At the heart of Kayamandi

WORDS: Remy Raitt | PHOTOS: Jac De Villiers

Nestled in the “Long Street of Kayamandi”, AmaZink Eatery and the iKhaya Trust are housed in fresh, modest buildings that give hope to this Stellenbosch community. 

Kayamandi – a suburb with a name that means “pleasurable home” – ironically houses many dilapidated buildings that no longer serve their purpose. But thanks to an innovative project, new life has been breathed into one such public space. 

“The challenge was to bring in a new quality standard in terms of building,” says architect Jan Klinger from Kr2 architects, when asked to describe the process of setting up the AmaZink Eatery and the new home for the iKhaya Trust. “But it couldn’t be too foreign because the people of Kayamandi had to relate to it.”

The iKhaya Trust is a school, after-care centre and the home of several other education programmes. After the original building suffered damage from a fire, the Greater Stellenbosch Development Trust purchased the property – originally a beer hall – and proposed that it be used to house the Trust and an accompanying restaurant.

Plans were quickly made to develop the two buildings, using existing structures while adding a few more buildings to the site. Before they started building, “the place was a mess”, notes Jan – toilets, rubble and general disarray was demolished to make place for the airy, bright and open-plan layout of the new iKhaya Trust and AmaZink Eatery.

The iKhaya Trsut is reminiscent of an “inside street”, paved corridors and steel-framed windows lead to the hall, kitchen, classrooms, office and admin room, the outside playground and vegetable garden.

Corcoleum, made from wood chips and resin, was used for the classroom floors. This material is a good conductor of heat, staying warm to the touch, making it the perfect flooring solution to keep kiddies snug while playing on the floor.

“It couldn’t be too foreign because the people of Kayamandi had to relate to it.”

The school itself also got a make-over, with each classroom being colour coded with painted furniture.

Another highlight of the iKhaya Trust building is the bicycle-wheel gates that lead from the Trust to the Eatery, and to the classrooms on the left wing. The gates were made by a local Khayamandi welder. “We discussed the ideas with him and gave him the gate frames. Then he went off and sourced the bike parts, coming up with the final product,” Jan says.

AmaZink still gives off a township beer-hall vibe. However, the restaurant has been styled to perfection to suit both the local clientele and visitors from the city and abroad. Above the restaurant, four rooms for foreign volunteers, who work next door, look out onto the humming township street below.

The building’s white walls and roof are partly clad with rusty red corrugated iron, while the retro-esque steel sign, marking the perfectly suited name, is perched proudly atop the roof.

Pure coincidence

Run by the unlikely team of Alana Mellet and celebrated chef and entrepreneur Loyiso “Roots” Mbumbo, the corresponding name and outer façade of AmaZink were apparently pure coincidence.

The restaurant was officially opened at the first game of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, and the finishing touches were quickly, although beautifully, done in order to meet the deadline. “We didn’t even know they were going to use cladding, so the name just fit the building by pure chance,” Alana says.

The creation of the Afro-chic haunt, accented with bright colours and quirky artworks, was the task of Rohan Estebeth and Jan Solms of Fanakalo Visual Communications. The tight budget of the project prompted the two to really stir their already buzzing inner creativity and thriftiness.

Using contacts from big brand houses, the elbow grease of friends and a palette of fun, they didn’t approach the project with a design frame of mind. Instead, they acted as “negotiators”.

The ethno-pop tables that fill the restaurant were all painted by hand by Jan, Rohan and their friends. Old-school cell phones were framed and hung on the walls, while tyre stools with colourful cushions upholstered in billboard plastic line the outside amphitheatre – an area that has become a well-used venue.

Sports screenings, concerts, events and parties have all been hosted here. The marquee amphitheatre forms the perfect outside venue, not lacking the township feel of the inside eatery. Tin lamps hang from the frame and colourful cushions carry through the vibrancy from inside.

Alana and Roots says that the restaurant has seen clientele from all walks of life, noting that the African menu has proved to be incredibly popular. From a trinchado and vetkoek starter to the “best boerewors and chaka lakka around”, the reasonably priced food is served fresh from the location from Wednesday to Sunday.

The architecture, the interior and the passion of all those involved (and still involved) make both the iKhaya Trust and the AmaZink Eatery a worthwhile stop on your next trip to Stellies.

For more information, see www.amazink.co.za. The talent of the Fanakalo Team creatives is also visible on the AmaZink website, and they can be reached via www.fankalo.co.za. Visit www.kr2.co.za for more on kr2 architects.