Rob Richardson − University of Cape Town, South Africa

Rob Richardson (Graduated with Distinction; Winner of the University Class Medal and the Renzo Piano Foundation Scholarship through UCT) − University of Cape Town, South Africa

Tutors: Professor Alta Steenkamp, Francis Carter, Professor Jo Noero (RIBA Lubetkin Laureate 2007)

Creative Housing
From Provision to Enablement

This project contests current housing policy in South Africa through the investigation of support structures. It aims to provide a total living environment that rethinks methods of low cost settlement-making in country’s cities. The scheme’s design developed from research into methods through which future occupants can be involved in affordable housing construction. These ideas are based on the theories of John Habraken, in the development of permanent frameworks that separate the sub-systems of buildings, to allow for both transitory and permanent infill, as well as the ideas of John Turner who looked at organizational support systems.

The process involved imagining possible spatial configurations and working backwards to find a minimal base or ‘support structure’ from which the house can evolve incrementally. The technological investigation of the project focused on the realising of the support structure in the form of a 1:1 prototype that was tested to analyse its performance within the constraints.

Project completed with Anna Goldman

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