Project showcase 

Future Africa Campus
Earthworld Architects, South Africa

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The team

The Project

Inspiration

Design for manufature

The build

The power of BIM

Building positive change through design

Established by André Eksteen and Braam de Villiers in 2000, Earthworld Architects & Interiors aims to push the boundaries of creativity while also maintaining a strong focus on sustainability.
Designing for commercial, institutional and residential projects, a core philosophy of the practice is to seek opportunities to use the process of design and construction as a catalyst for positive change in South Africa.
Headquartered in Pretoria and an Archicad user since 2010, Earthworld uses Archicad throughout its architecture and interior design practice, from early design ideas to initial presentations and walkthroughs, through to Building Information Modeling.

Project Name: Future Africa Innovation Campus – Dining Hall
Project Location: South Africa
Firm Name: Earthworld Architects
Project Type: Education
Completion Date: 2018
Software used: Graphisoft Archicad, Graphisoft BIMcloud, Graphisoft BIMx

The tool that Archicad puts in your hand is control. That is, control over every element and every aspect of the design.
André Ektseen
Founder and Co-Director of Earthworld Architects

The project

An inspirational center for transdisciplinary research

Designed by Earthworld, the dining hall for the new Future Africa Innovation Campus at the University of Pretoria is an inspirational timber building that aims to foster discussion and collaboration, reflecting the campus’ focus on collective research and science leadership development.
The brief called for the design of a new campus that would facilitate and enhance transdisciplinary research within the African context. Earthworld created an organic timber building that is made up of visible cells and small components that fit together to create a space that is sculptural, contextually relevant and sustainable.

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Inspiration

A pioneering approach to sustainable design

Hear from founder and co-director of Earthworld André Ekseen, as he discusses the philosophy, inspiration and practicalities of designing and constructing this uplifting and collaborative space.

Future Africa Campus, South Africa, Earthworld Architects,
ewarch.co.za

Design for manufacture

Digital tools enable precision manufacturing

One of the first mass timber buildings constructed in South Africa, Earthworld designed the Future Africa Innovation Campus dining hall to be manufactured offsite and to allow different stages of manufacture and assembly to take place in parallel.
Digital integration was crucial to this precision approach and Archicad enabled the team to work with zero tolerance in manufacturing.
Resting on a concrete slab, the steel and timber components for the entire campus were prefabricated on CNC bending, cutting and milling machines. A large proportion of the building was constructed using 30mm birch plywood which was cut to size in the factory and assembled onsite like a jigsaw.

Documentation with Archicad

Enroll in Graphisoft Learn’s Advanced Documentation Techniques in Archicad course to have a complete understanding of the documentation workflows that will enable you to confidently set up various filters on your model to get exactly what you need.

You can start manufacturing the entire building and all the components from day zero if you do your groundwork correctly. That’s where Archicad is very valuable – you can work to the finest minute detail in a model space – and then translate that into a manufacturing language.
André Eksteen
Founder and Co-Director of Earthworld Architects

The build

An uplifting space built by hand

Earthworld designed the entire building to be assembled by hand, with components transported to the site on a pick-up truck or car and trailer. The practice’s philosophy of ‘democratic industrialization’ enables small builders and unskilled workers to be involved in large construction projects. The building was built by a team of just eight workers, some of whom were previously unskilled.
The power of Archicad and BIMx opened communication between the architects and the builders. By bringing the 3D designs to site on an iPad, everyone could immediately visualize what they were building and could understand where their work fitted into the project.

The power of BIM

Digital integration and collaboration

The digital integration between design, manufacture and assembly was critical to the success of the project. Archicad was invaluable in translating digital drawings into the information required for manufacturing quickly and easily.
Every component of the building was designed, drawn, modeled, presented and communicated within the building information model.
In addition, the team exported moment models directly from Archicad for the structural engineers. This gave the structural engineers the precise details for all the joints and connections; a crucial element when working with mass timber.