As a project that transforms the rush of the daily commute into an engaging art experience, Between Two Suns prompts you to slow down and look up.
WORDS Palesa Mohola PHOTOS Supplied
A new pedestrian connection at TENONV, located between upper Long Street and the Company’s Garden – a collaborative project between award-winning property development company Blok, Studio Kalki and TwoFiveFive Architects – brings together residential property development, public art and architecture.
“We have always believed that a residential development should contribute something to the city around it,” says Jacques van Embden, CEO of Blok. “The experience and value of a building shouldn’t stop at its front door or only be available to the people who live there. Between Two Suns is a meaningful urban intervention that creates a route residents, visitors and people simply moving through the city can all use. The thoroughfare also features a public seating area, a place to pause and enjoy the art.”
Over the last decade, pockets of the CBD have been transformed into urban art galleries through colourful murals, sculptures and traffic bollards that add both a touch of nature and a pop of colour to the busy streets, and this installation fits right in. Inside the permanent arched thoroughfare of TENONV is Between Two Suns – a commissioned hand-crafted ceramic tile installation by Durban-based Studio Kalki, led by Nikhil Tricam and Nindya Bucktowar.
The installation draws inspiration from Cape Town’s defining elements, including its fynbos, architecture, light and the meeting of two oceans, with the sun at the centre of the design; the changing light between sunrise and sunset reflects across the hand-glazed surfaces, creating a different experience of the artwork.
“What makes this project meaningful is that it is shaped by the fabric of the city itself. It becomes an expression of Cape Town at a particular moment in time, through the motifs, materials and ceramic language used to create it. The work is literally rooted in South Africa, from the materials it is made from to the stories it reflects. We often underestimate the value of public art interventions, but at this scale, and when they are embedded so fundamentally into how people move through and experience a place, they can genuinely add to the character of a city,” says Nikhil.
The ceramic archway runs through a building designed by TwoFiveFive Architects, a commercial architectural practice and consultancy founded by principal architects Theo Kruger and André Krige. Alongside Blok, they saw an opportunity to rethink a traditionally closed building edge and opened it up to create accessibility.
“The architectural move is quite simple: where there was previously a boundary, there is now a passage. But that shift changes the relationship between the building, the street and the wider city. The thoroughfare allows TENONV to participate more actively in the public realm and creates a stronger pedestrian connection through this part of Cape Town,” says André Krige.
Between Two Suns is not only a new way to access art – it speaks to movement, time and the experience of passing through a space. It also adds to the initiative of having accessible public seating in the city.
“The best outcome for us is that the thoroughfare becomes part of people’s everyday movement through the city. Someone may be walking home, heading to the Company’s Garden, moving between Long Street and another part of the CBD, or simply discovering a new route. That’s the value of an urban intervention like this: the building becomes more connected to the life of the city around it,” adds Jacques. blok.co.za | @studio.kalki | twofivefive.co.za
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