Calling Academy | SALT Architects

This project exemplifies how high-quality educational environments can be created with minimal resources, illustrating to learners from low-income communities that opportunity and achievement are not solely dependent on monetary value.

Maximizing value and efficiency
The expansion at Calling Academy Stellenbosch is a masterclass in maximizing value from minimal resources. By utilizing familiar, cost-effective materials in innovative ways, the project demonstrates that excellence is achievable even with budget constraints in the context of government schools in South Africa often struggling to provide high-quality education due to limited resources. Calling Education aims to bridge this gap with a model that offers top-tier private education to low-income learners. Prioritizing the quality of education above all else, the project operated on a very tight budget.

In 2021, the total cost for the 850-square-meter addition—which includes a laboratory, classroom, administrative areas, staff room, and counseling room—amounted to just $214,203. This translates to approximately $282 per square meter, including covered terraces, or $560 per square meter for walled areas only.

Design and material selection
The addition was meticulously designed to optimize value, whilst maintaining cost-effectiveness through flexibility and use of locally manufactured and recycled materials. The exclusive selection of affordable materials included concrete block walls, power-floated concrete floors, and a pine roof structure with concrete roof tiles. A pleasant learning environment with optimal natural lighting and acoustic qualities was created with polycarbonate tiles and OSB ceilings. Materials recycled from other building sites in the area were repurposed in the project, and all sanitary ware was donated from an office renovation in town.

Savings were maintained by keeping the building footprint small, with efficient room layouts lined with terraces acting as wide outdoor thresholds and usable space. The addition, positioned between the original school and football field, also serves as an assembly space and covered sports pavilion. Another multi-purpose design feature includes a flexible divider between the staffroom and classroom, converting it into a venue with seating for 150 people, presenting an income generating event space for school and community functions.

The eastern façade, marked by a concrete-block screen with three openings, creates a welcoming threshold space that blurs indoor and outdoor boundaries. This foyer connects visitors, teachers, and learners, clarifying the institution's new front façade and providing orientation.

By seamlessly blending functional, flexible spaces with the natural beauty of the site, the project enhances the learning environment. The new additions create a series of courtyards and outdoor spaces, offering learners places to pause, spectate, linger, or congregate.

The expansion of Calling Academy Stellenbosch underscores Calling Education’s mission to provide high-quality, affordable education to learners from low-income communities. By leveraging innovative design and sustainable practices, the project maximizes value and efficiency, setting a new standard for educational environments in South Africa. This project not only addresses the immediate needs of the school, but also inspires future developments in the educational sector.

Credit: Southland - Photography by David Savage 

Credit: Nudge Studio