Ten local architects (teamed up with ten international ones) were invited to create a low-cost dwelling, for less than 9,000 dollars, to be built at Freedom Park, a vast estate 40 kilometres from the South African city with a population of 300,000. Designers included Thomas Heatherwick, Mark Dytham, Shigeru Ban and Tom Dixon, but the first project to be built, in February, was by Luyanda Mpahlwa from the practice MMA Architects (teamed with Will Alsop). Their successful idea was based on the use of technology supplied by the South African company Ecobeam: a structure in wood and metal with sandbags instead of bricks. It is a system that greatly reduces the cost of materials and construction time, and has the added advantage of not requiring specialist labour as well as offering excellent thermal and acoustic insulation. Elena Sommariva
www.mmaarch.co.za