CITYVIEWS February 2011
CLEAN | SAFE | CAR I NG
THE DESIGN ISSUE Spier’s Infecting the City >> page 3
The Launch of The Fringe >> page 7
Cape Town as an
EVENTS CITY >> page 8
Inside Design Indaba Conference and Expo >> page 3
The latest retail and restaurant news >> page 10
The first in our Chef of the Month series >> page 11
Update on 2014 World Design Capital Bid >> page 4
PLUS
Appointment of Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana as MD of Cape Town Partnership >> page 8
2
about
town
CityViews
February 2011
FROM TASSO
Business as usual
Welcome to the first issue of City Views for 2011. By now most of us are back in the swing of things. If it’s work that brings you to town, then I wish you a prosperous year ahead. If it’s play, then I promise you many exciting opportunities for this as well.
As the CCID, we begin our second decade with our same commitment towards ensuring that Cape Town remains the most popular destination in South Africa. Our role in this has always been to see that the Central City is safe, clean and caring, and we do this through our core functions of urban management, safety and security, and social development. However, this is now the decade to nurture a Central City that can become many other things as well, such as “open for business”, “a great place to invest”, “creative”, and a “24-7 destination.” As an organisation, we are not immune to the same challenges faced by many cities, including corruption. This was an issue the CCID recently had to deal with in our own ranks with the dismissal of three security officers suspected to be involved in the attempted shakedown of a tourist. By acting swiftly, we hope we have demonstrated that we have a zero
tolerance approach towards this – and all crime – in our area. Key events for us this month are the Design Indaba and Spier’s Infecting the City festival. The City’s bid to be World Design Capital in 2014 is hotting up with support as the process heads towards a March submission, and on pg 4 we bring you the latest news on this bid. We would like to extend warm congratulations to Bulelwa Makalima Ngewana, who has been promoted from Deputy Chief Executive of our partner organisation, the Cape Town Partnership, to Managing Director. We chat to Bulelwa about her vision on pg 8. Among our plans for constantly improving our Central City, we intend expanding our social development “Give Responsibly” campaign, and we invite you to get involved. Other campaigns that we’ll be supporting this year are those that encourage public transport and
CITYVIEWS Published by: The Central City Improvement District (CCID) For more info: Sue Segar: 021 419 1881 sues@capetownpartnership.co.za Website: www.capetowncid.co.za Design: Infestation 021 424 6701
Tasso
making the Central City a truly “walkable” zone. Along these lines, be sure to get a copy of our Time Out 2011 Best of Cape Town Central City guide which includes new information with regard to the closest public parking available for each venue listed. And, by the way, this guide also has hundreds of ideal venues in which to celebrate Valentine’s Day on the 14th!
SAVE THESE NUMBERS ON YOUR PHONE CCID Security Manager: 082 453 2942 CCID Deputy Security Manager: 082 442 2112 CCID 24-hour number: 082 415 7127 SAPS Control Room: 021 467 8002 Social Department 082 563 4289
Social Development grows from strength to strength The Central City Improvement District’s “Give Responsibly” campaign has moved from strength to strength over the course of the past year, and has set its sights on even greater achievements in 2011.
S Straatwerk has job rehabilitation projects for men and women. 021 425 0140 The Haven’s vision is to get the homeless home. 021 425 4700 The Homestead provides residential care and family integration for boys. 021 461 7470 Ons Plek provides residential care while undertaking reunification process for girls. 021 465 4829 The Carpenters Shop provides rehabilitation services and skills training for adults. 021 461 5508 Salesian Institute Youth Projects provide education, skills training and rehabilitation to vulnerable youth. 021 425 1450
Many children and young adults living on the streets have severe drug addiction problems. More often than not, the money they receive from begging is used to buy their next “fix”. The CCID therefore requests that members of the public do not give money or handouts directly. If you would like to help, please contact one of the listed organisations mentioned.
Contact the Central City Improvement District’s (CCID’s) Social Development Department for further information or assistance. Pat 021 419 1881 | Dean 082 928 3862 Headman Sirala-Rala 082 262 0113 Mark Williams 082 262 0112 www.capetownpartnership.co.za
o says CCID Social Development Manager, Pat Eddy, as the department gears itself up for another year of social challenges in the Central City. “Give Responsibly” is a campaign aimed at ensuring that public donations find their way to the NGOs that assist street people and the homeless, to break the cycle of poverty, rather than entrenching them within it. “What was encouraging,” says Eddy, “were the number of individuals who contacted us in response to flyers they received about the campaign. Many people made donations directly to our partner organisations – the NGOs - and asked how they could assist in other ways. We are now looking to introduce an appropriate mechanism whereby the public can donate funds easily and quickly to the NGO of their choice. “In addition, we had a few corporates coming in with drives of their own, for example, the Central City team of Pam Golding Properties and the Adderley Hotel. We really encourage this kind of participation.” Pam Golding Properties (PGP) joined hands with the CCID to help needy residents who were trying to turn their lives around by leading a donations drive under the joint banner of PGP’s “Joy of Giving” – a national social responsibility campaign – and the “Give Responsibly” campaign. Known as “Building New Lives”, the joint initiative helped to collect public donations of clothes, shoes and blankets, which were then delivered to shelters around the City. “I would really like to emphasise the need for businesses in the Central City to help
people who need to turn their lives around,” Eddy says. The CCID Social Development Department also distributed over 400 care bags over the festive season – in the form of toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors, soap and other necessary items – to its NGO partners who provide services to people living on the streets. The distribution of these care bags is done twice a year, and this past season included three Central City Soup kitchens - St George’s Cathedral, Scalabrini Centre and the Service Dining Room. The pack included an educational pamphlet on the dos and don’ts of acceptable behaviour. “It is a way of encouraging people to come off the streets and use the ablution facilities which are offered,” said Eddy. “It also provides street people with a sense of dignity and ensures their basic cleansing needs are met. “We also need to help prepare people for employment. We cannot take them straight off the streets and place them in jobs, but need to first partner with the other NGOs who provide skills development. For example, we have seen how individuals who have already successfully completed a number of shifts with our partner NGO, Straatwerk, are more ready for the formal job market.” Eddy’s vision for the year ahead is to find a space somewhere where field workers can spend time with people from the streets and deal with issues in a dignified manner. “They need a place where they can discuss personal issues in privacy and with dignity – and not in the street.”
To find out more about the “Give Responsibly” campaign, please contact Pat Eddy on 021 419 1881.
CityViews 3
February 2011
City Views
N G I S DE
SPECIAL ISSUE
See more about the bid on page four. Also be sure to look out for the WDC 2014 stand sponsored by Cape Town Tourism at the Design Indaba Expo – and hold thumbs for your City’s bid …
Welcome to the Design Issue of City Views. February is always a big month for creativity and design in the Central City – what with both the Design Indaba Conference and Expo as well as Spier’s Infecting the City taking place. So what better month than this for our City to be fine-tuning its bid to be World Design Capital 2014.
2011 Design Indaba Conference to look at the
“CREATIVE ECONOMY” This year’s conference highlights why a creative economy lies at the heart of a sustainable world. What will creativity hold for the future? Can innovation and creativity be constructively employed to design a better and more sustainable economy? These are some of the key questions which will be raised at the 2011 Design Indaba Conference, between 23 and 25 February, where delegates will be treated to the insights of a range of designers and thought-leaders who are working to address these challenges. After six consecutive, sold-out years, the 2011 Design Indaba Conference will, once again, inspire the creative, corporate and educational sectors with its selection of top international speakers, including Google Creative Lab director Robert Wong, urban mobility revolutionary Jens Martin Skibsted, maverick typographer Oded Ezer and multimedia maestro Karin Fong. In another coup, architect Francis Kéré from Burkina Faso and design education activist Kiran Bir Sethi from India will also be on the speakers’ list. The conference once again takes place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) and will be followed by the 2011 Design Indaba Expo from 25 to 27 February, also at the CTICC. In a statement ahead of the conference, Design Indaba organisers said the conference has committed the past 16 years to a vision that rests on the premise that creativity will fuel an economic revolution in South Africa. As such, Design Indaba is a celebration of design in a country iconic of the triumph of human spirit. Proof that even the most intractable problems can be neutralised by the will of people, resurgent South Africa is a beacon to the world. Design Indaba typifies this optimism and cando spirit. Starting from the basis of how design can help solve the problems of an emerging country, it takes the view that a better future can be designed. It’s a vision that lies close to the heart of Cape Town’s bid to be World Design Capital 2014, with its own theme of
“Live Design. Transform Life.” Since 1995, the Design Indaba Conference has grown to become one of the world’s leading design events and hosts more than 40 speakers and 2500 delegates. In turn encouraging local creativity to go global, the Expo has provided a commercial platform for South African designers to showcase local goods and services to the global market through influential international buyers since 2004, boasting some 35 000 visitors and 280 exhibitors last year. The 2011 Expo – always a 100 percent localis-lekker celebration of South Africa’s creativity, will feature bespoke work of top South African designers from all creative disciplines: jewellery to fashion design, craft, multimedia, product design, graphic design, broadcasting, advertising, architecture and interior design as well as new media, publishing and film. Taking place over a weekend, Design Indaba Expo is the ideal outing for the whole family. Apart from the spectacular design on display, a range of attractions include fashion shows, a film festival, kids’ workshops and designer food, as well as the very popular Pecha Kucha presentations. For students and designers under the age of 25, there’s also the Young Designers’ Simulcast. The live video stream of the conference proceedings will be live in both Cape Town and Johannesburg. For more information on the conference and expo, visit www.designindaba.com.
T.w.A.K Wood Expo 2010
Spier’s Infecting the City set to invigorate the CBD Commuters, are you ready for an injection of Cultural Treasure? Remember Infecting the City 2010 when the streets and public spaces of Cape Town came alive with the Infecting the City festival’s Human Rite theme? The dynamic public arts Festival, presented by The Africa Centre and sponsored by Spier, is, for the fourth time, set to invigorate and fascinate Cape Town from 21 to 26 February 2011. Commuters are in for a special treat as the main venue hub will be the Cape Town Station Forecourt, with additional performances and artworks scheduled across the City Centre during the Festival. With a range of provocative, high quality, innovative public art, Infecting the City 2011 is entitled Treasure and will showcase Cape Town and South Africa’s trove of different and sometimes hidden cultures, traditions Infecting the city and heritages. Once again, Infecting the City will present collaborative performance works, art installations, choreographed pieces and public interventions in line with the theme of the country’s multiple treasures. Everything on the festival programme is free and accessible and everyone is invited to celebrate the cultural riches that are often overlooked or discarded. Say the organisers: “Some of the cultural gems that will be showcased include the chanting of Sufi sacred texts by a group of Senegalese men, a martial art based on the knife-fighting techniques of Cape Flats gangsters, hip-hop ‘B-Boy duels’, and the traditional riel dances of Khoisan farm workers.” The dynamic hub of Infecting the City 2011, where several public arts events will take place, will be the newly refurbished Forecourt of the Cape Town Station – the “Gateway to the City”, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. A highlight at the Station will be a music stage that will host three daily concerts featuring sounds from Japanese teiko drummers to Congolese folk songs, and symphonic goema to Xhosa initiation songs. A collective of visual artists will also work on the Station Forecourt, and in public spaces across the Central City several cutting-edge artists will present interventions and performance-pieces that respond to the Treasure theme. Featuring the cultural gems will be three mobile stages – the “Jewel Boxes” – that display a collection of beautiful and unusual performances, crafted by five Cape Town performance professionals at nine sites across the City during the festival. Introducing public arts to the youth, Infecting the City’s educational programme, ‘Arts AWEH’ will bring 120 Grade 10 learners into the City daily to engage with the arts and the City. For more info visit www.infectingthecity.com
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February 2011
Cape Town
FOR WORLD DESIGN CAPITAL 2014 As the closing date for the bidding process approaches, City Views brings you the latest on Cape Town’s entry as World Design Capital 2014
Multiplicity entry by Jaques Strauss, “Flyover Renewal”
L
ast year the City of Cape Town announced its intention to bid for the prestigious title of World Design Capital 2014, and appointed the Cape Town Partnership to co-ordinate the bid and galvanise the local design community to support it. The theme of the bid is “Live Design. Transform Life” and the WDC 2014 team has been hard at work to breathe life into the concept both for 2014 and beyond. Support for the bid has hotted up since September with extensive media exposure in local newspapers, on the radio, and in national magazines. These have showcased, to date, a wide range of stories showing how design is being used to transform the City to make it better for all Capetonians. Stories have included projects and initiatives such as the Cape Craft and Design Institute (CCDI), the Fringe Project (formerly known as the East City Design Initiative), the Green Point Urban Park and the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading
“Effective design can contribute to creating harmonious places for social interaction.”
(VPUU) project in Khayelitsha to name a few. which could generate energy from renewable The type of exposure this is giving to projects sources. Williams and Makeka hope to is not only adding weight to the bid, but also organize more projects and events such leading to very positive results such as the as these as it provides a platform for all German Development Bank - which was a Capetonians –those both inside and outside partner in the VPUU project - agreeing to of the creative industries - to put their ideas extend funding for a further three years. forward and stimulate discussion. The result of the exposure is also creating The Bid Book itself is currently being a very positive and excited atmosphere compiled by the WDC 2014 team together among not only local designers and those with graphic design studio, Infestation. With involved in the creative industries, but creative juices and exciting content flowing Capetonians in general as to the huge in from all directions, the team will no doubt potential a bid such as this can bring to create a visually appetising, interactive the City. book that will intrigue and excite the This was witnessed, for example, in the international judges, and will stand up massive response the MultipliCity project long after the bid as a catalyst to take received at the end of 2010. A public design in Cape Town to the next competition conceived and organized by level. It is the intention of the Rory Williams of Arup and Mokena Makeka WDC 2014 team to keep the of Makeka Design Lab (and with both momentum going past companies sponsoring the competition), the submission of the it was run for the month of October 2010 bid book: with the with winners announced in December. bid book able to The purpose of the competition was to invite written and artistic submissions that imagined how Cape Town could be made a better city for its residents. Entries could be in the form of specific plans for the City or general concepts and ideas for improving any aspect of the urban environment. More than 70 entries were received, which ranged from ideas of transforming the unfinished freeways into public parks and artistic “gateways” into Cape Town to introducing “vertical farms” in towers Urban Park Khoi huts by Alex Jongens
CityViews 5
February 2011
accommodate only a handful of all the projects submitted for consideration, a public record will be made available, once the bid has been submitted, to outline the scale of design that has come forward since the bidding process began. “The intention of this public record is to recognise and showcase not only the scope of projects that have been received to date, but to act as a networking opportunity between members of the design community and the general public, to encourage interaction and the exchange of ideas towards designing for a better future.” The next few weeks sees a number of exciting events supporting the bid. The Design Indaba Expo (2527 February) following the Design Indaba conference, will be home to a Cape Town Tourism stand which will be flying the Cape Town for World Design Capital 2014 banner. Visit the expo, find out more about the bid, and leave your mark saying why you think Cape Town is a design city. Also to keep the momentum going beyond the bid itself, and in conjunction with Arup and Safmarine, a World Design Capital cycle tour will be taking place in Khayelitsha later in the year, creating awareness for Cape Town design. The purpose of the event is to showcase projects particularly in Khayelitsha which are using design to improve conditions and create future opportunities, as well as to promote
and highlight the importance of pedestrianisation and non-motorised transport (NMT). These projects will be experienced by participants as they cycle through Khayelitsha using the NMT cycle and pedestrian walkways that the City has introduced, and which form part of the City-wide NMT programme. The tour will start at the VPUU project,
“The WDC 2014 team has been hard at work to breathe life into the concept for 2014 and beyond.” go past the Thusong Service Centre situated in what is proposed to be the Khayelitsha Business District and end at the Velokhaya BMX track. A diverse range of people will be involved in the event. Corporate sponsors, cycling organisations, design professionals and academics as well as students from design institutions across the Central City, Mitchell’s Plain and Khayelitsha will come together, cycle and discuss how effective design can contribute to creating harmonious places for social interaction and encounter; where a sense of belonging can be nurtured and where “community” is celebrated.
Cape Town is unique and the people within it even more so. What each of us needs to start asking now is what we will be doing in terms of design to transform the city economically, socially and culturally. Becoming a World Design Capital won’t happen without those most important to the process: the people. At the end of the day, it boils down to Cape Town becoming a hub generating innovative solutions and showing the world that this City has what it takes to join this prestigious international ranking. We’ve done it already with the 2010 FIFA World Cup, now let’s show the world a city exploding with solutions designed to outlive us all. For more information on World Design Capital 2014, or to submit a project for consideration to go into the public record post the bid, go to www.capetown2014.com.
A QUICK GUIDE TO THE WORLD DESIGN CAPITAL BID The World Design Capital (WDC) project is a biennial international designation created to recognise cities that have used design in an effective way to revive the city and improve its quality of life. Headed by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid), the establishment of the project has received international acclaim for its contributions to raising awareness of urban revitalisation strategies using design as a primary tool. Since its instigation in 2005, three cities have been declared World Design Capitals, namely Torino for 2008, Seoul for 2010 and Helsinki for 2012. During the period of a year, designated cities share their story of design success through a programme of multidisciplinary designrelated activities in fields such as education, architecture and transportation and in sectors such as technology, communication and urban and industrial design. The City of Cape Town has decided to put in a bid for the prestigious international designation World Design Capital 2014. According to the Cape Town Partnership who are coordinating the city’s bid, the theme behind Cape Town’s bid is “Live Design. Transform life”, and is looking to elevate local design across all levels – including design of the built environment – into the public domain, making people more aware of the importance of design to find solutions to urban and social challenges.
But what does a city need to do in order to succeed in its bid?
Urban Park water feature by Alex Jongens
At the first World Design Capital, Torino, Italy was proud to be a “beta-tester” of the project. As a city with a wide range of competencies in design, Torino’s was in the process of transforming the image of the city from an industrial city to a European city. Using design to facilitate this process, the theme for the events throughout the year was “flexibility”. For 2010, the Seoul Metropolitan Government had already set into motion a three-year, three phase implementation plan for their range of 2010 projects which included the Seoul Design Olympiad, U-Design International Competition, construction of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, the city’s participation in the IDA World Design Report, a Youth Design Creative Camp, as well as initiatives to encourage citizen participation in WDC projects. The recent announcement of Helsinki as the World Design Capital 2012 will see the city sharing its success story with the world. For decades, Helsinki has used design as a means of building an open city. Using the concept of “Embedded Design”, the city has tied design to innovation and found solutions to the needs of its inhabitants.
What does the bid do for Cape Town? If Cape Town wins, it will put our City in the international design spotlight for a full year and expose our local talent to the global environment. But whatever the judges’ final decision, the City of Cape Town, the Cape Town Partnership, Creative Cape Town and other stakeholders are using the bid to highlight design as a way to reshape the City and reposition it within the global context. Design is thus being used to bring people together, not only from different design sectors, but also from different backgrounds. Because of this, the bid goes beyond the parameters of 2014. The work that is currently being done, for example to find projects to include both into the bid book as well as the public record beyond the bid book, are enabling the City to amass a huge directory of the many design initiatives currently on the go from across the Peninsula. This will form a valuable resource for the design industry, well beyond the bid itself, and hopefully open channels of collaboration and communication that will fast-track design towards social change, irrespective of whether Cape Town wins the bid. VPUU playground by Alex Jongens
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“I’m Mokena Makeka, and I support World Design Capital.” Mokena Makeka is principal and founder of Makeka Design Lab, and has been involved in the redesign of the Cape Town Station. He was selected among 100 architects globally to be part of Ordes 100, is a two-time recipient of the CIA Award of Merit, and a 2010 nominee for the Johnnie Walker Celebrating Strides Awards in Design. He sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for Design, is an external examiner at the Columbia University School of Architecture and lectures at the University of Cape Town. His vision is to create a sound African aesthetic that serves the public and client, bringing dignity and grace to the built environment, and says the following: CV
What is design?
MM “Design is about finding an intangible way of providing solutions to tangible problems and these solutions inspire, excite, educate, involve and transcend mere functional requirements.” CV Is Cape Town a Design City? MM “Design and creative thinking are expressed in art and architecture, but equally in IT development, in political strategies, in social processes and are the engine of cultural evolution. So design is not only about products but also about processes and is a way of thinking laterally. In that respect Cape Town is definitely a design city. Design thinking is almost a framework through which you view the world and how you conduct yourself, engage with adversity and take advantage of opportunity.”
February 2011
“I’m Iain Harris and I support Cape Town for World Design Capital 2014.” Iain Harris is the founder of the creative and cultural travel company Coffeebeans Routes, and believes that in the knowledge economy, creativity is one of our greatest economic assets. He says: “Our gold is our creative and human capital. Which means that Cape Town is only touching its possibilities.” CV How can design help Cape Town become a better city for all? IH “Cape Town was built on a design brief of isolation and separation. So design is central to the spatial, cultural and economic realities of the City. And central to how we overcome them.”
What examples of design make Cape Town a better city? CV
IH “Public spaces that create opportunity for citizens to relax, and to connect with other citizens, eg Pier Square, Church Square. The Fan Walk which encourages us to get out of our cars, enjoy public art and see the City differently. The Sea Point Promenade, one of the most extraordinary public spaces, anywhere in the world.”
“I’m Heather Moore and I support Cape Town for World Design Capital 2014.” Moore’s Skinny laMinx is a small but fast-growing fabric and homewares business based in Cape Town. Everything is designed, produced and manufactured right here, and then sent off to stores from Hong Kong to Helsinki. Moore believes: CV How can design help Cape Town become a better city for all? HM “Every decision - from planning your lunch to building a stadium - is an act of design. Good design means ideas well thought through, considering materials, economics, environment, aesthetics and emotions. So if Cape Town is a design-led city, I hope it will be a city of well-planned, well-considered decisions that will affect us all on a small and a large scale.” CV What examples of design make Cape Town a better city? HM “The design of the public transport system, pedestrianisation and the bike lanes currently being put in place throughout the City will hopefully reduce pollution, traffic-related frustration and aggression, and will make people fitter and more in touch with the place they live in.”
“I’m Christo Maritz, and I support Cape Town for World Design Capital 2014.” Creative Director for design company, Design Infestation, Maritz says: “Cape Town can win the title World Design Capital in 2014. Our problem is do we believe it? There is a perception out there that design is art reserved for the privileged. A box that only needs a tick once other more important socio-economic problems are solved. “We see design as the icing on the cake when in fact it is the basic ingredient to solving any problem. And if problems are the fertile ground for ideas to flourish in, we are living in Eden.”
How can design help Cape Town become a better city for all? CV
CM “In fact Cape Town’s existence and history was ‘by design’ some 360 years ago. Since then solving problems has been the key to making the City what it is today, whether the challenge was geographic, environmental, cultural or social. Some design has left its legacy. Some has left its scars. These scars are still visible in the form of neighbourhoods divided by railway lines, open fields where people once lived, forgotten graves, slave quarters on the contours of surrounding hills and pockets of haves and have-nots.
Our redesign began in 1994. Our City is the most culturally diverse in South Africa and this diversity is our strength. Our lives are complex. On the one hand we have to fight for survival economically on the other we have to transform our social responsibility. CV Is Cape Town a Design City? CM There is a design revolution coming with a new wave of creatives who realise they are allowed to change things. The complacency of the past is gone. The idea that someone else will solve our problems is old news. The biggest ingredients Cape Town’s people have is their spirit, their authenticity, their resilience. We solve problems because we need to and because we care. This bid is our starting gun.
Many of the top minds in design in Cape Town have come forward to support the World Design Capital bid.
City Views speaks to a few to find out why.
CityViews 7
February 2011
Pics supplied by: Design Space Africa
A MOBILE CITY
Temporary Incubator project planned for The Fringe
The Fringe:
Cape Town’s Innovation District An exciting design and informatics hub takes shape in the East City.
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he East City Design Initiative has been rechristened. Stand between Roeland and Darling Streets, Buitenkant and Canterbury Streets, with the land from CPUT, connecting from Longmarket through to Tenant Street, and you’re in The Fringe: Cape Town’s Innovation District. As a proposed design and informatics hub planned for the East City, the project first took shape in 2007. Stakeholders began conceptualising “the premier African environment for design, media and ICT innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship” and engaging government. The project has important friends: the Department of Economic Development and Tourism (Provincial Government of the Western Cape) supports it via its Cape Catalyst Initiative, a unit that recognises the importance of various creative industry sectors for growing the provincial economy through relevant infrastructure. Other supporters include City of Cape Town departments, The Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Faculty of Informatics and Design (CPUT’ FID) and other civil society bodies. Kaiser and Associates’ recent interim business feasibility study
showed that setting up such a district could have positive impact for the sector’s growth. The name relates to its peripheral “border” relationship to the Central City and proposed development strategies. Development must, therefore, be a careful mix of public and private investments supported by current research. The Fringe is modelled on an urban “science park” – an organisation managed by specialised professionals for community prosperity, promoting innovation and competitive integration of education and commerce. Good role models are
“Stand between Roeland and Darling Streets, Buitenkant and Canterbury Streets, with the land from CPUT connecting from Longmarket through to Tennant Street, and you’re in The Fringe: Cape Town’s Innovation District.”
22@Barcelona, Toronto Fashion Incubator and Design London. The Fringe is already a hub of sorts; home to Cape Craft and Design Institute (CCDI) and the Cape
Fashion Council, Open Innovation Studios, a range of modest-sized design and ICT firms, and CPUT’ FID. The area’s entertainment and leisure setting - another criteria for an urban “science park” - includes The Field Office café, Charlys Bakery, various eateries, The Assembly, and The Book Lounge. Growth is evident, too. Heritage site, The Granary, is under renovation, and Bandwidth Barn (BWB) is an imminent 2011 tenant. It is hoped that this international ICT sector-supportive facility will encourage the migration of more entrepreneurship and incubators, sector service bodies and educational institutions to the area. (We hear that Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking is moving in from Johannesburg, too.) The proposed “Temporary Incubator Hub” is an exciting key project. Award-winning architect, Luyanda Mphalwa, with Ameena Desai from Design Space Africa, would be an entrepreneurial support hub and networking opportunity aimed at the design and media sector targeting emerging professionals. The Fringe is project-managed by the Cape Town Partnership through its Creative Cape Town programme and forms an important element of Cape Town’s World Design Capital Bid for 2014. For more information contact Yehuda Raff at yehuda@capetownpartnership or call 0214191881.
Understanding NMT (new mobility transport) The time has come to embrace new mobility transport in Cape Town and get out of our cars and onto public transport, bicycles and our feet. City Views is embracing the campaign to see the Central City (and indeed the whole City) become a new mobility destination. As part of our objective to support this campaign, we bring you the first of our monthly stories on realising this dream. This month, we speak to Gail Jennings, urban cyclist and editor of Mobility Magazine – South Africa’s only pro-sustainability transport magazine - about what mobility means to her. CV What are your dreams for Cape Town Central City for 2011? GJ That I’ll be able to get here from home by bicycle – ride to the nearest rail station, then take my bike with me on the train, and get out at Cape Town Station.
What are your goals for the year ahead? CV
GJ In 2011 Mobility Magazine will continue to feature mega transport projects and replicable international best practice, but will also begin to write more about citizen activism and successful/ replicable neighbourhood-level transport and public space projects. We’re also starting to produce bicycle-commuter route maps – first one out in January – with details of bicycle lanes, safer commuter routes, places to “park” your bicycle, bicycle-friendly venues, etc. Most international cities – London, New York, Paris – publish such maps, and we think it’s time local cities offered something similar. So look out for these this year. CV What’s your vision for transport in Cape Town? GJ My vision is that we begin to connect the dots – for inter-modality to become more integrated. For example, at present, Metrorail and Golden Arrow timetables are not synchronised. And although the new bicycle lanes in Central Cape Town all radiate from Cape Town rail station, bicycles are not permitted on Metrorail trains, so there’s something of a disconnect there… I wish Cape Town would offer a more enabling environment for walking, cycling and
Gail Jennings
public transport so the most convenient or appropriate choice is no longer always a private car. We need safe, integrated, frequent, reliable, accessible, affordable ways of getting around. CV How far is Cape Town towards getting this type of public transport? GJ We’re quite a way off, I think. Planners, policy-makers and activists do, to a large extent, know what needs to be done – for all the right reasons. But it’s as if there is a great reluctance to make the difficult decisions and allocate the budgets. It’s like with climate mitigation and adaptation: we know what needs to be done, but it’s much easier to continue the way things are and hope everything will just resolve itself. CV How do you get around? GJ I try to organize my life so that at least three or more days a week are car-free – then I’ll ride my bicycle to work, to go out at night, shopping, etc. I commute mostly on a cyclecross bike (named Lola) which gives me more flexibility, and more space on the road (ie, I can ride on the gravel shoulders and the grass); it’s light and easy to carry around. In the Central City I ride a folding bike – easy to take into town in my car and to sneak into the many places where bicycles are not welcomed. My folding bike has so many admirers; I get stopped by taxi drivers, fruit sellers, suits, you name it, asking me where I got it!
For more information on Mobility Magazine, go to http:// emag.mobilitymagazine.co.za
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CityViews
February 2011
A GROWING CITY
New MD committed to a diverse, 24-hour Central City
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ulelwa Makalima-Ngewana knew early on in life that, if there was one thing she felt deeply about as a legacy of apartheid, it was the use of space to separate people. “I realized that, if I was going to make a mark, I would have to get into a profession which allowed space to address that legacy,” she says. We are meeting for an interview in her office at the Cape Town Partnership where Makalima-Ngewana, the mother of two children, was recently promoted to Managing Director. In her new capacity – she was previously deputy CE to Andrew Boraine – MakalimaNgewana will manage all operations for the Partnership while Boraine, known as a visionary and passionate about cities and their potential, is freed up to take charge of the organisation’s strategic direction. A qualified town planner, Makalima-Ngewana has been with the Partnership since
2004. “We need to cater for the next decade of growth,” she believes. “It was not a surprise,” Makalima-Ngewana says of her appointment. “We have been operating for a decade and it’s a case of what the next decade brings. We need to effectively organize our capacity as an organisation to cater for the next decade of growth. The new structure requires an operations-focused director and a strategic-focused director.” The mandate of managing, developing and promoting the Central City remains in place, she explains. However, the new direction embraces the need to look at the growth of Cape Town, which requires going beyond the Central City. That will fall on Boraine’s shoulders – a look at what’s beyond the geographical mandate –critical issues such as the future of the IRT, affordable housing for the City and surrounds, issues of addressing job creation and poverty.
“We need to cater for the next decade of growth” Fiercely ambitious for the city she now calls home, she is adamant it must live up to its world-class potential: “The Central City has become safe, clean and caring. Now we want to see it as vibrant, welcoming and filled with life on a 24-hour basis. “We have unfinished business. We need to
build on the gains of 2010 going forward. We need to assess all the infrastructure which the World Cup brought and ask ourselves what this can do for the Central City.” Makalima-Ngewana shares Boraine’s widely known vision of Cape Town as a walkable, green, 24-hour, liveable and affordable city which is permanently geared for events. And, along with Boraine, she also wants to ensure Cape Town becomes a diverse and socially cohesive 24-hour city which is welcoming to people of all races and classes. Makalima-Ngewana is therefore not shy to articulate some of the Central City’s deficiencies, such as the need to address the matter of District Six, to support and grow the creative industries, and to ensure that retailing is diverse and affordable to sustain its commitment to serve all communities. “It is up to us as Capetonians who care about the Central City to try to make this an attractive, cosmopolitan city of choice that attracts young people, for example, who have just graduated to come here to make their mark. I would love to see people moving from Johannesburg to live, work and play in Cape Town. There is no reason why they should not be doing it. Our quality of life is just as good as in Jo’burg.” Another dream is for Cape Town to win its bid to be the World Design Capital in 2014. “It will be an entirely new way of showcasing Cape Town as a design city, which it is,” she says.
Photo: Anita van Zyl
City Views speaks to Bulelwa MakalimaNgewana, the new Managing Director of the Cape Town Partnership, on her vision for the future.
Andrew Boraine and Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana
CAPE TOWN as an Events City Cape Town Partnership CE, Andrew Boraine, believes in Cape Town’s potential as a worldclass events city. The following extract is from a recent interview conducted on this vision with journalist, John Young.
JY If Cape Town is to become a permanent events city, what infrastructure needs to be put in place? AB What must be understood is that Cape Town is already an “events city” – but now it’s about maximising its local, national and international potential to be a global events city. However, irrespective of whether you are developing the infrastructure in a city to host
global events, to attract international tourism, or to service the needs of Capetonians – it’s actually the last of these, developing infrastructure for Capetonians, that will indeed be the most important step to attract all the rest! If you don’t have viable public transport and public spaces that locals use and enjoy, how can you hope to develop infrastructure to attract or maximise events? The rollout of the IRT has begun: the challenge
is to educate those Capetonians who traditionally use cars that it is a safe, secure, efficient and costeffective system of transport. JY Is there really enough conference business to justify doubling the size of the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC)? AB The CTICC is currently listed as number 30 in international conventions. It’s already listed as the top facility in Africa and aims to be among the top 10 in the world in the next decade. In order to better compete for the lucrative overseas market the CTICC needs much more exhibition space.
Photo: Ed Suter
JY What benefits are there to becoming World Design Capital 2014? AB 2014 is a landmark year marking two decades of democracy in South Africa. Apartheid was designed to divide. Since 1994, Cape Town has been learning to reconnect. Employing design thinking and processes in addressing Cape Town’s challenges are critical to
Left: The annual Community Jazz event highlights the Central City’s eventing possibilities.
creating a sustainable city for the future. Thus our theme for the bid is “Live Design. Transform Life.” Many Cape Town designers have already been honoured globally: architects Luyanda Mpahlwa, (winner, Curry Stone Design Prize for his 10x10 low-cost housing solution); Carin Smuts (winner, 2008 Global Award for Sustainable Architecture); and the team of industrial designer Philip Goodwin, electronics designer Stefan Zwahlen and project leader John Hutchinson (winners, Index Design Award for the Freeplay Fetal Heart Rate Monitor). Local environmental design is also having an impact: for example, the City’s Green Goal programme to help offset the World Cup’s carbon footprint, has been widely acclaimed. So we do have design to share – not just with the world but among ourselves as far as innovation and best practice are concerned. But, more importantly, the City has a compelling story to tell, particularly in how it is using design to overcome the huge challenges caused by apartheid. Recognition as a World Design Capital places us securely on the international map of design – the benefits are vast from raising the profile of the country to securing investment.
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Giorgio Nava’s double take on the Central City
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re we a Central City on the move and open for business? What a question. You know the place is pumping when one person decides to open two new businesses in the Central City in the space of months. Giorgio Nava, the owner chef of the much-loved 95 Keerom and Carne restaurants in Keerom Street (as well as other establishments in Kloof Street such as Café Milano and Nava’s Mozzarella Bar) has this to say about the Central City: “People are coming back. I have lived in South Africa for ten years now and have seen how the Central City is becoming more and more safe, clean and liveable. Lots of people are moving back here and of course, they need places for groceries, restaurants, bars etc. That’s why, in the last few months, I’ve invested in the open-
ing of a few new businesses and plan to invest more in the next few months. I believe there is huge potential in the City Centre - more than any other area in Cape Town.” Look out for Nava’s recently opened Down South restaurant at 267 Long Street. “The concept is typical American cuisine from New Orleans. The food is prawns and ribs-based. It’s very spicy, very friendly, very good quality food,” he says. Nava is also set to open the Land Bank building at 54 Queen Victoria Street as a function venue for weddings, fashion shows, launches and exhibitions. “It is one of the most beautiful art deco buildings in town,” says Nava. Look out for our focus on Nava in our Great Chefs of the Central City feature next month.
A SAFE CITY
Fraudsters nabbed by undercover officer in Central City In what has been described by CCID Security Manager, Mo Hendricks, as a brilliant undercover arrest, two people were arrested for the possession of a credit card fraud implement and of stolen property in the Central City in December. According to the police report, an undercover CCID officer was on duty at about 09h30 on 21 December when he saw two men – who are “known card swipers” - walking into a foreign exchange outlet in St George’s Mall. Randall Hanekom, senior Operations Control Officer for Iliso Protection Services said the undercover officer immediately contacted two mobile officers and told them about the suspects and that the pair had previously done card swiping in the Shortmarket and Burg Street areas and around Green Market Square. Hanekom said the Central Intelligence department was informed. They instructed the
A FRIENDLY CITY
All part of the (security) service! Who says a day in the life of a CCID officer is ever the same! Alec van der Rheede of the CCID’s security team received the following letter after he helped a visitor find petrol for his Porsche when he ran out in Buitenkant Street as it was getting dark one evening in December. “Mr Schoeman said he never knew Cape Town had such nice people,” said Van der Rheede.
Hi Alec, Baie dankie vir die hulp en moeite gisteraand met die petrol. Dit word baie wardeer en julle vriendelik
diens maak die stad Kaapstad ‘n absolute aangename plek om in te bly. Sterkte met die feesgety en al die beste vir die nuwe jaar. Groete, Petrus Schoeman In turn, CCID’s Security Manager, Mo Hendricks received this letter from a satisfied client.
Hi Mo, I just wanted to commend your street security for recovering a Blackberry that had been stolen from one our guests, 15year-old Julian Hepburn last night.
I believe he was mugged while walking in upper Long street and when (our staff member) Ashton phoned the CCID they set a trap for the muggers and arrested them, recovering the Blackberry. Please convey our gratitude to the officers involved. Julian’s grandfather works for our owner’s other business and Julian himself made it to the top 20 of the South Africa’s Got Talent competition. Warm regards, Siranne Ungerer Urban Chic Boutique Hotel and Café
New Cape Town Central City Time Out guide highlights parking The definitive 2011 guide to the best of the Cape Town Central City has hit the streets.
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his free A5 guide to what is hot and happening is published under the authority of and in collaboration with the Time Out Group, and funded by the Central City Improvement District (CCID). “The CCID’s mandate as a privatepublic partnership is to make the Central City a more inviting place to visit, live and work,” said Tasso Evangelinos, COO of the CCID. “The Time Out Best of Cape Town Central City guide gives me immense satisfaction because it highlights what a great
City this is, and reminds us of how much there is to experience here, every day of the year.” The Time Out Central City guide is divided into seven categories: sightseeing; arts and leisure; shopping; eating out; nightlife; hotels; and essentials. The comprehensive maps in the essentials section includes a useful list of the Central City’s many parking garages, which for the first time this year corresponds with all listings of venues throughout the guide, indicating the closest parking opportunity in terms of walking distance.
The Time Out Best of Cape Town Central City guide is available free throughout the Central City at Cape Town Tourism, selected shops, hotels, accommodation venues and from any of the CCID mobile security kiosks. Alternatively please contact the CCID on 021 419 1881 to locate a copy.
undercover officer to monitor the suspects closely. The undercover officer then observed the pair changing an unsigned foreign cheque to the value of R500 000.
“... Two people were arrested for the possession of a credit card fraud implement and of stolen property in the Central City in December.” Spotting the undercover officer, the suspects ran off towards Adderley Street, but after calling for assistance the officer and colleagues apprehended the pair in Adderley Street. “The suspects were taken to Cape Town Central Police Station with their vehicle and were subsequently arrested. Members of the Intelligence and Organised Crime Unit searched the vehicle and suspects and found a credit card device and ten bank cards.”
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BUSINESS RESTAURANT
Keenwä delivers a taste of Peru
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rance on Buitengracht
Photo: Supplied
Clockwork Zoo’s ent
ook out for Africa’s first Peruvian restaurant – Keenwä - which was recently opened by Peruvian model, German de la Melena, at 50 Waterkant Street. “Many people ask what Peruvian food is like and it is very difficult to explain, because we have a lot of different dishes from fish to beef and many types of grains,” said De la Melena when City Views paid a quick visit to the restaurant. Examples include Peru’s flagship dish, ceviche (cubes of fish marinated in lime juice with
Str.
BUSINESS
One of South Africa’s largest animation studios, Clockwork Zoo, has moved from Longkloof Studios in Gardens to 105 Buitengracht Street (on the corner of Dorp Street). Clockwork Zoo producer, Matthew Brown, explains the logic behind the move: “We needed to reduce our rent, while having the space to grow. The new Central City location does this for us, but the space (1200m2) is also all on one level (we were on three before!) so our animation pipeline rolls from one department to the next in an open-plan environment.” Clockwork Zoo is known for creating both original
local programming as well as servicing large international producers. “Our business is 2D animation and we employ 65 staff – mostly young creatives,” said Brown. “We specialise in long-form television series and the latest production on which we’re working, Florrie’s Dragons, is currently on the Disney Channel in the UK. This year we plan to start two new animated series and development has begun on our first feature film.” Brown says the Clockwork Zoo staff are happy in their new Central City location. “Mostly it’s the actual space itself that has reinvigorated the studio.”
Photos: Supplied
Clockwork Zoo moves to Central City
chillies), Aji De Gallina (shredded chicken on a spicy cream sauce, served with rice and boiled potato), Cause Limeña (mashed potato with lime juice and chillies layered with chicken, mayonnaise and avo,) the famous Tiradito (thinly sliced fish with lime juice and chillies, but spicier than Ceviche), Lomo Saltado (strips of beef fillet sauteed with onions, tomato and french fries in a soy sauce.) “I could go on forever,” says De la Melana. Asked to comment on the name of the new restaurant, he said
a
German De la Melen
Keenwä is the phonetic spelling of the grain quinoa, a grain you can expect to find quite a lot of on the menu. De la Melena said he chose Cape Town because, like most people, he fell in love with the City. “After many years of going back and forth between Barcelona and Cape Town, I decided to move permanently here. Peru is a huge part of me and the food is amazing so why not?” A keen horserider, who loves the outdoors and nature, he can’t get over the fact that Signal Hill is a five-minute walk from his home. And he loves the location of the restaurant on Cape Town’s now famous Fan Walk. “I want the restaurant to be a success all through the year and this location is great and growing fast. We will also open a bar in the near future so it makes sense that we do it in the Central City. “The response has been the same on every occasion. Everyone loves the food and is quite amazed by it!” By the way, when City Views visited Keenwä, the restaurant was fully booked for the night. We suggest you do the same to avoid disappointment, particularly if you’re looking for the perfect venue for Valentine’s Day! Keenwä, 50 Waterkant Street, Cape Town. Visit www.keenwa.co.za or T: 021 419 2633
RETAIL
Photo: Supplied
Lunar lands in Loop Street
Lunar’s stylish interior
One of South Africa’s most successful fashion brands, Lunar, has moved its Cape Town store from Claremont to the Central City. Situated on the corner of Loop and Hout streets, Lunar’s new lifestyle store fits in perfectly amongst the vibrant social and creative hub of sidewalk cafés and art galleries found in this area, including iArt and the Joao Ferreira galleries. “Having spent the past seven years building our name in Claremont, we are now ready for the challenge of appealing to a new customer who is sensitive to environmental concerns and who will appreciate Lunar’s use of natural fibres and hand dyes in creating unique nature-inspired merchandise,” says Paul Harris, the
co-owner of Lunar. Harris says the launch of the new Loop Street lifestyle store coincides with the unveiling of Lunar’s latest collection in Cape Town, which is characterised by Lunar founder and fashion designer Karen Ter Morshuizen as “uncomplicated, feminine shapes in quite a lot more colour than you will be used to seeing from us.” Lunar’s new store is situated at 65 Loop Street and its operating hours are 09h00 – 17h00 Mondays to Fridays and 09h00 to 13h00 on Saturdays. Lunar, 65 Loop Street, Cape Town. For more info, visit www.lunarlife.co.za or T: 021 422 0401.
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RESTAURANT
Great Chefs of Cape Town A new series featuring chefs who are doing great things in the Central City. Portia de Smidt of The Africa Café
What’s on the menu at The Africa Café?
Food and flavours from all of Africa. African food is so exciting. Think cassava bread and African tapas – like Mbatata cheese and sim sim balls, Kenyan fried irio patties, groundnut potato puffs.
and more tourists were coming to the restaurant and the Central City was easier to get to. It’s been a great move. Do you offer something for everybody?
We have enough healthy choices here for people with food issues. I don’t eat wheat or sugar myself and I only drink juice which has been squeezed within an hour. All our food is wheat-free and we offer a range of healthy salads and smoothies. We serve lots of raw food, and grow our own vegetables and herbs in our garden at home.
Photos: Supplied
“W
e love gardening and sharing our harvest with you.” These are the words, written on the wall, which greet you when you arrive at The Africa Café – run by Portia and Jason de Smidt – at Heritage Square, 108 Shortmarket Street. The restaurant is a much-loved institution where locals can treat themselves and foreign visitors to the varied tastes of Africa. The history of the restaurant – as well as a wonderful spread of recipes – is contained in their recipe book, The Africa Café Experience, a Publisher’s Choice publication. Chef Portia de Smidt, spoke to City Views and shared a few recipes.
The Africa Café exterior
As chef, what is your philosophy on food?
Portia’s Moroccan Chicken Almond Pie
Food should do what it is meant to do – feed the soul. I believe in fresh, authentic, flavours. I use the purest products I can find – such as pure virgin olive oil – and I never cut on cost for quality. If you cook something, it must taste like what it is.
Half cup butter 2 chickens 2 bunches fresh parsley 2 cups water 250g blanched almonds, toasted and ground 4 large lightly beaten eggs 3 tsp ground cinnamon
How did the restaurant evolve?
We started up in Jason’s semi-detached house in Observatory nearly 20 years ago. Jason wore drawstring pants to match our Malawian tablecloths and the local paper described him as “a giraffe in batik pants”! Those were uncertain times in South Africa. Bank managers were not lending any money for starting a restaurant and neither of us is a trained chef, so we started it at home! PS
What brought you to the Central City?
We moved to the Central City 12 years ago because everybody wanted us to! More
Portia de Smidt of The Africa Café
The Egyptian Room
A quarter cup butter 2 tsp salt 1 large onion A quarter tsp crumbled saffron One and a half cups icing sugar A half tsp pepper 7 sheets filo pastry
Simmer the chicken, salt, half cup butter, parsley, onion, saffron and two cups water for 1 ½ hours, in a large pot. Remove the cooked chicken from the pot and leave to cool. Reduce the liquid in the pot to half its volume, forming a broth. Remove the skin and bones from the chicken and shred the flesh. Return chicken to the broth and reduce further until all liquid has gone. Discard skin and bones. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Combine almonds and icing sugar in a bowl. Add half the almond mixture to the chicken. Stir in the pepper, two tsp of cinnamon
and the eggs. Line a baking dish with one sheet of filo, brush with remaining ¼-cup butter and layer four more sheets, brushing each one with butter. Sprinkle a quarter of the remaining half of almond mix onto the 5th sheet of filo pastry. Spoon the chicken mix onto the filo. Cover the mixture with the remaining two sheets of filo, brushing with butter between each one. Fold in the edges, brush with butter and place in oven for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining quarter of the almond mix and one teaspoon cinnamon before serving.
Serves: 8
RESTAURANT
Hemelhvijs opens in Waterkant Street There’s a new restaurant in town – Hemelhvijs, run by well-known food fundi Jacques Erasmus, opened at the end of last year, on the ground floor of the exciting soon-to-be-open Freeworld Coatings building in Waterkant Street. The name Hemelhvijs refers to the Evangelical Lutheran church situated behind the premises. Dating back to the 1790s, the church is the oldest in Cape Town. Erasmus, who also has his homeware range of black ceramic crockery displayed in the restaurant, has opted for a traditional menu, but each dish has his Hemelhvijs stylish interior
own special twist. Lunchtime includes a Hemelhvijs burger with creamed mushrooms and poached egg, marzipan and dried apricot roasted chicken, slow roasted lamb ribs – or you can snack on the crostini with a range of toppings such as mozzarella and tomato or chicken and avocado. There is also a range of salads from R55 to R65. The restaurant also serves delicious breakfast and brunch dishes such as fruit and yoghurt or poached eggs, prosciutto, artichoke and hollandaise sauce, else scrambled egg, salmon and toasted apple cake.
The restaurant will no doubt prove to be a popular venue for visitors to Freeworld Coatings – a leading international manufacturer of decorative, automotive and industrial coatings. Once complete, the building will boast a highend design centre as well as a cafe, garden roof space perfect for sundowners, office space, meeting rooms, two boardrooms and a 100-seater state-of-the-art auditorium. Hemelhvijs Restaurant, 71 Waterkant Street, Cape Town. T: 021418 2042. Monday to Friday.
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February 2011
A NIGHT TIME CITY
Notes from a
e d i s d l i Comedy W Anne Hirsh sounds off about Monday nights at the Zula
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B Priestley once said: “The more we elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate”. He really did say that, I Googled it. My comically challenged friend Jenny recently purchased a Blackberry (no relation to Halle Berry) and they aren’t too expensive either as long as you’re willing to let go of all social etiquette. Jenny has decided that communication and relationships are far better done online. In an attempt to break this already socially destructive habit I invited her to Comedy on Monday Evenings at Zula Sound Bar in Long Street, on one condition - that she left her phone at home. Comedy at Zula Bar is run by an eclectic group of jesting bandits known as The Starving Comics. This collection of comedians have been running comedy gigs for many years in Cape Town and have introduced several new faces to the comedy scene. On this particular Monday night, I was performing as a support act to veteran comedian
Brendan Murray. I closed the first half of the show and while wrestling with a heckler who was not armed with wit, I noticed out of the corner of my eye (which is amazing because the eye is in fact round) that Jenny was nowhere to be seen. I finished my set, and dashed through the crowd, but still no sign of Jenny. I gave a description of her to the bartender; ‘short, blonde and tanned’ and he mixed me a cocktail. I tried to explain that I wasn’t ordering a drink, but it was too late. I finished the beverage and asked the staff to assist me in my search. Suddenly the manager called me in to his office. There was Jenny sitting behind his computer, Tweeting away about the laugh-aminute comedy at Zula Bar. As a comedy setting, Zula Sound Bar and Restaurant is perfect. There are diverse audiences and performers and for only R40 you might even see Jenny still roaming the venue. ■ Comedy on Monday Evenings, Zula Sound
Bar and Restaurant, 196 Long Street. Gig starts 20h30 for 21h00. R40. To book call 021 424 2442
Anne Hirsch
FOCUS ON
My Cape Town: Lorelle Bell
r of Coordinato Lorelle Bell, be World to d bi s n’ Cape Tow tal 2014 Design Capi
Is Cape Town a design city? LB If a design city is one in which designers like to live and work, is walkable and commutable by bicycle, with enough good coffee shops, design stores, and arts and cultural activities, and if it is one in which the creative industries are active and robust, and where there are public spaces to hang out, CV
delight and inspire us, then, yes, Cape Town is a design city. We’re also increasingly seeing City design-led projects in which design has been used to ensure that public projects meet community needs. We could do more though. We could ensure that design is embedded in all public projects and planning so that, for example, principles of universal design are incorporated in all public facilities to make them socially responsive – doors, openings, ramps to cater for prams and wheelchairs, buttons in lifts which offer the braille option and sound as well etc. Which areas of design in the City could be improved upon? LB We need improved and innovative public signage and communication. There could be more pedestrianised roads CV
closed to traffic and it would be great to have a couple of ‘market streets’ where one could shop for fresh produce, design items or vintage homeware. We also need more affordable housing in the Central City so that more people can live here and the City could remain alive after five and over weekends. CV Which international design trends would you like to see in Cape Town? LB Designing for sustainability and the increasing emphasis on socially responsive design. For Cape Town this should mean halting urban sprawl and improving our levels of densification, incorporating passive energy principles into the design of all buildings, developing urban food gardens and encouraging the use of public and non-motorised transport.
CV What would it mean for the City to be awarded WDC 2014? LB Enhanced self-confidence in design and our design assets. Global exposure for our design and the City generally. A huge increase in the number of design and other tourists – just as Seoul, the 2010 World Design Capital, has just experienced. CV LB
How do you get to work? Most days I walk.
CV What are your favourite spots in CT? LB Church Street and the Long Street Antiques Arcade. The view up Adderley Street from ‘Gentleman’s Walk’ (the meaning of Heerengracht) to Table Mountain. CV Where do you prefer to shop in Cape Town? LB Atlas Traders at the top of
Wale Street in the BoKaap for spices and Zorina’s for takeout salomies. Plus Atkinsons Antiques on Long Street (I first bought a Victorian friendship ring there 30 years ago) still has beautiful affordable jewellery. CV What building would you happily demolish in the CBD? LB I’m not big on demolishing but I guess the unfinished highways, if demolished, would release land for other use and the visual connection between parts of the City would be enhanced as well. CV If you could pass any law in the city, what would you do? LB Abolish the bylaws that criminalise skating in the City, cycling on Government Avenue and playing ball games on the lawn at Sea Point promenade.