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PEOPLE
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 Peter Rich, winner of the 2010 ABSOLUT VISI Designer of the Year Award, was nominated for his design of the
Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre, which won the
World Building of the Year at the World Architecture
Festival in Barcelona in 2009.
Apart from also winning
the cultural category at the festival, the structural
engineers who worked on the project walked off
with the David Alsop Sustainability Award at the
international 2009 Structural Awards.
The centre was designed for South African National
Parks and is situated in the Mapungubwe National Park
and World Heritage site in Limpopo, which celebrates
the site of an ancient civilization linked to the Great
Zimbabwe trading culture.
Inspiration from the landscape
The landscape was both the
inspiration for the magnificent design and the source of
most of the materials for its construction.
The anthill-like group of vaulted structures were
built using stabilised earth tiles and the ancient tile
vaulting technique, which requires no reinforcing.
The
largest free-form vaults span 14,5m, with an unreinforced
masonry vault of only 300mm in thickness.
The simple, elegant structures are clad with locally
quarried stone, which adds a stabilising load to the
vaults and integrates the centre into its surroundings.
The project contributed to poverty relief in the area by
using ecological methods, local materials and labour.
Peter Rich has been in practice for more than
35 years. He has completed a diverse range of
projects, from high-end corporate interior design
and award-winning residential construction, to
humble community-owned cultural centres and
national buildings.
More info:
www.peterricharchitects.co.za
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