Architects: The Matrix...cc Urban Designers & Architects Area : 2147 m² Year : 2016 Location : Missionvale Campus ,PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA

1. NMMU B ED FOUNDATION PHASE BUILDING
CASE STUDY-II
JNANESH PREETHAN 1IS19AT015

2. Site Plan Architects: The Matrix...cc Urban
Designers & Architects
Area : 2147 m²
Year : 2016
Location : Missionvale Campus
,PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH
AFRICA
NMMU B ED FOUNDATION PHASE BUILDING
The competition was won by the Matrix...cc
Architects & Urban Designers, whose
scheme proposed a structurally playful
building that reformed the previously
fenced off connection with the local
community through the creation of a public
square. The inclusion of the building and
greater campus into the surrounding
context was one of the primary conceptual
drivers.

3. The creation of a new campus gateway resulted in the programme of
the building being split in two, with a ‘Classroom Building’, consisting
of central atrium and gallery space linking three levels of training
facilities, lecture rooms and computer facilities, and an ‘Office
Building’, which hosts the administration, security and staff facilities. A
grand entrance canopy, defining the gateway threshold into the
campus and layering the transition between public spaces, visually
and spatially links the two buildings.
Zoning
‘Classroom Building
Office Building’
‘Classroom Building Office Building’

4. Ground Floor Plan

5. 1st Floor Plan

6. The orientation maximises natural light and ventilation, creating a bright and inviting atmosphere that permeates the triple volume gallery of
the building. Serving as the central circulation spine, the gallery links the various classroom, training and computer centres with a range of
communal spaces, conversation pits and a generous open atrium at the entrance. This mix of studio and study spaces is further extended
to the outside of the building, where generous verandas, external terraces and an embanked grass amphitheatre allow for a range of
personal and communal events.
Spaces

7. Drama in materiality is also created with subtle variations in application and surface; concrete floors are polished to reveal the contrast
between the smooth exposed aggregate and off shutter concrete;
perforated metal screens designed to enclose the industrial fire escape staircases, while the milled steel roof sheeting to the soft roofs
results in a wonderfully textured dappling effect along the southern facade. The colourful mosaic tiles placed on the playful and
interactive conversation pit, suspended within the atrium and puncturing the glass facade of the building, create a burst of colour and
provide a central focal point.
Materials Used

8. A grand entrance canopy, defining the gateway threshold into the campus and layering the transition between public spaces,
visually and spatially links the two buildings.
Details

9. Details
The design is further highlighted by
the inclusion of a heavy hanging
fascia beam that spans along the
upper edge of the building.Much of
the clarity of the structure however
resides in the minimised palette of
materials employed. Guided by the
original face brick design used
throughout the Missionvale
campus, the building limits itself to
off-shutter concrete, face-brick and
steel, with accents of painted
finishes in the corporate red and
blue colours of the NMMU.

10. Interior views

11. THANK YOU