MARGEAUX ADAMS
UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSRAND
Onder Hemel Bo Aarde
The research interrogates dominant western
pedagogy and concepts of cultural superiority
including the idea of architecture as a product of
culture. It looks at colonial discourse with a specific
interest in language and its use in constructing
systems of knowledge and power and assesses
architecture as an extension of this colonial language.
Using post-colonial theory, the research intends
to deconstruct harmful and inaccurate ideas of
cultural superiority and its embodiment in our spatial
landscapes. Noting that during colonialism and its
succeeding ideology apartheid; erasure of people
of colour occurred in various forms. Erasure of their
identities under racial classification systems and
the accompanying spatial erasure through spatial
displacement and relocation.
Within the spatial case study of the small Anglican
mission settlement of Abbotsdale (a community of
former slaves) the research addresses three central
ideas from an architectural standpoint, identity,
power, and ritual. This community has experienced
multiple forms of erasure within its physical and
psychological landscape.
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The Architectural proposal programmatically
attempts to accommodate the remaining remnants
of the rituals of the town and community. Therein
acknowledging and giving value to the community’s
heritage and history. This takes physical form in the
reinterpretation of the spatial role once played by
the church in a mission settlement. The program is
a complex which includes an archive, an agricultural
school, an event space, a community-based market
and a bakery.
Student Awards