Architecture Spotlight: South- Africa (Big Pineapple Museum, The Soweto Theatre, The Boardwalk at Gonubie Beach and Mokena Makeka)
South Africa plays a very important role in my novel, Eteka: Rise of the Imamba and I wrote a few exciting scenes set in this country across multiple locations. Its rich, turbulent and colorful history combined with its diverse population has enabled this country to produce some of the most eye catching architecture found on the African continent. For this post, we’ll highlight the Big Pineapple Museum located in the town of Bathurst, The Boardwalk at Gonubie Beach, the Soweto Theatre in Johannesburg and native South African architect, Mokena Makeka.
The Soweto Theatre
Soweto, known for its matchbox style houses and close proximity to Johannesburg’s mining belt plays a prominent role in my novel. Nestled in this urban jungle and cultural center, in the Jabulani suburb sits the Soweto Theatre. It’s an impressive structure that is certainly eye catching due to its abstract form. From a distance it resembles three pieces from a dismantled rubix cube, or colored toy blocks one might hand a toddler to play with. These colored “blocks,” (red, blue and yellow) are actually unique performance venues, and the interior of each location reflects its outward appearance. The largest (red) is a 420 seat theater complete with a stage. The other two boxes are smaller theater spaces that seat 90 (yellow) and 180 (blue) respectively.
In a sense the theater symbolizes how far South Africa has come regarding community integration and collaboration, as Soweto during the apartheid years was a hotspot for clashes between the blacks and apartheid police. Many parts of Soweto still bear deep wounds from that era and beyond, in the form of poverty, unemployment, overcrowding, poor infrastructure and the end result of crime. It seems only fitting then that the brains behind the theatre’s design, Clara Cruz Almeida, has a passion for social work and architectural design. Together with fellow architect Tatenda Mavunga, they set out to create a creative hub for the community, for the people, as part of efforts to elevate Soweto to middle class status. I personally agree with using the arts as an anchor for positive cultural transformation. At risk communities exist the world over, and giving the people positive outlets to express themselves creatively is a great way to not only help build confidence for the future, but also heal deep wounds in the present. Don’t just take my word for it. Here’s the cast from one my favorite TV shows of all time, HBOs “The Wire” speaking on this same theme:
Big Pineapple Museum
Often touted as the world’s “largest pineapple,” the Big Pineapple Museum sits in the agricultural town of Bathurst on a pineapple farm (Summerhill Pineaple Farm). The structure is 55ft high, and consists of four floors containing a gift shop, a museum that houses the history of pineapple farming in South Africa, a video room and an observation deck. The “skin” of the pinneaple was built with fiberglass. Construction for the structure began in 1990 (lasting over 12 months) and the building was built with the intentions of giving more exposure to the local pineapple industry.
Boardwalk at Gonubie Beach
Eteka: Rise of the Imamba features many great scenes set in South Africa, and I wrote some pretty cool takes set against the serene resorts and beaches in East London, including Gonubie Beach situated on South Africa’s Eastern Cape. The Boardwalk itself is a raised platform, that winds past sand dunes, rocks and an impressive tidal pool to the beach itself.
Mokena Makeka
Mokena Makeka is one of South Africa’s architectural gems. He is the founder and creative director of the Makeka Design Lab located in Cape Town. Makeka has advised the South African Minister of Human Settlements, sat on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council for Design and was currently involved with the UIA 2014 Conference as a Scientific Committee member. His studio has been involved with projects all over South Africa, Zanzibar and Poland, and he has taught at the University of Cape Town and Columbia University in New York. I like this guy because like me he spent quite some time in New York, and he’s a writer, a Hip Hop junkie and Jazz nut.
Hope you enjoyed this article! Be sure to check out my website to learn about my other projects!
