings we erected in Tebogo have a pleasant indoor climate throughout the year – without the use of energy. In this way we were able to reduce the fluctuation in temperature to only 9°C. Local workers, above all women, were integrated in the project. The building materials were acquired directly from the township: concrete blocks, earth, clay, straw, timber, grass mats – to strengthen the local economy and to make later repetition easier. One of the main aims was to make buildings that suited the needs of the children. They received a home that conveyed a sense of security and joy in living.

LIVING TEBOGO Township Orange Farm, Johannesburg, South Africa
Planning phase: 10/2004 – 01/2005 | Realisation on site: 6 weeks 01/2005 - 02/2005 | Buildings: dining room with kitchen 75m2, therapy room 70m2, pergola 120m2 Concept and design: „die architektur“ 25 students | Design supervision: Roland Gnaiger, Lotte Schreiber | Projectmanager: Sigi Atteneder, Richard Steger | Projectcommunication: Anna Heringer | Solar simulation: Oskar Pankratz | Pedagogics: Erich Heiligenbrunner | Earthbuilding: Martin Rauch Partner: SARCH Wien, Education Africa | Catalogue and exhibitions AFO Linz und AZWien: Richard Steger | Awards: Energy Globe Südafrika, Energy Globe Upper Austria

PARTICIPATING STUDENTS
Sigi Atteneder, Rainer Falkner, Margit Greinöcker, Anna Heringer, Tobias Hagleitner, Olivia Hartl, Markus Jeschaunig, Nicole Kirchberger, Franz Koppelstätter, Andreas Liska, Christian Mayer, Ursula Nikodem- Edlinger, Monika Perner, Clemens Quirin, Cornelia Reithofer, Sandra Resch, Elke Schmedler, Birgit Schober, Iva Simonovic, Petra Stiermayr, Danijela Tolanov, David Weldy, Anna Wolf, Annelie Zellinger