It works because it has to Time flows in one direction. The past is part of the present and will be part of the future. However one has to choose how to interpret the past, as a picture to reflect on, or as a map to follow. When it comes to space making, reference to the past is essential. The only empirical reference to plan for the future is the past. My main question is how we relate the past into our present and future. In order to illustrate the different approaches towards referring to the past I will compare Gugas’thebe (Langa – Cape Town, by CS Studio Architects – 1999), and Harare Library (Khayelitsha – Cape Town, by Charlotte Chamberlain and Nicola Irving Architects, CCNIA – 2011). Gugas’thebe “This is clearly a post Apartheid building. In the first place it deals with the community’s needs as principle guide to the design, and secondly the response is rooted on the site.” (1)
The quote above by CS Studio Architects describes how the design process started. South Africa had just become a democracy, and there was a prevailing national sense of a fresh start. The designers decided to use the human as the dominant aspect of the design; human scale, pathways, memory and local references. The site had significant historical baggage, as in 1954 it was where many burnt their hated pass books and marched towards Cape Town as a protest against apartheid. It remained undeveloped for many years. Aerial photographs showed various pathways on the site indicating the intuitive movement through this space. The Gugas’thebe project represents a community that should not be organized around imposed external constraints, but by local intuitive living. “The design therefore consists of various ‘separate’ building components forming a ‘village’. The building spaces are arranged around these main circulation paths with courtyards forming external rooms nestled in between the internal spaces.” (2)
Image 1 illustrates how the fragments of buildings were articulated around the existing circulation scheme.
(1 and 2): Design process by CS Studio Architects: http://csstudio.co.za/PDF/Guga.pdf
Image 1: Gugas’thebe circulation(Students seminar HATA 4 hand drawing - group work)
Gugas’thebe is a masterpiece of space making. The concept of negative space being the main inhabitable areas is both metaphorically and physically a model to learn from. To this point I have only discussing reference being used in the most appropriate manner. When it comes to some elements of adornment to this building, I question the depth of its relevance. When I look at the façade of the building in black and white, the spaces produced by the Architecture are incredibly rich, but as soon as I see a color image, with the mosaics and decoration brought forward, I start doubting the validity of the literal symbolic elements incorporated to the face of the Architecture. Image 3 and 4 compare the same façade with and without use of colors, illustrating the relevance of the adornments:
Image 3: Gugas’thebe façade in color (http://csstudio.co.za/Guga%20Stebi.html#panel-16)
Image 4: Gugas’thebe façade no color (Author’s own drawings)
A section through the main spaces (image 5 and 6) shows how the proportions are making space in this building. Particularly the outside theater, as an area to socialize. People do not only use this space when there is a play on but in their daily life. The seating area faces North, enjoying a sunny orientation.
Image 5 – Floor plan Gugas’Thebe (Students seminar HATA 4 hand drawing – author and group work) Image 6 – Section A-A (Author’s own drawings)
Image 6 – outside setting area (Students seminar HATA 4 pictures)
Post-modernists questioned the international design proposed by the Modernists. Designers of this period attempted to bring local reference to the buidings in order to
respond to the failure of modern cities in making spaces. Popular culture and symbols were used as a binding element between spaces and users. The Piazza D’ Italia, in New Orleans by Charles Moore – 1978, portrays the ultimate example of literal symbolism. The spaces created are the finest in order to juxtapose the unsuitable Modernist urban planning practices and plan around the user. However, the borrowed adornments from the past and added onto the Architecture clouds the viewer’s perception and detract from what is the real space maker. Image 7 illustrates the space making Architecture being used successfully. Image 8 shows a different angle of the same square, but with emphasis on the over exaggerated use of symbolism.
Image 7 and 8: Piazza D’ Italia https://quizlet.com/7672062/architectural-history-1960-70-flash-cards/
The use of African symbolism to make a contemporary African building will not necessarily respond adequately to the challenging conditions of the 21st century in our continent. It will not help to make it a better place or to move towards a better society. What makes Gugas’thebe successful Architecture is how the designers dealt with circulation, human scale, touch, detailing, memory and local reference, not the gratuitous use of symbols. The colours, decorations and mosaics are elements to soften the Architecture. But at what point it must stop? When does it make the building loose a contemporary and inovative identity? Why not declare, “I belong here, but I am different!” Gugas’thebe seems to be an attempt to deny that the building is contemporary and has a different agenda if compared to the past. Harare Library “Library design relies on community cohesion as they are a direct response to the people that need them. The character of the building was defined through community interaction. Sensible, good design starts with engagement with the end user.” (3)
(3) The play of a library: Nicola Irving http://earthworksmagazine.co.za/projects/building-libraries-by-the-book/
Designed by Nicola Irving and Charlotte Chamberlan, Harare Library was built in Khayelitsha, an impoverished community in Cape Town. The site is part of a group of identified spots within the City by the City Council. The program is called VPUU. It consists of a series of nodes interconnected by different ways of transportation, especially public transport. These nodes are called CBD’s of each area; and they aim to facilitate economical and social upliftment. The site is part of a bigger goal, the remaking of the City, not only the isolated building. Local informal trading is what defines desirable routes, and the adjacent space to the building is a public squares used by the community in various ways. The building reinforced and facilitates the existing successful aspects of the community.
North-East entrance And adjacent public square
North-West portion Of the library
Local informal trading belt
Image 9 http://saia.org.za/?p=1991 Altered by the author
Positioned in a relatively empty site, this building does its best to make a better public space. In order to address the two corners, the designers located two ‘towers’ in each side. A mark showing where the building becomes the square, where it provides shelter and seating to the public. Image 10, 11 and 12 illustrate how the proportions demarcate a new landmark, and how it relates to its surroundings.
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Image , 9 and 10: Plan and sections of the building and surroundings (author’s own drawings)
Harare Library also uses adornments on its facades. However, Architecture and Art are in complete harmony, one depends upon the other. If the mural artwork is excluded from this façade, the building will loose important visual components that are needed, and if the artwork is placed in other parts of the building, it will not fit in. Architecture co-exists with symbolism in symbioses; one does not distract form the other. On the contrary, they are equally important and they are framing each other. In Harare Library Architecture made space for symbolism, and symbol anchors Architecture. Image 11 portrays the lines of the Architecture in combination to the Architecture as one element in space.
Image 11: North East entrance (author’s own drawings)
There must be a distinction between the empirical facts and the ‘complex contradiction” of human nature. One needs the other, a balance must be found in order to achieve efficient solutions to the posed questions as well as the controversial semantic of human nature. “From the functional neurosis to the new Empiricism” in this chapter of his essay, Peter L. Laurence is saying that a lesson must be learned from both Modernity and early PostModernity. They are both valid and necessary. Complexity and contradiction has to coexist with practical solutions. (4)
Post-modernity has had outstanding pieces of Architecture to exemplify what it is that that is so important about referring to the past and to respect the existing surrounding. In my opinion, a good example of Architecture that summarizes the above is Rafael Moneo’s Town Hall in Mucia – Spain. (8) Peter L. Laurence mentions in his essay (Modern Architecture Circa 1959)
The site is located in a historically important square, composed by centenary buildings. In order to be part of the same space, Moneo draws elements that are constantly repeated in the square, and reinterprets them in his own design. He also makes reference to human movement by highlighting intuitive lines of views on the surface paving of the square. Image 12 shows Moneo’s building (to the right) and a historical existing building (to the left). They both have the same lines of design, but in different eras. They have the same sense of scale and space making. Image 13 shows the opposite 18th century baroque Murcia Cathedral and how in a metaphorical way Moneo, by the absence of decoration, uses the extravagant detailing of the surrounding in his building, only by framing views.
Image 12 and 13: Rafael Moneo New Town Hall – Murcia (http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/murciacityhall/)
What is it that makes Harare so abstract and subtle and Gugas’thebe so literal? Gugas’thebe, in many instances, is more elaborate. The composition of different buildings stitched together and the negative spaces formed around theses building, is a model to be followed and learned from. The consideration of the existing pathways on site in order to generate the spaces is a refreshing contemporary reference. My principal question is the over exaggerated layers of decoration on top of the Architecture. It brings the visual charge of the building to a much higher tone, almost literal. In Harare Library the colorful mosaics remain a softening element used to bring another layer of metaphorical value to the building. The building still opposes to the existing when it needs to. One of its narratives is that the existing scale must be reviewed. Single volumes far apart from one another will not make valuable space to humans. The building also distinguishes itself as a new landmark to the site, not afraid to say, “I belong here, and I am different. I aim to celebrate what is good but I fight to change what is needed”. Image 14 shows the entrance of Gugas’thebe and its various elements. With the floating roof above the opening, one can clearly identify this as the entrance. A clear hierarchical organization is set also by the rising drum. The mosaics on the sides of the entrance and the prominent colour of the drum are not actually what define them as important elements in space, but their scale and position on the site.
Image 15 shows the North East entrance to Harare Library and the mosaics that also make it an entrance. They are both needed for practical and metaphorical reasons. The mosaic gives character to the façade and in return the façade frames the mosaic.
Image 14: Gugas’thebe entrance (Students seminar HATA 4 hand drawing - group work) Image 15: Harare library entrance (http://saia.org.za/?p=1991)
Salt River urban studies As an example of my design, reflecting my views, I will briefly discuss the urban design proposal I produced in my academic studies 2015, 3rd year UCT Architecture school. My concept is working together with the City Council vision of CBD nodes within the city, and how growth can be facilitated in these areas. I drew a circle with its radius in the existing train station of Salt River, and the periphery of the circle is demarcating a 20 minute’s walking or 500 meter distance from the train station. These nodes are articulated, and to move from one node to the next there are several types of transport, the main option being the trains. Image 16 shows how the existing train station transformed. It is no longer an isolated building, but a civic center for the area. A building that celebrates the existing trading area and maximizes its potential. I didn’t develop the building facades, but its position, size, layout, scale, utility and facilities are the defining points of the Architecture. It doesn’t need adornments to belong, as it belongs because of its relevance.
Image 16: Salt River urban proposal (author’s own drawings)
Image 17: Salt river urban proposal – Transport and the city (author’s own drawings)
Image 18: Salt River urban proposal – different node within the city (author’s own drawings)
Africa has gone through past challenges, and it can’t be undone. We now have to understand that there is no going back to ‘what it could have been like’. The scars from the past are here, they are real and they are still hurting people today. The opportunity to make a better future to this nation lays on the future, not in the past.
Bibliography: -
A critical History of Contemporary Architecture, by Elie G. Haddad and David Rifkind – First edition 2014
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City Transformed, by Renneth powell – First published 2000
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Twentieth Century Architecture, by Dennis P. Doordan – First published 2001
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50 Architects you should know, by Isabel kuhl, Kristina Lowis and Sabine Thiel-Siling – First published 2011
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http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/murciacityhall/
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https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/Library/Pages/HarareLibrary.aspx
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http://westcapenews.com/?p=3373
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http://saia.org.za/?p=1991
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http://csstudio.co.za/Guga%20Stebi.html
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http://www.coa.gatech.edu/content/design-develop-build-guga-sthebe-childrens-theater-langacape-town-south-africa
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http://www.gov.za/deputy-president-cyril-ramaphosa-youth-engagement-harare-library-khayelitsha
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http://www.treasury.gov.za/divisions/bo/ndp/TTRI/TTRI%20Sep%2008/Case%20Study%20Harare%20Sq uare%20Khayelitsha.pdf
Table of images: Image 01 Image 02 Image 03 Image 04 Image 05 Image 06 Image 07 Image 08 Image 09 Image 10 Image 11 Image 12 Image 13 Image 14 Image 15 Image 16 Image 17 Image 18
Gugas’thebe circulation - Students seminar HATA 4 hand drawing - group work Gugas’thebe façade in color - http://csstudio.co.za/Guga%20Stebi.html#panel-16 Image 3: Gugas’thebe façade in color - http://csstudio.co.za/Guga%20Stebi.html#panel-16 Gugas’thebe façade no color - Author’s own drawings Floor plan Gugas’Thebe - Students seminar HATA 4 hand drawing – author and group work Gugas’thebe Section A-A Author’s own drawings Outside setting area - Students seminar HATA 4 pictures Piazza D’ Italia https://quizlet.com/7672062/architectural-history-1960-70-flash-cards/ Plan and sections of the building and surroundings - author’s own drawings Plan and sections of the building and surroundings - author’s own drawings North East entrance - author’s own drawings Rafael Moneo New Town Hall – Murcia - http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/murciacityhall/ Rafael Moneo New Town Hall – Murcia - http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/murciacityhall/ Gugas’thebe entrance Students seminar HATA 4 hand drawing – author and group work Harare library entrance - http://saia.org.za/?p=1991 Salt River urban proposal - author’s own drawings Salt river urban proposal – Transport and the city - author’s own drawings Salt River urban proposal – different node within the city - author’s own drawings
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