Light Earth Designs：位于南非北部林波波河和沙什河交汇处的马蓬古布韦国家公园，在自然环境中庆祝技术先进的古代贸易文明遗址。

Light Earth Designs：Sited at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers, in northern South Africa, the Mapungubwe National Park celebrates the site of a technologically advanced ancient trading civilization in the context of a natural setting.

复杂的岩石景观既是设计的灵感来源，也是建造新演绎中心的材料来源，最终形成了真正扎根于其所在位置的结构组合。该建筑位于公园入口的一个台地的山脚下，在视觉上由三个空心的石冢组成，这些石冢让人想起在南部非洲文化中常见的岩石标记。Timbrel vaulting是自然力量和材料的简单表达，用于建造戏剧性的洞穴般的空间。从远处看，起伏的岩石覆盖着拱顶，与景观融为一体。在接近的时候，薄的拱形边缘暴露出来，拱顶腾空而起，似乎从地球上翻腾而出。

The complex rocky landscape was both the inspiration for the design and the source of the materials for the construction of the new Interpretation Centre, resulting in a composition of structures that are authentically rooted to their location. The building, set at the foot of a mesa at the park entrance, is visually contained by three hollow cairns that evoke rock route-markers commonly found in Southern African cultures. Timbrel vaulting, a simple expression of natural forces and materials, is used to construct dramatic cave like spaces. From a distance the undulating rock clad vaults blend into the landscape. On approach the thin arched edges are exposed and the vaults soar and seem to billow out of the earth.

精致的人行道创造了一条曲折的斜坡路线，穿过展览空间，轻轻地爬上台地，到达场地的最高点，为游客提供了丰富的体验和景观，唤起了穿越这片土地的多种文化的复杂社会互动。

Delicate walkways create a zigzagging ramped route through the complex, through exhibition spaces, gently climbing the mesa to the highest point on the site, providing the visitor with a multiplicity of experiences and views, evoking the complex social interactions of the many cultures that have traversed the land.

该项目的议程超出了该地区的历史介绍范围，以唤醒人们对当地生态脆弱性的理解。这些目标体现在该中心的建设过程中，失业的当地人民接受了制造稳定土砖和建造timbrel拱顶的训练。泥瓦匠们继续使用这些技能，将剩余的瓷砖用于附近村庄的房屋。因此，该中心不仅是该遗址、非洲及其在世界起源中的独特地位的象征，也成为一个仍在展开的故事的一部分，一个文化与其自然遗产共生共存的故事。

The project’s agenda extends beyond the presentation of the area’s history to awaken an understanding of the vulnerability of the local ecology. These objectives are manifested in the construction process of the Centre in which unemployed local people were trained in the manufacture of stabilised earth tiles and in building the timbrel vaults. The masons have continued to use these skills by using the remaining tiles for their houses in nearby villages. Thus, the Centre is not only emblematic of the site, Africa and its unique place in the origin of the world become part of a story that is still unfolding, of culture developing in symbiosis with its natural legacy.

地点: 南非林波波河 建筑设计: Light Earth Designs 照片：Iwan Baan 完成: 2009年

Location: Limpopo，South Africa Architect: Light Earth Designs photo credit: Iwan Baan Year: 2009