NEXUS • STUDENT HUB
HISTORIC ADAPTIVE REUSE
Type: Student Centre
Year: 2023
Area: 394.7 m2
Year: 2023
Area: 394.7 m2
Software: Revit, Photoshop
As soon as you step over the threshold, you enter a world of comfort and youthful vibrancy. The space is bathed in natural light and warm colours, creating an inviting atmosphere that entices you to stay and relax, and "experience" through your senses. This configuration of the elevator being in the middle of each floor, where the central point of gathering is nestled at the heart of each floor, is a call-back to a more indigenous spatial arrangement of living used by the Zulu people.
Nexus is meant to become a refuge for students, youth, and artists providing solace and a place for gathering where they are also comfortable. The warmth from carefully selected materials reflects and creates a sanctuary, a haven that emanates a sense of identity for one of many cultural groups in South Africa.
True to the Zulu culture that inspired it, the design features weaving patterns, reed materials, large windows for natural light, warm and brown-red, earthy colours, and for a modern touch of velvet fabrics as a touch softness for comfort.
The space, having so much to offer, features a coffee shop, a cafe, an art exhibition area for local artists in rotation every month, a library, a 'silent' screening theater, and a skatepark on the ground floor.
The hexagon shape, prevalent in the traditional honeycomb configuration of Zulu settlements, is a key feature especially on the 3rd floor.
