MAERUA
N’S HOME
Nina Maritz
“
Tannie, Tannie – kom kyk
na my kamer,” were the first
words greeting me when I
visited House Maerua just after
occupation. A sparkling little girl of
about eight in casual jeans and t-shirt,
dragged me down the steps to her
bedroom – walls covered in flounces and
paper butterflies, a soft light filtering
through red curtains. “Why do you keep
the curtains closed?” I asked while
she switched on the light. “Because it
makes it so nice and pink inside,” she
explained. As I prefer natural light and
fresh air, I don’t like closed curtains in
daytime, but this little girl positively
revelled in the theatrical atmosphere her
red curtains created. The importance of
flexible design was again brought home
to me by this experience – to create
opportunities for occupants to make
their space their own in more than only
in name.
House Maerua as an architectural
project illustrates the need for design
to include not only “style” or aesthetics,
but functional, financial, psychological
and environmental considerations.
Colour -“coding” may be seen as
the last resort of a convoluted design,
but the intention here was different.
House Maerua shelters children removed
from their families on court order
due to neglect or abuse. They arrive
traumatised and resentful, and need a
lot of care to rebuild their self-esteem.
The buildings thus had to be much more
than four walls and a roof, but were
to provide for each child the ability to
establish a strong sense of identity.
Children are grouped by age and
gender into three houses (boys, girls
and toddlers), each with a married
couple acting in loco parentis. The
design aims to create a family home
as far as possible, the only difference
being private quarters for the “parents”
on one side. To avoid a hostel-style