Local architecture exhibition programme launched in KZN

Pictured at the first event held at the KZN Institute of Architecture offices in Glenwood Durban are from the left Patrick Smith, SAIA-KZN president; Christine van den Bergh, Corobrik; Skura Mtembu, SAIA-KZN vice-president; Jo Lees, SAIA-KZN member; Adheema Davis, SAIA-KZN vice-president.

“Architecture is one of our greatest forms of public art yet – unlike with traditional art – we don’t have galleries that display and explain these intricate structures,” explained Musa Shangase Corobrik’s commercial director. “The innovative SAIA-KZN First Thursdays programme gives architects an incredible platform to feature and explain their work – and the public a chance to see the story behind the building.”

The SAIA-KZN First Thursdays programme, started by SAIA-KZN in conjunction with the Glenwood-based First Thursdays network, will consist of an architectural exhibition, film screening and discussion or activity, all of which is centred on a new theme every month. The March 2019 theme ‘Changing Colour’ is an extension of the work by black South African architects which featured in the Changing Colour Journal.

Publically accessible architecture

“We had such a positive response to the journal, Skura Mtembu, the guest editor and fellow vice-president at SAIA, suggested we launch this programme,” explained programme organiser, Adheema Davis. “Through my experience as a woman of colour, an architect, and a Mandela Washington Fellow, I am driven to create architecture that is more publicly accessible and relevant. In my role as vice-president of SAIA-KZN, I have made every effort to convey this, and part of our internal restructure has been to ask the question: ‘How are we, as SAIA-KZN, meaningful to our public?’. We simply have to make our voices heard and our activities visible in order to be valid.”

Davis explained that the Glenwood First Thursdays programme is a great vehicle for this public endeavour: “We hope to use this network to make architecture, the meaning and practice, more accessible.”

The exhibition runs at The Heritage House, 160 Bulwer Road in Glenwood, and is open to the public, free of charge, from 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.