September 16, 2005
By Lucille Davie
THE public now has a chance to have their say on the proposed creation of a large square in the CBD - part of the Gauteng provincial government (GPG) precinct.
The final Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) report has been completed and lodged at the offices of the South African Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra). Various heritage architects and groups have submitted their responses to the report. The public has until 26 September to peruse the report and offer objections or comments to the proposal.
The new square and precinct could either be a "rainbow precinct for a rainbow nation", or "a disaster", depending on which architect you speak to.
Architect of the development, Fanuel Motsepe of NOA Architects, says the aim of the precinct is "not to devalue the history of the city nor is it to overvalue it, but rather to embrace the multiplicities of historic meanings of the city while evenly paving a way forward out the camouflaged city planning nuances which maintain the ideologies of the past. A past, which if it were not for its social and racial prejudices, would not need to be transformed but would instead be extended upon".
The proposal has elicited heated responses from the heritage community, with only one heritage architect, Clive Chipkin, expressing approval. "The beauty of Fanuel Motsepe's design is that he has taken pains to creatively preserve our colonial, post-colonial and apartheid pasts while at the same time find space for a new architecture - a rainbow precinct for a rainbow nation, in fact," Chipkin says.
To be called the Kopanong Gauteng Provincial Government Precinct, the area will create a new focal point in the inner city: a new square, to be called the New Heritage Square.
South of and adjoining the present Beyers Naude Square, it will double the size of the original square, by demolishing 10 inner city buildings. Five of these are older than 60 years, and a permit needs to be obtained before demolition can take place.
The square will contain an amphitheatre, a replica Tswana homestead, a 13-storey obelix, an orientation wall, an artists' corner and an urban forest. The precinct will encompass a street underpass, four skywalks joining buildings and underground parking.
It will be bordered by President Street in the north, Commissioner Street in the south, Sauer Street in the west and Harrison Street in the east.
Market Street, between Sauer and Harrison streets, will form part of the square, becoming an underpass, with an ingress, or entrance, in Kort Street and egress, or exit, after Harrison Street. Two gateways will demarcate the precinct.
At present the province has an impressive presence in the inner city: it occupies 12 buildings (of a total of 22 buildings) within the immediate vicinity of Beyers Naude Square. In November 2001 the province bought the City Hall from the City, and now uses it as its headquarters.
Demolitions
One point of contention is the demolition of 10 buildings, most of them described in the HIA as buildings of significant heritage.
Two buildings owned by the province and presently vacant - Clegg House and SARB House, the South African Reserve Bank building, on the corner of Simmonds and Commissioner streets - will be demolished and replaced by a new building, called Matlotlo House Extension.
The façade of the Rand Water Board building will be preserved and become the façade of Matlotlo House Extension.
The ugly walls and non-functional kiosks surrounding the entrances and exits to the present underground parking at Beyers Naude Square will also be demolished to open up the square to the surrounding streets and proposed street cafes and restaurants.
It is hoped that the new square will be used for a variety of events, including parades, religious gatherings, outdoor exhibitions, sporting activities and weekend markets.
HIA report
According to the HIA report, the effect of the demolition of only one of the 10 buildings - the RSA building - is negligible.
Demolition of the other nine buildings - New Library Hotel, the second Rand Water Board building, Custom House, People's Bank building, Volkskas Bank building, First National Bank building, the Thusanong building, Clegg House and SARB House - will represent the loss of a valuable heritage resource.
Clegg House and SARB House are Art Deco buildings, while the others are an "important source of physical evidence showing how this area of the city developed over time".
Collectively the buildings represent 67 years of the city's history. "The demise of these buildings will, therefore, destroy all physical reminders of this story, except for the retention of a few minor 'memories' of some of the buildings," the HIA report reads.
Open mind
It says that the proposed new plan "must be considered with an open mind, as its potential to become the catalyst for new investment in the city centre holds great benefit for the historic core of the Johannesburg CBD".
At the same time it cautions that the success of the development will "depend on establishing a more balanced approach between what is envisaged by the current development and the historic core of the city as a setting for non-renewable heritage resources".
The report also calls the incorporation of the façade of the Rand Water Board building into the Matlotlo House Extension, an inappropriate form of memorialisation. The extension needs to be handled very carefully so that it does not have a detrimental impact on the original Matlotlo House.
Another concern is the absence of any meaningful presentation of the layered historic development of the original Market Square.
The planned ingress and egress ramps of the Market Street underpass constitute "an irreversible impact", as the heritage buildings in the vicinity "lack the capacity to absorb such a potential impact".
Recommendations
The report recommends that the proposal to demolish the nine buildings be scrapped and the buildings be adapted for re-use. In other words, it is not in favour of developing a new square adjoining Beyers Naude Square.
If the square should go ahead, the report recommends that the ingress to the west be placed between Kort and Sauer streets, and the eastern egress ramp be placed several blocks further on, past the Rissik Street Post Office. Alternatively, an option could be to consider pedestrianising Market Street during certain times.
The report also recommends that the skywalks and the symbolic gateways be seriously reconsidered.
Sahra's response
Sahra will wait until after 26 September to compile its final report, but in a March 2004 report it says that while it supports the regeneration of the city centre and the creation of open spaces, it questions how the new square will relate to other squares in the inner city.
The agency is also against the proposed mitigation measure of incorporating a portion of the Rand Water Board façade into the Matlotlo House Extension building.
"The retention of façades, as seen with the retention of the façade in Pritchard Street, in itself does not convey significance. Indeed, it could be maintained that such a skeletal façade is of no or little significance."
There is also concern about the financial cost of the development, and balancing what is gained against what is lost.
Sahra recommends that the Gautrain experience be used as a model of how to go about the impact assessment process, particularly with regard to public participation. There has been extensive public consultation over three years regarding the Gautrain proposal.
Other responses
While Flo Bird, heritage champion and chairperson of the Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust, in principle supports the decision by the Gauteng government to develop a government precinct because it contributes to the revival of the inner city, she would rather support the creation of smaller, linked squares throughout the CBD.
She proposes that Market, President, Simmonds, Harrison and Rissik streets be closed to traffic between 6pm to 5am on weekdays, and from 2pm on Saturdays through to 5am on Mondays. In this space the city could hold music events, allow skate boarding, cycling, jogging and soccer.
Bird is also unhappy with the underpass proposal, saying it would "severely impact on the viability of the shops at street level".
She feels that the skywalks would turn the office buildings they link into a spacecraft, making the workers isolated from the surroundings. "Human beings should be encouraged to get outside and enjoy their city."
Above all, however, she is concerned about losing the city's Art Deco heritage.
A group of concerned heritage architects, consisting of Henry Paine, Herbert Prins, Lone Poulsen, Marcus Holmes, Mira Fassler-Kamstra and Alan Lipman, responded to the final HIA report, saying that because there has been a lack of transparency in the process, they are unable to play the responsible role required by the National Heritage Resources Act of 1999, which requires a report on consultations with interested parties.
"Consultation is part of a democratic process and when a city is about to be changed beyond recognition, the views of the public should be taken seriously and not, as seems to be the case, dismissively."
An alternative suggestion by these architects is that there are far fewer heritage buildings to the north of Beyers Naude Square, making it the more likely side to demolish.
While they are not opposed to increasing public space in the CBD, they oppose the demolition of certain structures that they believe are in the "interest of all South Africans to retain".
They want to know why the alternatives that NOA Architects have suggested, have not been submitted, as is required by the act.
The group asked, too, why there has not been a national competition for the development.
Clive Chipkin, the only architect in favour of the development, says of it, "A new, 21st century building housing largely entertainment and viewing facilities will echo the structural forms of the new Mandela Bridge and resonate with memories from our pre-colonial past. It is a perfect counterpoint to the honky-tonk building shapes along the Sauer Street edge of the precinct."
He says "major interventions in cities are not expected to be straightforward" but that they should be undertaken, otherwise the "past and present become the enemies of the future".
Chipkin is not perturbed by the idea of extending Beyers Naude Square, the site of the city's origins and a place where "old regimes wielded discriminatory power".
The City will be submitting its comments on the proposal by 23 September.
Architect's response
Architect Fanuel Motsepe has revised some elements of the original proposal after studying the final HIA report. He says that while he respects critics' concerns, he is concerned that the critique is governed by emotions instead of facts.
The 10 buildings earmarked for demolition will have their memoralisation "strengthened or enhanced", he says.
The skywalks, which some felt would been seen as barriers to the square from the outside, will now flank the streets instead of straddling across the streets.
Concerning the size of the square, Motsepe makes a comparison with international squares. The proposed square, at 34 544,5 square metres, will be within the lower parameters of these.
Motsepe has agreed to shelve the idea of an amphitheatre, to ensure a "continuous surface level", particularly when gatherings are being addressed by speakers standing on the steps in front of the Matlotlo building.
Regarding the contentious underpass, Motsepe says the entrance in Kort Street will not interrupt north-south traffic flow. The pavements along Market Street will be widened, with seating, which will enhance the pedestrian experience, he adds.
He has responded to those unhappy with the demolition of the 10 buildings by saying that he will rest the granite portion of the façade of the Rand Water Board building (a 1941 Gordon Leith building proposed for national monument status in 1976) at an angle to the ground.
On the ground he will place a granite slab recording the building's history. The significance of the laying of the façade towards the ground is to symbolise the end of the country's colonial era.
A fountain will be positioned around the slanted façade. The space below the angled granite will be lined with face bricks taken from Custom House. The same treatment will apply to the Volkskas building.
The Edoardo Villa panels in the Volkskas Bank building will be retained, together with the column and beam that supports them.
Beneath the People's Bank building, the vault will be retained, and the history of the particular corner - where traders burst out of the stock exchange on to the street and traded "between the chains" - will be recorded.
The mosaic façade of Litorn House will be retained and placed on the northern wall of the Gauteng Shared Services Centre, on the corner of Market and Sauer streets.
Alternative proposal
Bird has subsequently proposed an alternative square that stretches north of the City Hall and south of Beyers Naude Square, creating a square along Fraser Street South.
The parking lot around the Barbican building will form the northerly section of the square, providing a valuable open space for the residential sector north of Kerk Street.
Two buildings in President Street would be demolished - the 60-year-old Lewis & Marks building and the Old Mutual building.
Bird says this would offer City Hall occupants sunshine and open space to look out on, as well as provide the provincial legislature, housed in the City Hall, with an outdoor space for functions.
Fraser Street North is pedestrianised with fountains. This would continue down Fraser Street South and, together with the pedestrianised shopping mall of Kerk Street, provide a more people-friendly atmosphere in the CBD.
"The dynamic life of Kerk Street would spread up Fraser Street and, if the City Hall is made a lively attraction, up Simmonds Street as well," Bird says.
The RSA building on the corner of Fraser and Market streets would also be demolished, opening up a smaller park connecting to Beyers Naude Square.
"By law Sahra is obliged to consider alternatives and we [have] put forward one which is people-centred, promoting open space for people who live in the CBD," Bird says.
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