Bopitikelo Community and Cultural Centre
Molatedi, North West Province

Bopitikelo was conceived as a meeting place, a centre for the reinvigoration of the cultural history of a people who had been largely divested of their traditions through disruption from the colonial and apartheid regimes. It fulfils the need for a venue for community and social functions facilitating dialogue between local communities and visitors from Southern Africa and abroad.

The centre was designed as a series of detached pavilions with equal emphasis on the shapes of the buildings and the spatial relationships between the structures. It was sited to 'participate' naturally with the undulations of the riverbank landscape. Marking the landscape horizontally the Great Hall, an un-walled shelter, built with treated gum poles, provides shade and shelter and gives a monumental scale without denying the need for intimate spaces.
The project continues the use of earth and plant material, both of which are central to traditional African building technology. Soil cement bricks made from local earth provides the basic building blocks; granolithic flooring is decorated with hand marking; traditional thatching is utilized for the roof.