Urban-Think Tank Empower has unveiled their Empower Upgrade model for housing, the Not-For-Profit company’s design initiative aimed at revitalizing South Africa's informal settlements. This project seeks to address the pressing challenges of urbanization by integrating sustainable infrastructure and community-centric spaces. The project consists of a triangle of terraced housing which provides 72 homes for 428 residents whilst including open communal spaces, a playground, community centre, rooftop garden and a public courtyard.
The Empower Upgrade model was designed as a proactive solution to low-cost housing and building within the informal settlement environment in South Africa. The model developed allows architects to keep the existing residents on the site but replaces the shacks/informal housing with the two-storey row of housing. This not only gives each of the residents more floor area than they had previously, but by pushing housing together, unlike with more common freestanding homes, it opens up room on the site for amenities and public spaces.
The completed terrace houses include bathrooms, kitchens, toilets and water points, and there is significant diversity in the size and internal layouts, with the smallest homes having a footprint of 38 square metres and the largest 86 square metres.
By reimagining urban spaces through sustainable and inclusive design, this model of low-cost housing exemplifies how thoughtful architecture can benefit communities and improve quality of life in rapidly developing regions.
