October 18, 2005
By Tammy O'Reilly
MOROKA Dam is a feather in Johannesburg's cap - and even though three years have passed since the dam's upgrade was completed, the project is still being recognised for its landscape design.
In just 16 weeks the City pulled off a complete enhancement of one of Soweto's main attractions. It had been neglected, becoming a real eyesore.
Long a haven for criminals, it was swiftly converted into a pristine dam surrounded by greenery and fixed, man-made features. Play equipment was installed in the adjacent park, an area of the park was levelled to become a soccer field and a marquee area was landscaped. Picnic and braai facilities, a basketball court and a skating arena were installed.
The award-winning design
Artists were employed to train 14 local men and women in the art of mosaic and sections of the walkways are now paved with colourful, carefully arranged tiles and glass.
This year the commissioned architects, Newtown Landscape Architects, won an award from the Institute for Landscape Architects of South Africa for the Moroka-Mofolo Open Space Framework and the design and implementation of the Moroka Dam Precinct.
The framework was drawn up to provide a multi-functional use for the Moroko-Mofolo corridor. Funded by the Danish Environmental Development Agency, it encompassed an ecological and social approach to the planning, design and management of the corridor.
Ahead of Johannesburg's hosting of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2002, Executive Mayor Councillor Amos Masondo identified one project that the City could showcase for the summit.
"We didn't just want to upgrade a part of the City that would be useless to people once the summit was over," says Johan Barnard, co-owner of Newtown Landscape Architects.
"The Moroka precinct was selected because we knew that once it was completed, the community in that area would benefit from it.
"The vision was to create a park for the people of Moroka and, in fact, for all those living in Soweto, with the focus of the development being around ecological and social sustainability, community upliftment and landscape rehabilitation," he adds.
The dam, which had become filled with sand, rubbish and reeds, needed the most work. "There was a high silt level in the dam as well as dirt which had washed down the river," Barnard explains.
"We put in a silt trap to prevent sand getting into the river again. The storm water pipes surrounding the dam were upgraded and concrete slabs were placed along the periphery of the dam to retain the swell as well as to serve as seating."
The plan for the Moroka-Mofolo Open Space Framework
With a four-month time frame, the project was not without its challenges.
"We faced two main issues - the social challenge and the environmental challenge. The social challenge was to aggressively promote the important role that parks play in communities.
"Our objective was to reverse the perception of parks as places of fear, crime and vandalism and create a vision of parks being a catalyst for community development and enhancement," Barnard says.
"There is no doubt that the project would not have been complete if it weren't for the incredible teamwork, from the designers to the labourers.
"We are particularly proud of the award because of the tight deadline that we had, and especially because the area remains in the condition that we envisaged for it."
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