Western Cape Government
City of Cape Town
City of Cape Town
Community engagements in the low-income settlement of Dunoon near Cape Town revealed a dire need for safe learning spaces, internet access, and recreational areas. With limited funds at their disposal, the Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town joined forces to develop the low cost Dunoon library project, making use of repurposed shipping containers and environmentally sustainable technologies to achieve a combination of affordability and resilience. The precinct consists of a library that offers a wide range of services and programs, a sports field and a club house.
Before the development of the Dunoon Library Precinct, the area faced a significant lack of access to essential public services and infrastructure, particularly educational and recreational facilities. Residents, especially youth, had limited spaces for learning, community engagement, and cultural development. In response to these challenges, the City of Cape Town implemented an innovative solution by repurposing old shipping containers from nearby harbor activities. A two-story clubhouse adjacent to the sports field was built using these containers, offering a flexible design that can be disassembled, relocated and reassembled as needed. The main library is a three-story building containing several sustainable technologies and features. The precinct now serves as a critical hub for knowledge, connectivity, and social upliftment in a community that was previously underserved.
The library is crucial for enhancing the lives of community members by offering access to digital resources, promoting intellectual development, and fostering a friendly and inclusive environment where people of all ages including students, the unemployed, youth, early childhood educators, and elderly residents can engage in learning and community programs. The sports field serves as the recreational area for Dunoon Primary School, the creche, and the community hub, all situated nearby, while also hosting community events, weekend sports matches, and fitness activities for local youth groups. It is the only sports field in the Dunoon community offering a secure setting for recreational initiatives.
The library also provides career opportunities to local community members by employing residents as library assistants, maintenance staff, and security personnel, as well as creating volunteer and internship opportunities for youth interested in education or community development. By providing free access to computers, internet, and job search resources, it supports job seekers, learners, and aspiring entrepreneurs in the community
Repurposing shipping containers as building materials offers numerous environmental advantages, including diverting them from waste streams, substituting for new building materials, and reducing carbon emissions associated with construction. Moreover, shipping containers are an effective and increasingly popular building material due to their structural strength, modularity, and availability, especially in port cities like Cape Town. They are designed to withstand harsh weather conditions and can be easily stacked or relocated, making them ideal for rapid construction projects and allowing them to be reused in different configurations to maximize their useful lifespan.
Beyond the shipping containers used, the library precinct incorporates several energy and water saving features, including LED lighting with motion sensors to minimize electricity use, strategically placed windows and container configurations to enhance natural lighting and ventilation, green wall installations that provide insulation and natural cooling while absorbing carbon dioxide, and greywater systems that recycle wastewater from sinks and basins for non-potable uses such as irrigation and toilet flushing.
The success of the Dunoon Library Precinct project has been attributed to multi-sectoral funding which allowed for the integration of the library and the surrounding public amenities. The Western Cape Government provided most of the funding for construction, infrastructure, and the sustainability features of the project, but the completion and growth of the library depends on multi-sectoral funding from various government agencies and private organizations.
The Dunoon Library Precinct began as a library and then expanded to include a sports field and other community facilities. The precinct is currently planning its next phase, focused on an abandoned borrow pit containing contaminated water. The goal is to develop and restore the entire neglected area, which poses a social risk to the community due to safety concerns and the lingering stench of polluted water. The third level of the library, which has not yet been completed, is also being planned. The design will be influenced by the community and library staff, as it is intended to meet library needs and close the gap in service provision. The upgrading of the library into a national library is currently under discussion, which would bring additional funding, staffing, and resources to further strengthen its role as a regional knowledge hub.
Phase 3 of the Dunoon Library Precinct would include informally occupied land. Negotiating a solution that benefits both the occupants of the land and the community at large is challenging.
