The Ubuntu Centre
Our new headquarters, the Ubuntu Centre, is the soaring expression of Ubuntu’s hopes and beliefs. Stan Field, an internationally renowned, Port Elizabeth–born architect, created a beautiful space in the unlikely setting of a struggling township. And our community has taken it to heart.
A child can walk into the Ubuntu Centre, talk with a counselor, get any medicines she needs, enjoy fresh vegetables from the garden, dive into the intricacies of grammar, yoga, or geometry, and leave feeling that she is a worthwhile person who deserves attention and respect. The building is our statement that access to world-class education and health services should be every child’s right.
You can also order a hard copy of the Designing Ubuntu book.
The Centre enables Ubuntu to provide our comprehensive intervention model under one roof. It houses a pediatric HIV clinic with its own pharmacy. The education wing has classrooms and a computer center. Here, we provide academic and enrichment programs starting with early childhood development and leading all the way to university scholarships. The organic rooftop garden mirrors the community gardens that we have built throughout the townships. The community theater houses our children’s performances and provides a venue that will attract to Zwide Township world-renowned artists such as legendary South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela, who performed during the Centre’s joyous opening ceremony.
The Ubuntu Centre is a living building in the heart of Zwide Township. It gets people talking. It gets people smiling. Life literally flows through the building and out into the community, instead of stopping at its borders.
In 2009, before the Ubuntu Centre was even built, the design of the building won the coveted Progressive Architecture award in the United States and was featured on the cover of the U.S.–based Architect magazine. Since then, the Centre has won two Fulton awards for building and concrete in architecture.
The Ubuntu Centre is more than prize-winning design. It sends a clear message to the global community: the children of Port Elizabeth deserve the best the world has to offer.
