Report 4
Before I go on to describe today’s work I’d like to do a short comment on the capital of Lesotho.
Maseru is a very strange capital. It spreads for miles and you can’t quite say when it stops and a suburb starts or for that matter when the suburb stops and the rural starts… The whole area where we’ve been to seams to be scattered some way or another with small constructions, and the approach to central Maseru is no different, the density is a bit higher but the rest is the same.
Maseru Central is however quite different. It’s all organized either side of a central road, at one end of it stands the building which to me is the best of the city. A “tourist information/arts and crafts shop”, its design is based on traditional shapes and techniques but it has a very modern and well built look about it! Then further up you’ll find the cinema, cafes, shops, tall buildings, hotels and banks, all that you’d expect to find in a capital but organized in a strange way. Strange but charming!
The administrative buildings and the King’s palace are behind this main street and in between is a gardened square. Once again all looks quite familiar and odd at the same time.
Back to work now! Martin and I spent our day (if I haven’t explained I apologize, Martin Dyke Coomes is the senior Architect that has also volunteered to help out in the LCCU project, his help has been invaluable and I’ve already learnt a great deal from our short time working together!), so as I was saying we spent our time drawing up the existing plan… No easy task, ask me! All the dimensions were really difficult to tie together, but it’s done now! The site’s also been drawn as accurately as possible, but in reality, it doesn’t matter! It’s not like the building is going to go anywhere!
With that done, a third of our work is done. The easy third! Now we just need a solution that we are happy with! Draw it! And convince everyone that it’s the best!
A lot of work still to be done, but we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel…
Before I go on to describe today’s work I’d like to do a short comment on the capital of Lesotho.
Maseru is a very strange capital. It spreads for miles and you can’t quite say when it stops and a suburb starts or for that matter when the suburb stops and the rural starts… The whole area where we’ve been to seams to be scattered some way or another with small constructions, and the approach to central Maseru is no different, the density is a bit higher but the rest is the same.
Maseru Central is however quite different. It’s all organized either side of a central road, at one end of it stands the building which to me is the best of the city. A “tourist information/arts and crafts shop”, its design is based on traditional shapes and techniques but it has a very modern and well built look about it! Then further up you’ll find the cinema, cafes, shops, tall buildings, hotels and banks, all that you’d expect to find in a capital but organized in a strange way. Strange but charming!
The administrative buildings and the King’s palace are behind this main street and in between is a gardened square. Once again all looks quite familiar and odd at the same time.
Back to work now! Martin and I spent our day (if I haven’t explained I apologize, Martin Dyke Coomes is the senior Architect that has also volunteered to help out in the LCCU project, his help has been invaluable and I’ve already learnt a great deal from our short time working together!), so as I was saying we spent our time drawing up the existing plan… No easy task, ask me! All the dimensions were really difficult to tie together, but it’s done now! The site’s also been drawn as accurately as possible, but in reality, it doesn’t matter! It’s not like the building is going to go anywhere!
With that done, a third of our work is done. The easy third! Now we just need a solution that we are happy with! Draw it! And convince everyone that it’s the best!
A lot of work still to be done, but we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel…
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