Pick n Pay is excited to announce its participation in the 2013 Design Indaba. It will be supporting The Green Shack, one of the exhibitors at the event.
Wildlife and Environment Society of SA and Pick n Pay formed a partnership with Cape Town-based designer Stephen Lamb from Touching the Earth Lightly, which saw them co‐funding his pilot project called The Green Shack.
Aiming to demonstrate how informal dwellings can be changed into safer places, this project looks at how simple, low‐tech design can transform temporary spaces into “home” spaces. The issues it will address are that of groundwater flooding, shack fires, food security and thermal insulation.
Designed by Stephen Lamb, in collaboration with Andrew Lord, The Green Shack relies on cheap, low‐tech design that is novel, simple and can be replicated on a large scale. It suggests that one can indeed bring informal housing and food security to the same physical space. In doing this, the design explores the transformative power of light, water and plants, expressed in simple, real and meaningful ways.
A simple four‐wall, corrugated iron structure forms the basis of The Green Shack, but this is augmented by several innovative features. It is raised off the ground to prevent flooding and daylight is supplied by light bulbs made from upturned, recycled plastic bottles that are filled with water. The latter transmits light into the shack without the need for windows, which often offer an invitation to criminals.
Two sun‐facing walls of the shack are wrapped with vertical, organic vegetable gardens supplied by a slow‐release, gravity‐fed drip‐irrigation system. These two walls act as a living food wall, a firebreak and also as a temperature regulator. Rainwater is captured off the roof and stored on-site. The remaining two walls are fitted with sandbags filled with earth, lime and hemp mix and a fire‐resistant solution.
A successful example of The Green Shack has been trialled in the Mshini Wami informal settlement in Cape Town. A replica will be on display at the 2013 Design Indaba outside the main entrance of the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
The Design Indaba takes place from 27 February 2013 to 3 March 2013. This annual conference is renowned for the value it adds to the design industry, attracting business people, designers, creatives and educators from around the world.
More information: www.designindaba.com
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