Mapungubwe Interpretation Center Peter Rich Architects Limpopo, South Africa 2002-2010

摘要

Sited at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers, on the border of Zimbabwe and Botswana, the new Mapungubwe National Park celebrates the site of an technologically advanced ancient trading civilization in the context of a natural setting. The complex rocky landscape was both the inspiration for the design of the new Interpretation Center and the source of the materials for its construction, resulting in a composition of structures that are authentically rooted to their location. The building, set at the foot of a mesa at the park entrance, is visually contained by three hollow cairns that evoke rock route-markers commonly found in Southern African cultures. Timbrel vaulting, a simple expression of natural forces and materials, is used to construct dramatic, cave-like spaces. From a distance the undulating rock clad vaults blend into the landscape. On approach the thin arched edges are exposed and the vaults soar and seem to billow out of the earth. Delicate walkways create a zigzagging ramped route through the complex and through the exhibition spaces, gently climbing the mesa to the highest point on the site, providing the visitor with a multiplicity of experiences and views, and evoking the complex social interactions of the many cultures that have traversed the land.