Facilitating adult learning through responsive architecture: the design of a community education & training centre in Bridge city town centre, Durban.

Abstract

The Department of Higher Education and Training (2017) affirms that many South African adults in townships lack primary formal education. They in-turn have fewer employment opportunities especially in this digital era, resulting in negative outcomes society in general (de los Angeles, 1919). The current public institutions for adult education and training lack both capacity and institutional identity. The aim of this study is to investigate how didactic architecture could be applied to develop a contextually responsive design for adult education, within a township condition. It was envisioned that the design of a CET Centre, utilising didactic architecture principles would provide reprieve to a strained sector of the department. The study is underpinned by the Environmental Psychology field along with Place Theory, Critical Regionalism and Social Cognitive Theory. This research entails a literature review, local and international precedents, a local case study in Zwide, Port Elizabeth. The research site is within KZN Community Education and Training (CET) Centres within the Bridge City area, and its immediate surrounding townships (Inanda, Ntuzuma, KwaMashu and Phoenix). The method of data collection included questionnaires as well as interview schedules. The findings indicate that the location of an educational facility has paramount importance, as it needs to link the community to the facility and the facility to the community. an understanding of the unique parameters of the site, the context, movement patterns, client, desired uses, culture, ethnicity, and the vernacular elements of that community, develops the best architectural design solutions for educational facilities. Adult learners require dedicated learning environments that possess an institutional identity and are independent of the mainstream children’s education. These environments must be articulated, universally accessible, well lit, well ventilated, and offer quiet spaces for individual study. Adult learners require workshops suitable for vocational skills, libraries and outdoor learning environments designed with an educational value. Toilets are to be located in close proximity to all learning spaces. All learning spaces are to be specified with comfortable and ergonomic furniture, at a suitable scale. Shape, form, colour, daylight, acoustics, air quality, ventilation, didactic architectural expressions, soft nurturing environments, and environments of curiosity and discovery stimulate learning.