The Contact Centre serves as a easily accessible gathering space and seeks to announce to visitors and residents that they have entered the Capital of the Eastern Cape Province. It forms an integral part of a first node of the “Bhisho Revitalisation Programme”.
Bhisho was a “new town” created out of nothing; built up on open pastureland to house the capital of the Ciskei homeland in the Apartheid 1980’s. Since then though, it has never quite escaped the sense that it is in some way a semi-abandoned, never-completed ghost town. The idea is that the Contact Centre is the first of a number of projects identified in an Urban Renewal Strategy to begin to “fill in the gaps” and act as a catalyst for other public and private sector projects to continue the pattern. The Contact Centre is used as an inter-departmental, inter-sectoral meeting place; a neutral space promoting communication across and between “silos”.
Positioned at the intersection of the R63 and Link Road, The Contact Centre is highly visible as an “architectural signpost”. It gives definition to the town by acting as an entrance gateway , together with the existing Bhisho Massacre Memorial site.
The building consists of flexible meeting and exhibition spaces. At ground level the building forms an extension to the development of the Bhisho Massacre Memorial, taking the concentric design of the memorial gardens into consideration. Through the creation of an expansive plaza, outdoor entertainment spaces along with information plaques; the design is an appropriate expression of the current development on site.
The building on ground level takes a circular form, with a contradicting rectangular shape presenting itself in the planning, once inside the building. The vertical circulation element is situated right at the entry point of the building, with the entrances on either side, forming the edges of a triple story void / natural ventilation stack system.
The circular form continues on the first floor. Both levels are enclosed with a continuous glazed curtain wall, which is offset from the floors. The second floor form changes from a circle to a more elongated oval shape, allowing a greater usable floor area. The entire Level is screened off with an external floor to roof timber louver system, to provide a solar shield.
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