Nelson Mandela Univiersity - Human Movement Science Building

The new Human Movement Science Building located near the Vodacom Sports Centre on South Campus, Nelson Mandela University is the new facility for the Human Movement Science Department and Dietetics Kitchen. Studio D’Arch was responsible for the design of the building and the construction ended in 2013.

The new building consists of a high-performance gymnasium, bio-kinetics gymnasium with changing rooms and ablutions, office spaces and four laboratories, a 120 seater multi-purpose, subdivisible lecture venue assessment and storerooms with staff facilities and offices in the mezzanine level.

According to Herholdt, 2013 at this stage of the development of this building, it is essentially a sculptural object in the natural landscape and later additions to this building may alter its contextual condition.

The orientation of the building is East-West allowing the building to respond to the street edge on the North, defining the entrance of the building. When looking to the façade of the building and when entering the building, one can see that natural light and ventilation plays a big role. In terms of passive design, the building is well equipped with large overhangs and shading devises to protect the building from heat gain.

My favorite element of this building is defiantly the round element at the entrance of the building and the spiral disability ramp. Although this building, in my opinion, is considered slightly out of context due to the large existing concrete buildings on the South Campus it still makes a good statement when walking or driving pass this modern building.

In Conclusion, the building performs well in context and is well appreciated by the Human Movement Science students in particular. This building is definitely a site visit to consider if one has not been there before.