The Second year design studio at the School of Architecture, headed up by Studio Master John Andrews, has been engaging with the Point Discovery Centre Board (PDCB) for the design of a new interpretation centre at the Mossel Bay Point. The engagement has been facilitated by Mandela University's Engagement Office Director, Prof George De Lange, and enthusiastically supported by School of Architecture Director Boban Varghese and Department of Architecture Head, Andrew Palframan.
The need for the centre has arisen out of the recent discoveries of artifacts made in the nearby cave PP13B at Pinnacle Point, which gives significant insight into our biological intellectual development and human origins. The primary aspirations of the PDCB are to develop a place to exhibit, educate, and facilitate further research around these significant findings; and in its boldest ambitions to create a “centre that will reconnect us with our environment - and that will reconnect us with each other through our shared, ancient heritage” (www.pointdiscoverycentre.com).
The proposals by the second year architecture students explore eight potential design strategies, which were recently publicly exhibited in the Lower Baakens Valley, Port Elizabeth. The projects looked to architecturally engage with our human origins, with the intent of designing a building that is rooted in a concern for architectural experience, is holistically sustainable in design and operation, and set within our contemporary paradigm, where our ancient heritage meets our digital present. The design process was facilitated by the physical model as a core medium for explorations, and the product described by School Director Boban Varghese as; “high-quality design work… stretching the boundaries of creative and interrogative inquiry into the spatial construct in a heritage setting”.
The School of Architecture meets with the PDCB on the 14th November to formally present the proposals, and to discuss the school’s potential further involvement with the project.
PHOTO CREDIT: ASANDA ZITUMANE, 2nd YEAR ARCHITECTURE STUDENT