Ithemba Labantu Sand Bag Soup Kitchen

PROJECT INFORMATION

Client: iThemba Labantu Type: Completed Project
Project Value: Confidential
Completion: March 2014
Address: New Eisleben Road, Philippi, Cape Town

The Soup Kitchen project, completed in 2014, is a double storey 104sq.m sand bag building which replaced an old shipping container. Facilities include a kitchen with canteen feeding 200 children daily, a computer training room, a flexible education space, and ablutions. 

Following the brief from the client for a sustainable low energy building, the Sandbag and Ecobeam system was used to meet client requirements. DesignSpaceAfrica had used this system successfully with the award winning 10x10 Sand Bag houses in Freedom Park, Mitchells Plein. 

For the Soup Kitchen project, interior plywood timber panelling was combined with the use of sand bags, creating a warm internal space and quicker construction time. The use of Sandbags contributes to good thermal performance of the building, with the intelligent placement of windows, timber screens and poly-carbonate top lighting. No artificial heating or cooling is required. Further, rainwater is harvested, solar geysers have been utilised and Ithemba Labantu has implemented a waste separation policy.