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July 2016
Housing
S
o u t h A f r i c a n - b a s e d
Mes sa r i s Wapenaa r Co l e
Architects (MCWA) says that the
willingness of seasoned professionals
to work collaboratively, makes a sig-
nificant difference to doing business
in other African countries.
This is evident in the firm’s lat-
est project in Kampala,
Uganda, The Edge, a
sizeable new residential
development comprises
160 units in Naayla, and
is being developed by
Ascent Point Invest-
ments, a Ugandan prop-
erty development company.
MWCA secured the project based
on its extensive experience in high
density residential architecture, with
the firm having been referred to As-
cent Point Investments by one of its
long-standing South African clients,
Limestone Properties. Its track record
of successfully completing projects in
a variety of African countries was an
‘The complex is fully equipped to provide backup
power and water to all units. Since power supply
can be unreliable, each unit has the ability to be
fitted with an inverter.’
The Edge
additional contributing factor.
Some of the design ideas and
systems could benefit the mammoth
number of Catalytic Projects being
rolled out around South Africa by
government in the next decade.
Architect Jeffrey Cole, who has
been overseeing The Edge project,
says that the success of every aspect
of the design has been as a result of
thewillingness to learn about the cul-
tural, lifestyle requirements, business
and operating environment, social,
environmental and infrastructural
conditions, which inform the process.
“Our design initially followed a fair-
ly typical South African model, which
is the onewe knowbest and therefore
served as a point of departure for the
design process,” he explains. “We
then spent a great deal of time with
the client discussing how aspects of
the Ugandan culture and way of liv-
ing needed to be accommodated in
the design.”
He cites an example, Ugandans
tend to be extremely private
people and issues of privacy
and visibility are of much
greater concern than they
are to the average South
African. Aspects suchas com-
monwalkways, lines of sight,
the creation of multiple and
discreet entry and exit points from
units all had to be considered.
Inaddition,most people inUganda
still do a great deal of cooking outside.
Matoke – a variety of starchy banana –
is a commonly eatendish inEast Africa
and is generally cooked by steaming
over a charcoal or wood fire – an
activity which most often takes place
outside. Thismeans that every unit in
It has been said that Africa is not a uniform place in
which every country and every market conforms to
the same rules and circumstances.