ZEITZ MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART AFRICA

Images © Iwan Baan

This is the exclusive project that won the new and old completed buildings category at the 2018 World Architecture Festival. Designed and completed by Heatherwick Studio’s Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) was described as the world’s largest museum dedicated to African contemporary art and its diaspora. Built in Cape Town’s V&A waterfront area in South Africa, the total of nine-floor, 9,500 square foot interior reinvigorates the grain silo complex as a symbol of Cape Town’s industrial history. After the silo became disuse in 1990 with the introduction of new technologies. The inventive design thinker’s architectural firm Heatherwick Studio reinterpreted the historical monument by transforming the symbol of economic progress into a cultural epicenter.

THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE

Heatherwick worked with his London-based firm to create a unique monumental facade that stands out among the surrounding buildings of V&A Waterfront’s. According to Heatherwick, ‘the firm were excited by the opportunity to unlock this formerly dead structure and transform it into somewhere for people to see and enjoy the most incredible artworks from the continent of Africa. The technical challenge was to find a way to carve out spaces and galleries from the ten-storey high tubular honeycomb without completely destroying the authenticity of the original building.’

The exclusive contemporary art African project was announced in year 2013 and the final design includes 6,000 square meters of exhibition space that makes up 80 galleries dedicated to promoting African contemporary art. A bookshop, restaurant and bar, a rooftop garden and conservation labs are also included in the structure.