Calling Academy School by SALT Architects

WORDS Cheri Morris PHOTOS Nudge Studio

Calling Academy Stellenbosch is non-profit organisation Calling Education’s first campus, a design-smart answer to the urgent question of quality education in South Africa – one that fluidly adapts to severe financial, developmental and learning constraints.

Located on a bucolic plot bordering Polkadraai Road between Stellenbosch and Kuilsriver, the site was allocated by the previous generation of surrounding landowners to serve the local farming community and originally comprised six existing classrooms, a reception and sports field.

An annual increase in grade intakes compounded by a matrix of constrictions required SALT Architects to implement a fluxive, organic design process that simultaneously maximises the quality of the learning environment and centres the natural beauty of the site, at the lowest possible cost. The guiding principle is the prioritisation of quality education over the cost of facilities.

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The result is an addition of a new section consisting of many flexible functions unified under a continuous tiled roof. In this way, the image stands renewed without making any changes to the original school. The additions include a laboratory, staff room, staff offices and amenities, an additional classroom and a counselling room.

Extended roof overhangs and the use of concrete-block screen walls allow internal spaces to overflow and create a variety of thresholds between interior and exterior, inhabitants and habitat. The floors step down with the natural slope of the terrain, creating the required variation in volumes while the roofs remain on the same level.

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