OH Architecture: Cape Town

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pumflet 'gladiolus' - 30 November 2017

To whom it may concern

Pumflet ‘gladiolus’ will be on sale at the Adderley Street flower market on 30 November throughout the day. It documents the conversation between ourselves about Luyolo, the black neighbourhood in Simonstown that was completely demolished in 1964 and from where most of the residents were moved to Gugulethu; and about Redhill, a black neighbourhood where people were moved to Ocean View and of which ruins still remain today. During our research about Luyolo and Redhill we looked at the paintings of Gladys Mgudlandlu, an artist from Gugulethu and the writings of Gladys Thomas, a poet living in Ocean View, in an attempt to find visual and literary links to these historic and contemporary sites of forced removal.

‘gladiolus’ documents our speculations on Mgudlandlu’s depictions of Cape Town’s built environment of the 1960s and also our discussions with the poet Thomas from her Ocean View home. Through the documentation we meditate on the way these sites were linked through landscapes, creativity and the social imagination.

From 6pm-7pm we will be at A4 Arts Foundation, 23 Buitenkant Street, where Gladys Thomas’ creative writing archive will be on view, where the video piece ‘Homeless song 5’ will be screening and where we will be available for discussion about all this material.

So, buy your copy from Sisters on Adderley (R50 for ‘pumflet’ gladiolus or R100 for pumflet + a bunch of glads) and join us in discussion thereafter.

Thank you for your kind attention

Kemang Wa Lehulere and Ilze Wolff

DATE

30 November 2017

TIME

Pumflet available all day at the Adderley Street Flower market

Discussion on the archive and process by Ilze Wolff & Kemang Wa Lehulere 6pm - 7pm at the A4 Arts Foundation

MEET

A4 Arts Foundation

23‭ ‬Buitenkant Street‭,

District Six

CPD

The event carries 0.2 Category one CPD points

Please ensure you sign the register to be issued a CPD certificate.

About

Pumflet: art, Architecture, and stuff

'Pumflet' was co-founded by architect Ilze Wolff and artist Kemang Wa Lehulere in 2016. It exists to publish interventions into the social imaginary.

It is a publication series exploring the social imagination, stories of neighbourhoods and reflecting on histories of the present. It is a site-specific, project based correspondence based, creative writing based, graphic based, periodical. It seeks to invite the public into

conversation and reflection about architecture, art and other creative disciplines with the purpose of finding wisdom on how to intervene or relate to contested land.

Pumflet is supported by oharchitecture for media and distribution; and Wolff Architects for production and project implementation. Since its inception in 2016 pumflet projects have been hosted by the University of Johannesburg, Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust, Gallery University Stellenbosch and A4 Foundation. pumflet ‘gladiolus’ was inserted as a supplement into the catalogue ‘Bird Song’ by Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year 2017, and pumflet co-founder, Kemang Wa Lehulere, and distributed at the accompanying solo show in Berlin. Each publication is conceived as an original art book designed by architect and pumflet co-founder, Ilze Wolff, using recycled paper, gaffer tape, archival images and typed - and handwritten text.

Image of Luyolo, circa 1960s, Simonstown Museum

A wedding in Luyolo, circa 1960s, Simonstown Museum

OH16 Rex Trueform, Monatic & SA Naval College: Andrews and Niegeman Monograph

BOOKINGS CLOSED

The next Cape Town based OH will review the work of Andrews and Niegeman, focussing specifically on the architectural production of its founding partners E. Douglas Andrews and Henk Th. O Niegeman. The OH will include the Rex Trueform factories, Bertish factory (now House of Monatic) and SA Naval Staff College. Andrews and Niegeman are considered as Cape Town's pioneer modernist architects who produced innovative and creative work during the 1940s and 1950s. The work will be reviewed within the context of their time, taking stock of the kind of architectural space that was produced under the conditions of South African modernity such as racial segregation, industrialization and nationalism.

Prior to coming to Cape Town in 1936/7 Dutch born and trained architect Henk Niegeman travelled extensively working in Europe, Asia and Russia. He also worked in Belgian colonized Congo and is photographed here in a one-wheeled rickshaw carried by two men with two others in the background. Photo courtesy of Dr Eitan Karol.

Example of the kind of work Niegeman was engaged in in the Congo prior to arriving in Cape Town. Photo courtesy of Dr Eitan Karol.

Henk Niegeman (left) teamed up with E. Douglas Andrews (right) in 1939 to start Andrews & Niegeman architects. Niegeman and Andrews worked in the office of Max Policansky (see OH13) where he was the project architect on the first Rex Trueform factory, Salt River, in 1938 (below).

The top floor of the factory accommodated the cloak rooms which were divided along race and gender. The windows, visible from Main Road, illustrate these divisions. The windows to the cloakrooms of the last three rectangular bays and adjacent six port-hole windows were dedicated to the toilets and cloakrooms for 'Non-European Women'. The rest were, in sequence, 'Non-European Men', 'European Women', 'European Men.' Here, the form strictly followed function and the facade became a taxonomy of race and gender.

In 1944 a fire destroyed most of the building and Andrews & Niegeman was commissioned to rebuild and alter the building. The renovations included moving the toilets and cloakrooms to the back (with the racial and gender divisions organized along four different levels), demolishing the side balcony and renovating the Main Road balcony. The image above gives an idea of A&N's new design, which is pretty much how it looks today.

Besides their renovation to the Policansky-designed factory, a new factory for Rex Trueform (1948) and M Bertish (1951), both in Salt River, stand out as key buildings of the early practice.

Rex Trueform 1948

M Bertish (now House of Monatic) 1951

Rex Trueform in 2012. Photo By Chantal van Staden

M Bertish circa 1975-1980. Photo courtesy of Dr Eitan Karol

Henk Niegemen designed a house for himself called Alma Ata in Hout Bay. The location and condition is unknown to me. Below are some photos of the interior and furniture that he designed, thanks to Dr Eitan Karol.

Finally, the SA Naval Staff College (pictured below by Heinrich Wolff) is also a great example of the firm's early work.

Other examples and more history on the firm and the architects are listed here on the Artefacts website.

OPEN HOUSE ARCHITECTURE is an official participant in World Design Capital Cape Town 2014

Open House_Thursday: 17 Glen Avenue, Higgovale // 08 May 2014

BOOKINGS

By payment to:

Open House Architecture cc

Nebank

Acc No: 123 21 35380

Branch code: 123 209

Ref: your name + 0805

Email proof of payment to tours@oharchitecture.com

Bookings essential

Spaces are limited

Transport not provided

MEET

17 Glen Avenue, Higgovale

GPS

LAT: -33.940182

LONG: 18.402215

FEE

R50

Students free

CPD

The event carries 0.3 Category one CPD points.

Please send your SACAP no. with your proof of payment.

LINKS
http://www.studiomas.co.za/17-glen.php

Open House_Thursday: House Stekhoven, Newlands // 24 April 2014

In 2012, the house was included in a monograph OH tour in which the architects introduced the house with a story of its design. Click here to view a film of House Stekhoven with commentary by the architects.

Here is an interview with Adèle Naudé Santos and Antonio De Souza Santos about their work in Cape Town between 1967 - 1972.