Next in our series celebrating classic South African buildings, architect Vedhant Maharaj pays tribute to an often-overlooked but enduringly graceful spectre of the Johannesburg landscape – the old Park Station.

In my first year of architecture school, after a terrible critique from a tyrannical examiner, I drowned my sorrows by 1. buying a quart of beer; and 2. drinking it as I sat sketching the old Park Station in the hazy Joburg dusk. The sketchbook in question has, like many others, either been lost, gone into hiding or, perhaps more ironically, been left on a train…

The basics

Arriving as a kit-of-parts (like many inner-city buildings of the time), the old Park Station travelled from a foundry in Amsterdam to the booming mining town of Johannesburg. Designed by Dutch architect and railway engineer Jacob Frederik Klinkhamer, the 255m-long transit structure was opened in 1896 – and then, as the city rapidly grew, was removed in 1951 to make way for the new Park Station. Today, the ghostly shell welcomes you to the city as you enter from Braamfontein over the Nelson Mandela Bridge, its stripped and patinaed figure acting as a fitting gatehouse to inner-city Joburg.

Historically speaking

The Nederlandsche Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg-Maatschappij, responsible for South Africa’s railway network at the time, decided to create an elaborate statement that embodied a powerful future and stately Johannesburg. They planned to turn the original Park Halt, a tin shed structure built in 1890 on the Rand Tram line, into a new grand station. The original design was a more intricate building, with an impressive entrance, and halls, atriums and offices, but the budget was slashed, as is customary in most building projects. A retrospective view of this is that it may have been for the best – again, a fitting age-old architectural trope.

Not many people know that…

The old Park Station is not in its original position. It is easily one of the most well-travelled buildings in the world: beyond its trip from Europe to Africa, the Dutch structure has also been a nomad within its Highveld landscape. Now located a kilometre east of its original location on the site of the current Park Station, it took a sabbatical for more than four decades at the railway school in Esselen Park, where it served as a training facility, before almost returning to its original home.

READ MORE: Building an Icon: Disa Park

As with the (de)tours of many a rock star, this sojourn led to the station losing some of itself along the way – nine of its 21 bays remain at Esselen Park. If completed, the building would utilise the full expanse of the key-stoned concrete plinth it perches on today.

At its zenith

As a bustling intersection of Johannesburg life, the station was known for its Station Bar and Buffet. It became a prestigious spot for meetings along the mining railway lines. As you had to buy a ticket to use the restaurant even if you weren’t using the train, it gained the reputation of an elite location, complete with solid timber panelling and high-end finishes.

READ MORE: Building an Icon: The Carlton Centre

Beyond suburban passenger transport, Park Station also became an aorta for the transportation of goods – especially coal from the East Rand – and connected multiple Johannesburg routes for the first time. This facilitated a boom in the city’s coal- and gold-mining industries. The structure also played a pivotal role in both World Wars and the South African War (Anglo- Boer War), trafficking soldiers and refugees alike.

Why we love it

Nothing screams old Joburg like a bit of broekielace. Even though it’s a utilitarian and infrastructural building, the old Park Station is not shy of delightful details. The components of the structure were cast in the prestigious Pletterij Den Haag iron foundry, and condescend the rudimentary intersections of standard steel sections and connections readily used today.

READ MORE: House of Legends: Creating Coromandel

The intricate castings carry through the ornate Dutch Neo-Renaissance style and add a decorative touch to the building. In this case, the gaudy sensibility works, and the elaborate column heads, the tapered steel beams and the lacy arches – all designed as part of the structure – make it impossible to strip the delicate beauty out of this building.

The state of play today

This mostly sleeping dog is occasionally awoken by the presence of DJs and a dance party. Once or twice a year, maybe, a big corporate peddling its product with an event and a catchy hashtag uses the building as a venue to build alternative street cred. Day to day, its front yard is a transitional home for would-be drivers learning to alley dock.

Old Park Station, in its incomplete purity, lays vacant, gazing east in the direction of the new Park Station. It is the alpha ousted from its former land and utilitarian pride. The out-of-place structure is a remnant of the old city – a beautiful antique in the lounge of Aunty Joburg, waiting to be liberated from the stuffy hoarded clutter and born anew. For the time being, its wispy body forms a contrast to Newtown’s colour-blocked affordable-housing schemes. And while it waits for its next life, we love to view the old skeletal sculpture, sitting pretty on its pedestal.

Read more stories in our Building an Icon series. Don’t forget to sign up to our weekly newsletter for the latest architecture and design news.

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To kick off our new series on classic South African buildings that deserve to be celebrated, architect Brian McKechnie goes behind the scenes of Joburg’s once-glorious, now dilapidated and partially defunct Carlton Centre.

The basics

The Carlton office tower reaches a height of 223m above Main Street’s pavement. Designed by New York architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the sprawling Carlton Centre complex in downtown Johannesburg was a flagship development for Anglo American and SAB. Planning for the mammoth project began in the early 1960s, when a land parcel spanning five city blocks was secretly assembled.

The centre was designed to include a 50-storey international-style office tower, the 31-floor Western International Carlton Hotel – the largest in the southern hemisphere – an underground arcade housing 160 high- end boutique stores, and a 2 000 car parkade with an exhibition space. The scheme clustered around an open, New York-esque plaza, with a central oculus to the shopping levels below.

READ MORE: Building an Icon: Disa Park in Cape Town

Not many people know that…

Western’s “International” status meant that guests of all races could mix freely at the Carlton Hotel. The National Peace Accord, key in curbing violence during negotiations to end apartheid, was signed at the Carlton in September 1991. Nelson Mandela, who chose the hotel as his home away from home, delivered the ANC’s election victory speech to a dignitary-packed Carlton ballroom in April 1994, heralding the birth of a democratic South Africa.

At its zenith

Completed in 1974 and billed as the “biggest real estate deal in South Africa’s history”, the Carlton was the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, and remained the tallest in Africa for almost 50 years. Anchored by blue-chip corporates such as Anglo American and KPMG, Carlton Centre was easily South Africa’s most coveted business address. The Carlton Hotel’s guest list reads like a 20th-century “who’s who”, and includes Christiaan Barnard, Harry Oppenheimer, Mick Jagger, Hillary Clinton, Naomi Campbell, Michael Jackson, the Shah of Iran, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and even John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

The state of play today

By the time of the political turbulence in the 1990s, decentralisation and capital flight began to empty the once-bustling skyscraper and the city around it. Visitors to the centre’s speciality shops, restaurants and 50th-floor observation deck dwindled, and the hotel closed in December 1997. The complex was sold shortly afterwards, and started a new life as Transnet’s HQ. It’s estimated that Transnet staff occupy 50% of the office tower at present but have have recently issued a request for redevelopment proposals. Could this result in a Carlton reinvention?

READ MORE: House of Legends: Coromandel Manor

Why the building matters

The Carlton’s design draws influence from Le Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse, a utopian metropolis of elegant towers hovering above open plazas and pedestrian parks; as well as from the grand civic place-making of Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center. The development spliced a vignette of modernity straight into the heart of downtown Joburg, and the decidedly international edifice is a monument to a time when the City of Gold was, almost, world-class.

We love it because…

After 50 years, the skyscraper remains a landmark – and even in dereliction, the hotel’s inverted Y-form (a SOM trademark) still feels fresh, international and exotic in a restrained, mid-century Manhattan kind of way.

But above all, the Carlton Centre is a Johannesburg fable. I managed a chance pilgrimage to the mothballed hotel a few years back. Darkness shrouded the ghosts of socialites in the marble-clad lobby; enormous crystal chandeliers remained above the empty ballroom. And as I stood again in the famed hotel, the city noise subsided, and I know I heard that familiar greeting: “Welcome to the Carlton, sir.”

Read more stories in our Building an Icon series. Don’t forget to sign up to our weekly newsletter for the latest architecture and design news.

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Ever wondered what inspires our current generation of architects? For Johannesburg-based Yasmin Mayat, it’s not only who but also what, with inspiration coming from the city she loves and from South Africa’s complicated past.

Author LP Harley wrote, “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” So how does South Africa, a country with such a complicated history, begin to grapple with and understand its past and heritage? As an architect, heritage consultant and Wits lecturer, Yasmin Mayat ponders this question often, specifically in relation to space, design and urbanism. “It’s important to be cognisant of our past and our history – and not just the nice side of history, but also our inherited trauma,” she says. “I think what’s important about heritage is that it’s interlinked with who we are, our identity and what makes us who we are today. Without it, we would be lost.”

READ MORE: Architecture Influencers: Paul Oosthuizen

After studying architecture and doing a master’s degree in conservation of the built environment, Yasmin and her husband Brendan Hart started their Joburg practice, Mayat Hart Architects & Heritage Consultants, in early 2012. They focus on both design and heritage. “What’s great is having an opportunity to not only work on new and contemporary buildings, but to also get the option of retrofitting older buildings and try to give them a new life, whether that’s just a newer intervention or even restoration work,” Yasmin says. One such project is Aiton Court. Located in Hillbrow, the Le Corbusier-inspired apartment block was designed in 1938. In the 1980s, it was one of the first buildings to break apartheid segregation laws. After a period of being illegally occupied, it was turned into affordable rental housing for lower-income residents – and the duo were part of that. Yasmin says she is immensely proud of the complex project. “We were able to rehabilitate it, and it actually won the Docomomo International award for rehabilitation,” she says. “We were also able to also use it as a teaching tool, so students got to interact with it.”

The Joburg creative finds it difficult to pinpoint just one architect who’s influenced her work – many favourites, including landscape architects and several South African mid-century modernists, make that list. She does, however, explain that some of her formative inspirations were Geoffrey Bawa, Charles Correa, Luis Barragán and Lina Bo Bardi. “They were modern architects for their time, with such an energy to them,” she says. “But they were all about place and architecture that is relevant to its context. They were true to themselves, and true to their identity and their heritage.”

Mexico’s Luis Barragán was known for revolutionising architecture in his home country. He was also acclaimed for using lively block colours and establishing beautifully landscaped gardens. Yasmin is particularly fond of Casa Luiz Barragán, built in 1948 in Mexico City. The UNESCO recognised house is a masterpiece in the development of the modern movement. She also admires Indian architect and urban planner Charles Correa’s work – the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad in particular. The simple and modern memorial museum, located at the ashram where Mahatma Gandhi lived, was completed in 1963, and aimed to be an expression of swadeshi – a self sufficiency movement central to Indian independence.

In 2018, Mayat Hart Architects were tasked with the upgrade of the SS Mendi Memorial at the Avalon Cemetery. The memorial pays tribute to 607 black South Africans, all members of the South African Native Labour Corps, who were killed when their ship sank on the way to France in 1917. For Yasmin, this project was incredibly significant “because of its dark history in South Africa as well as its context within a cemetery. We were trying to create a memorial space that wasn’t just about the event, but that had a more interactive element to it”. The finished project is an unassuming structure that educates and adds context – but it can also be walked through or sat in for quiet contemplation.

Yasmin’s greatest muse by far is the City of Gold. “Johannesburg has always been the backdrop of our design and practice,” she says. “It’s an ever-changing city, so there is always something new happening and something new to learn, which has a big impact on our research and our work.” She also thinks that growing up in the historic Fordsburg area on the western outskirts of the inner city was key. “Having that juxtaposition of old and new from my childhood has been formative,” she explains. “Both my parents grew up in the city, and I think both their experiences and how they navigated them have definitely influenced me.”

And whether she’s designing a new home or restoring a dilapidated old building, for Yasmin, “Good design isn’t architecture with a capital A.” Rather, it’s about “the quiet interventions that we can implement – it’s the seamless projects that we can add to a building, or when we can create or design something to enhance the experience, allowing the building to speak first.”

Looking for more architectural inspiration? Sign up to our weekly newsletter, here.

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We chat to local Johannesburg-based graffiti artist and handpoke tattooer Mein163 about where he gains inspiration, his daily grind and what he plans for the future.

Tell us about how your name came about?

I basically wanted my own name that was Mine, I liked the letters and the idea of the word. But that name was already being used by a well-known writer from overseas. So I rearranged the letters and added a number to make sure it was different. Years later I am now friends with the writer Mine from the states and had a meet up there and in Asia together. Strange how things end out.

When did you first get involved in art?

Its been around me most of my life thanks to my grandmother on my father’s side. She was really switched on to music, drawing, painting, ceramics, you name it she did it. She is definitely the person who gave me my intro into art in general and sort of pushed it as an optional reality. I have also since I could remember grown up with a skateboard and that also played, and to a degree still plays a huge role in my life.

What are some memorable painting moments?

In terms of my work being, able to paint at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia in 2018 for the Fifa World Cup is still one of the great memories. There were artists from each continent painting around the stadium complex where the opening and final games of the tournament were played. It was an honour to work in that kind of environment. But nothing beats being in foreign cities and roaming the streets at night with your friends though. While it’s quiet and everyone is asleep, those are some of the best times. You get to explore a city from a different perspective and really enjoy your surroundings.

Who inspires you locally?

That’s a tough one, there’s a lot but; TAPZ , dayz, my dude Anser NineOne, Mook Lion, Mars, KrinkyWinky, Kylie Wentzel, R1One, Black Koki, Maja Maljević, Xee Summers, Ben Eagle, Rekso, Rasty. There is too much local talent in all areas.

What does a regular day look like for you now?

Usually, I try to wake up bright and early and do any admin I have, I’m still practising this part. Then after that it’s either going to the tattoo shop where I make handpoke tattoos or going to make a mural for a client which is the majority of my income. I try to give my self a lot of free time also, so some days I can go paint the streets or stay home and work on canvas.

How did your style develop? Are you exclusively into greys/blacks/whites?

I started to feel that I wanted to focus more on the shape and form of the work and not so much on the bright colours and effects. I didn’t always use only greys it’s only been about 3 years, at first I just started fragmenting my letters into bold simple geometry. I enjoy the simple palette of black and white because of the contrast between the two, and the grey tones are the best way to explore that. I started painting the skate spots because I felt painting the streets and skating the streets are closely related in the sense that they both rely on locations and objects. I have painted some colour commissions recently and I did like the results, though I still prefer the grey tones.

Do you have a particular piece you’re extremely attached to?

I can’t think of anyone in particular. Usually, it would be the last one I have done, it’s always freshest in memory. From painting in public everything is so temporary that it’s hard to get too attached when it could be erased or ruined at any time, which is also nice in a way. It keeps it active. If I were to go through the photo album I might have another answer for this question though.

What are your plans for the future?

Staying positive and healthy. I am having a show in the spring, so I am working towards that and looking forward to it. Otherwise, I would just like to make some more tattoos and keep painting and making work.

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Aiming to build a community rather than just create apartments, Sandton’s new BlackBrick Club development is – hopefully – also coming soon to a space near you.

BlackBrick Club’s meditation garden was planted as a jungle oasis. The library is filled with carefully selected books to support a regular programme of talks. The cinema will screen documentaries and old classics. The bar faces west to provide great views of Joburg’s urban forest. There’s a spot for rooftop yoga, a bike station, electric car rental facility, gym, restaurants, work spaces, 75 hotel rooms and 208 apartments to rent or buy.

But unlike an apartment building with similar facilities that sometimes never get used, BlackBrick Club wants to build a community, using events to bring people together. Founder Moritz Wellensiek calls this integrated live-play-work experience a “vertical village”. It’s an interesting project – even more so now, as Covid-19 speeds up the shifts in the way we live and work. A New Yorker cartoon by David Sipress signals some anxiety around it when a character asks, “I can’t remember – do I work at home or do I live at work?” Published years ago, it has recently been doing the rounds again.

BlackBrick Club, housed in the old South African Breweries building at 25 Fredman Drive in central Sandton, might offer a solution to this conundrum. Here, you can choose which setup works best for you with four tiers of membership: investor (buy an apartment), tenant (rent), club (work and socialise) and guest (hotel guests are temporary members). The club membership costs about R10 000, and gives you access to the BlackBrick accelerator programme, including mentorship workshops and cross-country conferencing, access to all communal facilities, and discounts on hotel stays at their network of clubs still to come in Rosebank, Umhlanga, Cape Town, and abroad in the US.

The developers are also offering leisure experiences in partnership with Curiocity – so guests can spend a night at BlackBrick, then stay at Curiocity in the Cradle of Humankind, and end the weekend with a walk through Nirox Sculpture Park.

There are plenty of other collaborations too. One of the restaurants is Soul Souvlaki, famous for Greek street food. Weylandts and Modernist provided the furniture and decor. Performance artist Manthe Ribane is one of the guides offering inspiring talks about their career journey – and she’s had input into the staff uniforms too.

Architect and urbanist Andrew Makin worked with the developers to create a space that uses landscaping and muted accents to contrast and soften the urban context and stark architectural aesthetic.

Sensitive to concerns around communal living while Covid-19 is still an issue, BlackBrick has designed a booking system on their app that allows members to book spaces for private use. With many of us left feeling isolated during the lockdown in less-mixed living situations, a suitably safe vertical village might just tick all the boxes.

For more information, visit blackbrick.club.

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The Norval Foundation

Until 28 March 2022

The Zanzibari Years: Irma Stern 

This is the first time in nearly 40 years that a body of these Zanzibari works, considered among her finest, are exhibited together.

This period of the artist’s work, frequently regarded as a high point of her painterly career, is the exclusive focus of the exhibition which has – in its presentation – been profoundly influenced by her book, Zanzibar. The book has informed not only the choice of works to be presented but also the selection of objects that provide the viewer with a glimpse into the island world where Irma lived and worked. This exhibition allows viewers to imagine with empathy the context that gave rise to some of her most distinctive works.

Irma Stern: The Zanzibari Years is curated by Karel Nel. For more info on the exhibitions currently on display at the Norval Foundation, visit norvalfoundation.org

KRONE X WHATIFTHEWORLD

Until 28 February 2022

40 artists under the age of 40

Featuring 60 works by 40 artists under the age of 40, this year’s KRONE X WHATIFTHEWORLD showcase is currently taking place at Twee Jonge Gezellen – the home of Krone Cap Classique – in Tulbagh. Definitely one of the unmissable cultural events of the summer, the exhibition represents a celebratory moment for contemporary art, drawing on young talent from across the African continent – and beyond.

For more information on the exhibition, visit whatiftheworld.com/krone

The Norval Foundation and Boschendal’s Collaborative Exhibition

Runs throughout the year

The partnership will see the establishment of a series of satellite art exhibitions hosted at Boschendal’s historic Manor House and surrounding grounds. Respected as one of the country’s oldest farms, with deep cultural and community roots stretching back to 1685, Boschendal’s collaboration with Norval further reflects the farm’s commitment to celebrating emerging creative talent through arts and culture.

Visitors will be welcomed by a contemporary collection of art that contrasts with the Manor House’s rich history, providing a nuanced experience for art lovers. The first year’s programming will be drawn from Norval Foundation’s Homestead Collection, which features artists from across Africa, but with a strong Southern Africa representation. Exhibitions will rotate every three to four months and admission is free.

Visual activist Zanele Muholi‘s ongoing photographic series Somnyama Ngonyama (‘Hail, the Dark Lioness’) is currently on view. Concurrent to the exhibition within, a series of sculptures will be on display in the grounds surrounding the Manor House, continuing the dialogue between past and present with work by Kyle Morland and two sculptures by Edoardo Villa on display.

For more information, visit boschendal.com

STEVENSON

12 February – 18 March 2022 (Johannesburg)

Monochrome Paintings by Zander Blom

Zander Blom’s tenth solo exhibition with STEVENSON Johannesburg, Monochrome Paintings, is a joyous return to abstraction; a self-described visual mellifluence of “gentle gradients, confident shapes, intricate details and ecstatic yet violent brushwork abound in waves of monochrome.”

For more information, visit stevenson.info.

Southern Guild

16 February – 7 April 2022

Transcending Instinct by Nandipha Mntambo

Southern Guild presents Transcending Instinct, an installation of large-scale seating objects and paintings by Nandipha Mntambo. The artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, Transcending Instinct also marks her first venture into functional sculpture.

A multidisciplinary artist who rose to prominence for her cowhide sculptures, Mntambo sees her oeuvre to date as a continuous and interconnected body of work. Collaborating with Southern Guild presented her with the opportunity to explore how key ideas, materials and forms from her archive could be applied to the creation of functional objects. “Lately, my interest lies in re-examining the concept of shape and forms and reflecting on my earlier sculpture and photography, using my current practice as a lens to look back,” says Mntambo.

For more information, visit southernguild.co.za

Salon Ninety One

16 February – 12 March

A Very Grand Tour by Jessica Bosworth Smith

A Very Grand Tour is a debut solo exhibition by Jessica Bosworth Smith. A Very Grand Tour centres around Jessica’s desire to teleport herself to new and wonderful places rather than to recapture the cities she has already visited. “I wanted to create parallel worlds which were reality-adjacent; interiors of impractical and fantastic hotels or apartments, lush pools, perfectly preserved collections of things, souvenirs, and dense, vibrant jungles. Through painting, I could circumvent the plane ticket and travel restrictions and use the pictorial plane to go elsewhere. A place where only I can go, which is mine alone, where there is no reality to compare it to, that tells me everything I need to know about myself,” Says Jessica.

For more information, visit salon91.co.za

Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2022

18-20 February 2022 at the CTICC

The annual Investec Cape Town Art Fair draws the best artists from different parts of the world and the ninth edition sees the return of the long-running programme with a special new addition. “We believe art can break down barriers and bring people together. So, we’re delighted to welcome back a face-to-face Fair, combined with the digital edition, which could bring the world of art to a potentially larger, more diverse audience.” said Peta Dixon, Investec’s head of Sponsorships. 

The Investec Cape Town Art Fair runs from Friday 18 to Sunday 20 February 2022, 11am to 7pm, at the Cape Town International Conventional Centre (CTICC). Tickets are R130-R330 via Webtickets. For more information, visit investeccapetownartfair.co.za and follow the fair on Instagram @investeccapetownartfair.

Barnard Gallery

15 March – 26 April

Tom Cullberg: Local Stories

Tom Cullberg’s fascination with the formal appearance of things purposefully arranged on a shelf endures in his engrossing cabinet installations presented in his latest exhibition at the Barnard titled Local Stories.

Tom Cullberg: Local Stories opens on 15 March and runs until 26 April at the Barnard in Cape Town. A limited edition publication of the project has also been launched and will be available for purchase during the exhibition.

For more information, visit barnardgallery.com

Spier Light Art

18 March – 18 April 2022

The fourth and highly anticipated edition of the celebrated annual Spier Light Art will present an evocative world of light, sound and video art at the historic Stellenbosch Wine Farm. From 18 March to 18 April 2022, Spier Light Art will be accessible to the public and entry is free. The best time to visit is at dusk, when you can catch the beautiful sunset and witness the lights being turned on.

For more information, visit spier.co.za.

State of the Art Gallery

7 – 28 May 2022

Abstract*d

This exhibition presents the work of Balekane Legoabe, Odette Marais, Karla Nixon, Tanja Truscott and Shui-Lyn White, who share an interest in saying things that can’t necessarily be expressed in words.

For this exhibition five abstract artists were in visual conversation with one another. They ‘spoke’ to one another in images. A conversation without words about line, colour, texture, shape and light. Sometimes the conversation was direct, at other times quirky with humorous lateral jumps, but it always spoke about how they saw the world around them through the fundamentals of abstract art. 

For more information, visit stateoftheart-gallery.com

Botho Project Space

20 May – 19 June

A PLACE CALLED HOME by Trevor Stuurman

Art curator Botho Project Space today presents its latest offering, A Place Called Home, showcasing the works of award-winning contemporary visual artist Trevor Stuurman.

Narrated through the lens of Trevor Stuurman, the exhibition is an expression of ‘home’, a concept very close to his heart. Evoking the nostalgic feeling of a loved one waking you up at the first light of dawn, dipping into a warm bath, scrubbing the weekend away and stepping out in your Sunday best.
 
Set in a home in Parktown West (26 Rhodes Avenue, Parktown, Johannesburg), the idea behind the exhibition is to re-create a space where people relive their own Sundays at home, the special memories and moments that make these days sacred in any South African home.
 
Trevor has collaborated with leading furniture and homeware retailer Weylandts to infuse the exhibition with authentic design, using many of the same pieces the artist has in his own home.

Buy tickets to the exhibition via plankton.mobi

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Designed by Adjaye Associates, the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library in Riviera, Johannesburg is a space that aims to preserve and distribute African knowledge and history.

The architecture is inspired by granary structures, which traditionally allow for the systematisation of feeding, planting and harvesting cycles. According to Adjaye Associates, the design concept is “a metaphor for knowledge-based nourishment”.

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WORDS Nechama Brodie IMAGES Dook PRODUCTION Annemarie Meintjes

Polish-born architect Frank Jarrett left a rather eclectic collection of landmarks across the city of Johannesburg, his works ranging from the offices of Chancellor House – the original home of Mandela and Tambo Attorneys – to the slightly less discreet Gold Reef City theme park development. In 1951, Jarrett was commissioned to build a private residence on the Linksfield Ridge for Greek timber merchant Manoussos Broulidakis, who clad the interior of the modern stone, brick and terrazzo home in glowing floor-to-ceiling wood. Thankfully, many of these features remain today. The front door is Burmese teak, the floors are covered in gleaming parquet. But perhaps most breathtaking of all are the richly varnished panels of sandblasted pine that line the eastern wall between the living area and the kitchen, and which enclose a Bond-worthy staircase leading up to the home’s bedrooms.

Picture windows face a generous expanse of Highveld sky, with the Yeoville ridge to the west and Kensington stretching to the south. In 1960, Broulidakis sold the house to American author and founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. Together with his wife and four children, Hubbard took up residence there between September 1960 and March 1961, before returning to his London base and eventually selling the Johannesburg property. More than 40 years later, the house came up for sale again and was purchased by the Church of Scientology under the organisation’s Landmark Sites programme, which finds locations where Hubbard lived and restores and preserves them for visitors who want to experience a snapshot of his remarkable life journey. The house had been used as a family residence, and while the exteriors and most of the property’s distinctive metalwork were intact, many original interior features had been altered, covered up or lost over time. The Landmark Sites programme sought to not only restore the site to its original architectural condition but to recreate the home exactly as it had been when Hubbard had lived there.

To do this, they accessed an extensive archive of photographs and even video footage of the residence, taken by Hubbard himself. Hubbard’s former employees were interviewed about their memories of the place, and the organisation contacted the family that had moved into the home immediately after the Hubbards left. The restoration took the better part of two years, using local artisans and builders either to return features to their original condition or to recreate them where this was no longer possible.

The extensive work included gently removing layers of plaster that concealed the interior stonework, including the curved slasto wall in the living room, and getting rid of fitted carpets that covered the parquet floors. The Linksfield Ridge house was opened on 13 March 2005 – what would have been L. Ron Hubbard’s 94th birthday – and later received a blue plaque from the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation, marking the property’s unique place and space as both an example of post-war modernism and a fascinating home.

Looking for more architectural inspiration? Take a look at this Fresnaye family home.

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Designer Tiaan Nagel worked with interior-architectural design studio Tonic Design on the interiors of his eponymous flagship boutique, which recently opened in Hyde Park Corner, Johannesburg. 

“Philippe [van der Merwe] and Greg [Gamble] strike the perfect balance between sophistication and ease,” explains Tiaan. “For me personally, as someone who battles to compromise, they are the best to work with – they push the boundaries without being faddish, improving the space and how the product will be seen and experienced.”

Tiaan showed Philippe references, many of which featured the brown tones of late ’70s interiors, including Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic Paris apartment on rue de Babylone designed by Jacques Grange: dark browns with hints of honey, sulphur and amber.

“Philippe’s eye for colour and shape is so finely tuned,” Tiaan continues. “I didn’t want anything black or white; it’s too cold. The whole project was about creating warmth and mood. In order for us to stand out from the crowd, it couldn’t feel like a traditional store. So I asked Tonic to create a shell where I can curate all the things I love, like an apartment instead of a store, filled with art, fine craft, beautiful design, and more.”

The salon-apartment feel is reinforced with the plush velvet sofa, designed by Tonic, paired with a riempie ball-and-claw chair; oversized curtains made from raw Belgian linen, which drape on wide natural oak floor boards; coffee table books and vases on top of a lacquered table with multiple legs; a contemporary mirror that could be in a boudoir; LED lights below polished marble shelves; brushed stainless steel, a counterpoint to a dark antique armoire.

“I knew I needed modern pieces, but also ones with character, so I turned to fine-art and antiques specialist Riaan Bolt to help me find pieces that spoke to that feeling and to my obsession with all things handmade,” says Tiaan. “Some are 150 years old – Cape stinkwood carved and inlaid with contrasting wood to create beautiful patterns that I find contemporary today. That’s the thing with items that are well made, they retain value and surpass trends.”

Tiaan has also launched a new fashion collection for summer 2019/2020 entitled “Remember You Are” inspired by the poetry of Ntokozo Mbokazi. The womenswear range pays homage to beautiful fabrics. The pieces, which feature graphic silhouettes, are made from vintage fabrics Tiaan sourced over years from fabric mills that are no longer in business or don’t have the capacity to reproduce certain styles.

Pottery also formed part of Tiaan’s inspiration – both for the collection and the boutique – as he examined his collection of Rorke’s Drift pottery. In the Remember You Are collection the pottery’s pleasingly simple shapes inform the oversized details on a shirt or the volumes of a sleeve. And for the store, the nuance of the colour of clay guided the palette – greyish blues, warm ambers, pale yellows.

Of the boutique, Tiaan concludes, “It’s this strange relationship between the older antiques, the modern furniture, the sculptural ceramics, the progressive art pieces and the clothing collection that sets the perfect tone for a new way of doing retail, I believe.”

Find the store at Shop 55UM Hyde Park Corner, on the corner of Jan Smuts Avenue and William Nicol Drive, Hyde Park, Johannesburg. Visit tiaannagel.co.za to find out more and stay up to date with the brand on Instagram (@tiaannagel). 

The post Cool Spaces: Tiaan Nagel appeared first on Visi.

With the debut of a new contemporary art fair, LATITUDES, coinciding with the new-look FNB Art Joburg (previously FNB Joburg Art Fair), there’s a lot to see in the City of Gold from 13 – 15 September 2019. 

“It’s only natural in big cities around the world, when you go to one art fair, there are always several other art fairs surrounding it,” explains FNB Art Joburg’s new owner Mandla Sibeko. “There’s Basel, and then there’s the fringe fairs around the city.”

In its 12th year, making it Africa’s oldest art fair, FNB Art Joburg remains true to its core of attracting and presenting established galleries, while LATITUDES gives space to peripheral and emerging galleries.

Of LATITUDES, co-founder Lucy MacGarry says, “The fair has been developed in close conversation with several African galleries, and sets out to nurture exchange between artists, galleries, collectors, curators and researchers throughout Africa and the diasporas. We aim to expand and strengthen audiences for contemporary art, as well as create a richer global understanding of African cultural production.”

Five African artists were invited to create limited-edition artworks to be sold as part of the LATITUDES’ VIP Programme package and translated into designs that wrap five luxury cars. Adejoke Tugbiyele, Sthenjwa Luthuli, Pebofatso Mokeona, Clint Strydom and Mbali Tshabalala’s original artworks will be featured on Daytona’s latest models – the McLaren 650S, McLaren 570S, Aston Martin Vanquish, Aston Martin DB11 and Rolls-Royce Ghost – which will be unveiled at the fair.

Mbali Tshabalala’s limited-edition artwork for LATITUDES Art Fair entitled Conversation Within.

“We’ve worked with David Krut Workshop and Daytona,” explains Lucy, “to create opportunities for moments of connection and surprise for members of the public, for unforeseen encounters between new collectors and new art dealers, and for networks to emerge organically across different constituencies in the art sector.”

Another of LATITUDES’ curated projects on show is Essay, which features work by artists who have not been widely acknowledged in South Africa to date, one at the beginning of their career, the other an overlooked master. This year those artists are Durban-based emerging talent Sthenjwa Luthuli and struggle veteran, artist, poet and academic Pitika Ntuli.

Spotlight profiles artists who work independently, without traditional gallery representation. Some of the artists on show are Khotso Motsoeneng, Lando Dlamini, Lebogang Mogul Mabusela, Zen Marie and Gina Waldman.

This year’s FNB Art Joburg sees more of an emphasis on the design and layout of the fair and a new approach to emerging galleries and the central space. The Gallery Lab is a 600 m² pavilion where galleries and hybrid spaces converge under the curation of Nicole Siegenthaler, fair manager of FNB Art Joburg, and Banele Khoza, founding Director of BKhz. Preference has been given to showcasing new mediums, under-exhibited artists and current dialogues in the contemporary African art space.

On one of the walls of Eclectica Contemporary’s booth, Loyiso Mkize will be presenting an installation that pays homage to Winnie Mandela through painting, sculptural elements and text, and celebrating her complex, controversial and important legacy. On the adjacent wall, Hussein Salim’s evocative and vibrant paintings will create a counterpoint that captures the complexity of our stories.

Hussein Salim – The Big Wall II, 2019, Acrylic on Canvas, 150 x 180 cm

There will also be a tribute to the late Hugh Masekela to look out for with unique portraits of “Bra Hugh” exhibited alongside a curated show of interconnected work and live performances in collaboration with Art Joburg galleries to acknowledge the interplay of art and jazz in South Africa.

LATITUDES Art Fair will be held at Nelson Mandela Square, corner Maude and 5th Streets, Sandton, on Friday (11am – 9pm), Saturday (10am – 6pm) and Sunday (10am – 5pm), with tickets starting from R120 online for a day pass.

FNB Art Joburg is happening at the Sandton Convention Centre, Exhibit Hall 2, on Friday (11am – 8pm), Saturday (11am – 7pm) and Sunday (10am – 5pm), with tickets starting from R120 online for a day pass.

Discounts are available at both fairs for students and pensioners and tickets are also available at the doors. To find out more, visit LATITUDES Art Fair and FNB Art Joburg. 

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