Community Education Centre to be a catalysy for environmentally responsible construction in the Samora Machel area.
Tsoga Environmental Centre has been selected for an award to comment the successful realization, despite many bureaucratic obstacles, of a remarkable vision. surrounded by shacks and poverty, it will be a community centre promoting more than environmental education. Through projects such as community food gardens, nurseries, recycling programmes and compost production, the Centre will address local poverty, unemployment and environmental betterment.
The design employs a wide range of sustainable and ' green' strategies, too many to describe in a short citation. Almost all materials, from recycled bricks to gumpole trusses to locally-produced scrap-metal balustrades, are carefully considered. Sited on the edge of a public square, the building three simple halls grouped around a peaceful, green cloister. Wherever possible, there are plants. The difference in scale between Tsoga and surrounding fabric is just enough to create a strong presence and magnet, but not so large as to be alienating. The same can be said about the crafted, serene interiors with their simple materials and multiple textures. This i s a building which seeks to exemply environmental awareness its very structure, however the assessors' reservations about the realisation of construction and detail in certain areas should be noted.
Nevertheless, it is not difficult to imagine how this building and its urban square will become and hub of activity and hope Samora Marchel and therefore it is a worthy recipient of the CIA Award for Architecture.
