An exploration of the evolution of modern architecture from Africa's roots of tribalism and apartheid

1. African Safari and
a new Architecture
Healing the colonial disruption of native African culture
Savannahs and bush country of South Africa
By Laurie Barlow, AIA © 2007

2. The true owners of
Kruger Park Preserve

3. The shade of
a Baobab tree is a place
of communal gathering,
whether for school,
meetings of a
community or social
exchange.
Pre Historic native South African
structures – late stone age

4. Courtyard
Historic native South African structures
Traditional Khoi-Khoi
thatched huts of the
pre-colonial era. Three
or four huts form a
family compound in a
low-walled courtyard.
Prior to the colonial
period starting 1652.

5. Colonial era Afrikaan (Cape Dutch) structures
Stellenbosch and the wine
region
Dutch settlers (Afrikaners) leave the Cape in 1835,
when the British again take over, regain
independence in 1881 in the Voortrek to the
Transvaal. Britain dominates South Africa and
relinquished the government in 1906 to whites
only.
The Dutch East India Company
founds a refreshment station at the
Cape of Good Hope in 1652,
slaves imported from Indonesia,
Africa and India through the 1795
British incursion

6. Robben Island is a former
leper colony off of the
Victoria waterfront used as a
prison. Nelson Mandela and
ANC resistance were
incarcerated there beginning
1964.
Historical Summary:
In the 1680's, Dutch, French and Germans fled religious persecution in Europe and settled in
Southern Africa. They called themselves the Afrikaners, White Africans.
For the next 250 years, the British Empire fought the Afrikaners for control of the land, the gold, and
20 million native Africans.
In 1948, a conservative Afrikaner government was voted into power. A system of racial segregation
first introduced by the English was declared the law of the land. Its new roots were in the now-
defeated Nazi party. This new government ostracized the British subjects in retaliation for the earlier
British class warfare.
The English never gave the system a name. The Afrikaners called it Apartheid. It used the same
tactics of intimidation, ghettoization in townships, discrimination and abuse – pass laws - that had
been established to control and exterminate the Jews in Europe, except that now it particularly
targeted the native tribal black population.

7. 1978 Apartheid Era ends
1989 DeKlerk succeeds Botha,
unbans ANC, releases Mandela
1994 Mandela is President
Interim constitution & in 1996 a
permanent constitution is adopted
Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg
1906 Britain turns govt over,
1948 Afrikaner National Party wins
1950 Segregation & Pass Laws
1961 So Africa becomes a Republic
1964 Mandela life imprisonment
As a young lawyer who arrived in 1893
Gandhi returns to India in 1914, instills
Democracy through passive resistance
movement
British settlers in 1820,
1828-38 slavery repealed.
Voortrekkers leave Cape
Colony 1835-40
Diamond mining 1867
Gold in 1885, Johannesburg
Boer War 1899-1902
Portuguese 1487
Dutch arrive in 1652, slaves
imported until 1795
1795-1812 British takeovers
Anthem: Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrica

8. The official version of the national anthem, combining Nkosi sikelel'
iAfrika, Die Stem and The Call of South Africa:
Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa la matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika.
Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,
Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.
A much longer classic Xhosa version of Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
predates this adopted version.
Xhosa stanza
Afrikaans stanza
English stanza

9. Metro Mall Transport Facility & Traders Market
Johannesburg: Linkages – inner city minibus taxis and street traders
Provides for the taxis for commuters between their homes in the townships
and their workplaces in the inner city, as well as stalls for the street traders
Image: Contemporary South African Architecture, by Deckler, Graupner,
Rasmuss

10. Baragwanth Public Transport
Interchange, Soweto connection between
Johannesburg/Soweto
Soweto
Central Johannesburg
Transit linkages are
developed to provide
access between the major
cities and the townships as
the first step in Africa’s post-
apartheid transformation,
and recognizes the design
vocabulary of the townships.
Image: Contemporary South African Architecture, by Deckler, Graupner,
Rasmuss

11. Diamond Hill Toll Plaza (Mozambique/So Africa)
Image: Contemporary South African Architecture, by Deckler, Graupner,
Rasmuss

12. Baobab Toll Plaza
The Baobab tree can live for thousands of years and is incorporated
into the Limpopo Province coat of arms, being native to that region.
Image: Contemporary South African Architecture, by Deckler, Graupner,
Rasmuss

13. “Making Democracy
Work” is a linocut identified
by the architects, omm
design workshop and Urban
Solutions, as a
representation of the project
brief. Assembled in the
shade of a tree, the elders
seek Justice with a TV
cameraman to one side.
Constitutional Court, Johannesburg In 1994, several
months after the end of apartheid, this building was completed on the site of the
notorious Old Fort Prison in central Johannesburg, incorporating some of its brick
structures.
“Light on a Hill” - from dismantling apartheid to rebuilding culture & justice