In this video courtesy Vernissage TV, we get to see the inside of the new Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) at V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa, the largest museum of its kind on the continent.
The recently opened museum was designed by London-based Heatherwick Studio within the hollowed out interior of a historic grain silo building from the 1920’s. The museum shares the repurposed silo building with the aptly named Silo Hotel (see our previous feature on the hotel here), which is located within what used to be the grain elevator tower adjoined to what is now the new museum. The museum, which will be hosting the gala awards event for the Africa Architecture Awards is one of several facilities that form part of the V&A Waterfront, a harbour-side complex filled with bars and restaurants.
SECTION OF THE MUSEUM AND HOTEL COURTESY HEATHERWICK STUDIO
The 9500 sqm museum features huge sections carved out of the building’s 27 m high, tubular interior to create a stunning atrium around which a complex network of 80 gallery spaces covering 6000 sqm are situated. The edges of the carved tubes were polished to create a visible contrast between the rough aggregate of the old concrete, with laminated glass added to give a mirrored finish, along with a fritted pattern designed by the late African artist El Loko.
DRAWINGS AND IMAGES COURTESY DEZEEN
