Hamlet Crèche – a kindergarten in timber and clay construction designed and built by German architecture students in South Africa

Hamlet Crèche is a kindergarten designed and built in South Africa by students from RWTH Aachen University as practical course during their studies. The building was designed for children from a township and constructed in cooperation with local volunteers and craftsman. The structure is a timber-framed construction with adobe walls adapted to the South African climate. To ensure a short construction time the roof structure was prefabricated in elements and then lifted and assembled onto the walls. For joining the timber structure continuously threaded self-tapping screws were used enabling connections which had a high load bearing capacity and were easy to assemble. The whole structure was erected in only 7 weeks with another 4 weeks for the interior finishing. The experience of conducting the project together gave many new practical, cultural and social experiences to both the students and the local community.