The clothes we wear represent us, it’s a way to communicate something about us, what we are or what we would like to be, so we are generally quite picky when it comes to choosing them. However, we are not as demanding when it comes to the spaces we inhabit, especially the public and collective ones that, as attractive and fashionable as they are, we rarely feel like it’s "ours". Yet in Italian, the two words dress, “abito”, and inhabit, “abitare”, share the same etymology: they derive from the Latin verb habere, “to have”, which preserves a deep meaning related to the sense of belonging and recognition.
So why do we choose the dress, but not the spaces we live in? Why do we accept places that don't represent us?
The reasons are many: first, the characteristics of space are usually imposed from above, without consulting us and without giving us the opportunity to express dissent. Second, political decision-makers and designers prefer to impose new values, rather than interpreting the experience of those who will have to “wear” the city. However, there are exceptions that show that in the field of design, especially in complex contexts, it is not possible to avoid listening to the stories of those who have lived, live, and will live in those spaces.
This is the case of the Noero Architects studio, in Cap Town (South Africa), which contributed to the reconstruction of post-apartheid Africa by proposing projects that are tailored to people, consistent with the experience of individuals and communities.
New Brighton - Port Elizabeth, South Africa
5th of April 2022
reading time: 6’ 20’’
The philosophy of the studio owes much to the vision of its founder, the architect Jo Noero, who has always taught and demonstrated the communicative, political and social power of architecture, which must know how to handle space and materials wisely, transforming them into powerful means of expression, bearers of values, symbols, shared messages, easily understandable. In a sense, Noero believes and promotes the idea that architecture is a form of language consisting of spatial relationships and that as such it should be used to tell and build meaningful stories.
The production of the Noero Architects studio is rich in projects that demonstrate the political and cultural power of architecture. The brightest example is undoubtedly the public cultural complex of Red Location, in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, one of the most famous blacktowns built during apartheid. Apartheid is an Afrikaner term that literally means "separation", "partition" and that defines the policy of racial segregation, established in 1948 by the white government of South Africa and remained in force until 1991. Apartheid strongly affected the urban landscape: according to the rules, black and white people had to live in different places, the indigenous population was prohibited from using public and cultural spaces, and black communities were relegated to cities built from scratch, in inhospitable places, without services and with resources so scarce as to throw entire generations into a condition of unprecedented economic and intellectual poverty. New Brighton is known both for being one of the first black cities and for being a home for leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeckidelle, who organized the first forms of non-violent resistance and civil disobedience of the African National Congress (ANC).
Being New Brighton a symbol of resistance and a place of important oral traditions and memories, the government and institutions have chosen the city as the driving force of the process of rebirth and reconstruction of Africa that began in the mid-1990s and is still ongoing. Jo Noero's work fits right into this reconstruction; the strength of his vision lies in the idea that, if the space had been used as a tool to separate, establish hierarchies, segregate and marginalize for fifty years, it could now be used as a means to unite, pacify, restore freedom, both in its public and private nature.
At the competition for the transformation of New Brighton into a cultural centre, held in 1998, Noero presented a project with the community at its centre, respectful of the formal languages and local materials (one-storey houses, two-storey schools, shed roofs, etc.) and with clear references to a history of frustrations, difficulties, discrimination, and to a future of joy, values and freedom. The studio won the competition and started the construction of a system of buildings based on the relationship between private and public space, the latter meant as a means of connection between the buildings, becoming a scenario of life, a place of relationships and expression. This public/private symbiosis is found at every scale of the project and as a mantra harmonizes the complexity of the cultural centre composed of the Museum, a tribute to the struggle against Apartheid, an art gallery, a library and new houses. The same museum is organized around a mix of volumes, each containing a "piece of history", immersed in a space magma intended for rest and reflection, offered to visitors as an opportunity to listen to the past and shape the future.
Noero fits into the context of Red Location without ever losing sight of it and transforms the project into a design model, the "self-help model" applied to each type of building, which can be declined as follows: focus on the process rather than on the result, use of local materials, labour and techniques, self-construction, reinterpretation of traditional, formal and informal, spaces, microcredit operations, community and administration involvement, low budget. A sort of daily ethic that celebrates the places of life and work, ordinary materials and the civic dimension of urban life and that has allowed Red Location to improve not only the social, political and economic conditions of the place, but to emancipate the entire community.
The Red Location complex can look like a good project for those not familiar, but for those who were born and raised in New Brighton, those buildings are an integral part of the DNA of the place, a space of redemption, which reinforces and honors reality and history, the people who live in it, transforming a contemplative landscape into an active landscape, enhancing relationships and connection.
The project is still ongoing, several elements are waiting to be realized, demonstrating that designing a suit tailored to the community takes time, to listen and co-design. Are we designers willing to hone our sensitivity and patience? And above all, are we, the citizens, ready to claim our right to choose which spaces to live in and which places to wear?
You can read the history of the Red Location project in the book "Red Location Cultural Precint - Noero Architects" edited by Samanta Bartocci and published by ListLab. To learn more about the vision of Jo Noero, here’s the catalogue!
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