Africa Design Competition - HLM Architects

Phila Kahle ('Live Well') helps to
mitigate stress and strengthen immunity

Highly Commended
Phila Kahle (‘Live Well’)

Design submission by HLM Architects

Named after the Zulu for ‘Live Well’, Phila Kahle is based on the idea that the built environment can facilitate a sense of life’s comprehensibility, manageability and meaning: restorative places can mitigate stress and strengthen immunity, providing positive psychosocial stimulation.

Its proposed HPLC consists of:

A primary healthcare clinic
Community space
A landscaped garden and vegetable garden
Transition housing (eg for patients who have travelled a long way and are awaiting transportation to other facilities)
A crèche
Support facilities such as staff and security accommodation.

Research-based design principles guided the inclusion of features in the building to support healing as well as sustainability

With the philosophy that “ideas precede design”, HLM was informed by research-based design, and guided by features that have multiple benefits. For example, daylight can boost immune strength as well as aiding patient safety and staff satisfaction, and is more energy efficient; natural ventilation not only reduces the spread of infectious diseases such as TB, it also reduces reliance on air conditioning.

This translates into waiting areas that are situated in covered walkways or semi-enclosed spaces, for example, or the location of habitable and working spaces along the north axis for solar shading. Green spaces are also important, with pleasant outdoor areas accessible from the main waiting and circulation zones. Rainwater is collected from the roof, and stored for use in the gardens, while grey water is also stored and filtered to be reused where appropriate.

The Phila Kahle scheme uses a limited palette of materials and systems that are appropriate to Africa, including standing seam sheeting, which is lightweight and easy to transport, and insulated wall/partition panels.

Green spaces were important in the design development

HLM offered two site plans, one for rural and township settings where land costs will most likely allow similar-sized developments, and a more compact two-storey plan for tighter urban sites; a modular layout means the same concept can be implemented in different locations.

Location is seen as paramount, with a proposed township site in Soweto chosen for its accessibility and co-location with a retail centre and open green space – with the idea that health promotion will follow more easily when health activities are placed closer to everyday activities.

Click here to download the full submission

What the judges said
"Named after the Zulu for, ‘Live well’, the Phila Kahle has been highly commended for the practical, flexible and deliverable resolution of a scheme that responds directly and through research-based design to the local psychosocial needs of the people living in both rural and township settings."