Wits spaces
Show stopper Tears and triumphs are the nature of exams and the newly revamped Flower Hall has seen it all. By Ufrieda Ho
Above: The Flower Hall in 2019 Right and bottom: The newly revamped building at night with its elegant curved arches Images: Supplied
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f all the nightmares we battle to shake off, one that clings pretty tightly involves taking up a seat in an exam hall knowing we’ll need more than a hope and a prayer to get to the end of a three-hour paper and pass. For many Witsies, the Flower Hall on West Campus is notorious as a brutal venue for exams, especially in winter. But in 2021 the hall underwent a transformation. Under the architectural vision of Heather Dodd (BArch 1992) of Savage + Dodd Architects, the old 1969 building has bloomed into something a little closer to its name.
18 Wits Review October 2023
Dodd recalls her own loathing of writing exams in the venue. “It was so cold I got up and left as soon as we were allowed to. But after all, this had been the flower hall for the Rand Easter Show, so it was built to be cold to keep the flowers from withering.” Better temperature control was a priority in the refurbishment brief. “It is a space with huge volume but it now has fantastic environmental temperature control,” says Dodd. The project set out to turn Flower Hall into an adaptable space for exams and to complement engineering lab research work. “It now has good lighting,” adds Dodd, “and we’ve used chilled beam technology, which
