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While situated in a remote Karoo town of Alicedale in the Eastern Cape, ArTrek would have close link to Grahamstown and its art festival. Conceived as a three phased development with art gallery and restaurant forming the first mark on the site, followed by additional workshops and large scale storage facilities and finally artists’ studios, the centre would ultimately become a hub of creative energy complimenting the small Karoo town’s impressive attractions (currently involving Bushman Sands Hotel and golf estate and the nearby 5-star Shamwari game reserve.) The design embraces 3 historical elements on the site, including a line of trees which march undisturbed across the development providing valuable shade to the outdoor spill out spaces, a railway line, informing the sweeping curve of the front elevation and a water tower, set to become the position of an artwork donated by internationally acclaimed artist, Hiro Yamagata, who’s huge laser light cube will glow from within the heart of the scheme. Three independent courtyards are formed by folding tubular like volumes of the building’s form, each with its own characteristic – display (into which visitors enter and around which the art gallery folds), work (bounded by the studios) and relax (the restaurant space and Yamagato’s sculpture.) In dialogue with the surrounding karoo buildings, the minimalist approach to this building called for an understated palette of materials, including rough off-shutter concrete wall finish, a simple shed-like corrugate iron roof and gentle indigenous landscaping with aloes, euphorias and grass. The internal
spaces, conceived as simple tubes of space allow the play of
indirect light to enhance the interior spatial quality without
detracting from the art on display. The minimal barn-like nature
of the interiors offer respite from the harsh external conditions. |
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