©Wolff
©Wolff
©Wolff
©Wolff
©Wolff
©Wolff
©Wolff
©Wolff

Inkwenkwezi Secondary School

Cape Town ZA
Wolff Architects
2018

Type

School

Tags

learning environments, informal urban fabrics

Visitability

Allowed

Description

The Inkwenkwezi Secondary School was commissioned by the Western Cape. The school is on the periphery of the settlement next to a very big sport fields and on a dead end street. The Road to the North of the site is such a busy vehicular route that it makes pedestrian access from it undesirable for fear of children’s safety. Access is from the quiet dead end road which allows children to linger safely.The school protects itself from theft and vandalism by creating an outer “wall” with all play spaces and access points beyond the safety of the entrance gates. The outer “wall” of classrooms encloses an undulating court with an open end facing Table Mountain.The location of the building on a sloping site, on the edge of the settlement, was exploited to develop a civic architecture that distinguishes itself from the residential fabric around it by its scale and sculptural form. The hall rises to a tall corner which is exaggerated by vertical fluting and has a characteristic window. The same motive is repeated in the library. The entrance façade is layered with the hall and the library/administration block forming syncopated profiles in a composite façade. The entrance to the school is along a ramp, through this façade.(Description by Wolff)