December 18, 2006
By Lucille Davie
IF there is something that epitomises the hopes and dreams of the new South Africa it is the Constitution and the Constitutional Court, and a new book on the court captures magnificently this extraordinary building.
The book, entitled Light on the Hill, building the Constitutional Court of South Africa, is edited by Bronwyn Law-Viljoen. The 171 pages are mostly filled with truly stunning photographs of the court from every possible angle, showing off what must be one of the world's most spectacular buildings of the 21st century.
The book celebrates all that the new South Africa and its Constitution stands for: openness, a new energy, dignity, respect for the past but looking to the future, inclusiveness, accessibility, hope and justice, and the African light and sun.
This is all the more poignant as the court is next to two of the grimmest prisons in the country: No 4 and the Women's Jail. These prisons were witness to the dehumanising torture of thousands of ordinary men and women at the hands of apartheid monsters.
The book contains photographs of the building from every angle
Sprinkled with comments from judges of the court, architects, builders and artisans involved in its construction, and Thenjiwe Mtintso, a veteran freedom fighter, former chairperson of the Commission on Gender Equality and now ambassador to Cuba, the book leaves one feeling almost a part of the planning and construction process.
Mtintso, together with judge Albie Sachs, local and international architects, a British architecture journalist, and the then mayor of Johannesburg, Isaac Mogase, made up the panel judging the almost 200 entries in the anonymous competition held for the design of the court.
The winners were Durban's omm design workshop and Johannesburg's Urban Solutions Architects and Urban Designers. Construction began in 2001 and the court was opened in February 2004.
A selection of the architects' evolving sketches has been reproduced in the book and they make for an intriguing look into the heads of the architects and how the process developed.
Competition brief
Andrew Makin, an architect at omm design workshop, says of the competition brief in the book: "It seemed as though the brief was asking a question that was close to our hearts as young South Africans who had experienced the extent to which the previous regime had fractured our society and our communities, deeply injured family units and individuals and generally distorted our view of what life in our country could be like."
Makin talks of being born into a "fundamentally dysfunctional society", and of participating in the rebuilding process. He and his fellow architects can rest their heads on their pillows each night with contentment, knowing they have made a huge contribution to the rebuilding of our savaged society.
Judge Sachs, one of the Constitutional Court judges and someone so passionate about the building that he occasionally breaks from his judicial duties to give tours of the court, writes in the book about the choice of the site: "Building there would mean responding to the intense negativity associated with the site, and converting that negativity into the optimism of our work."
He says too that it was a site where everybody locked up everybody: Boers and Brits, Boers and blacks, both men and women. But it was also a place of solidarity – where families brought items of comfort to their imprisoned loved ones, and where freedom fighters had rare opportunities to catch up on one another's lives and plan for the future.
"And so that mixture of the denial of rights and the striving to achieve rights was embodied in the memories and records, the experiences of a whole generation still alive," he says.
Architect Janina Masojada of omm design workshop, sums it up by saying: "We wanted to design a place in which all people would feel welcome, where South Africans from urban and rural areas, the young and old, could gather without inhibition, and have a connection, a sense of belonging and identity. We imagined parades, protests, concerts and celebrations attended by presidents and school children alike, together and proud."
The result, according to Mtintso, is a court that is "happy, inclusive and open", and where everyone feels like a participant and part of the whole.
Judge Yvonne Mokgoro echoes these feelings. She talks about being close to the lives of impoverished Hillbrow residents; about the court being a "symbol of the bridge which is our democracy that intends to carry all people into a life of dignity"; about "converting our pain into democratic joy".
Sachs makes it clear that the particular mix of architects was perfect for the job. "They did not look for high-tech, abstract, formalised solutions. They went for the organics rather than the formal." It pleased him that they would draw on "everything that was opening up in the country in terms of values, outlook, technology, vision and ways of doing things".
Photographs
The photographs capture the many diverse spaces and complementary, warm materials used, as well as the lush textures in the garden. The court combines a range of materials: steel, wood, glass, concrete, old bricks, slate, mosaic, red roof tiles, all embellished with rich carpets and colourful furniture, which offer a striking backdrop to the superb art collection of the court.
It's a place which exudes warmth, and the photographs easily capture that feeling. The bold, wide angles of the photos place you right in the building, making you almost a part of the structure, giving you a sense of the richness of the textures and what goes on within its free-flowing and inviting corridors and open spaces.
On the other hand, for a people place, there are very few pictures with people in them. But maybe that is a good thing: the photos are uncluttered, allowing the reader to take in the grandeur.
As the book is defined by its amazing photographs, I would also have liked to have read the thoughts of the well-respected and prolific photographer, Angela Buckland, on the assignment.
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