Heatherwick Studio: Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa

摘要

Since the 1920s, Cape Town's prominent grain silo stored and graded corn from all over South Africa. After it was decommissioned in the 1990s its owners, the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, approached the studio to develop ideas for adapting the silo and its site. Although the waterfront was already a vibrant area, it lacked a major cultural institution. At the same time, the Zeitz Foundation was seeking a new permanent home for their collection of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. The two programs coincided, and it was decided that the grain silo would be transformed into a new museum for contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Though the concrete building looks like a single structure, it is composed of two parts: a grading tower and forty-two tall, cellular silos.