New face for RAU Arts
by Robyn Sassen
If you've been driving along Kingsway Avenue in Auckland Park over the last few months, you're sure to have seen ructions and movement in the architectural terrain, just alongside the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) Campus. These are no mere renovations: a brand new art-dedicated complex is currently under construction.
During November, the cornerstone was unveiled by Mr. Attie Du Plessis, Chairman of the RAU Arts Council. Building operations commenced in August of this year, and it is anticipated that the project will be completed by next September. Designed to contain a 400-seat theatre, a 54m long art gallery and administrative offices, this new kid on the block looks set to become one of the prettiest kids on the block, too, quipped Rita van den Heever, head of RAU's Arts Academy, and one of the key figures in the development of this complex.
Annali Dempsey-Cabano, curator of the RAU Gallery, commented that never before has a purpose-designed gallery been a part of the agenda at RAU. The current gallery space, having moved twice so far in its existence, is a respectable little space, but quite obviously improvised.
Six architectural firms were invited to present their ideas for the new complex to a selection panel, and ARC Architects under Justine van der Hoofen, and Mashabane Rose Architects, whose Jeremy Rose was responsible for the design of the Apartheid Museum at Gold Reef City, won jointly. Their proposal details a minimalistically designed space, comfortable in its lack of cultural specificity.
The space offers long horizontal windows looking onto Kingsway Avenue, a water feature, a roof sculpture garden, and a large overhanging foyer roof, between the theatre and the gallery. Interesting in detail, the complex promises user-friendliness, accessibility and character.
For RAU to have a fully functional arts academy, and a series of professional arts platforms, housed within a proudly new facility is unusual for a number of reasons. Firstly, the applied arts are not a part of RAU's academic curricula, and students contribute to theatre, dance, visual art or music on a purely extra-curricular basis. The Arts Academy aims to showcase several musicals, dramas and ballet and up to 10 visual art exhibitions annually.
From RAU's humble beginnings, in 1968, serving a mere 741 students, to the recent amalgamation between RAU, the Technikon Witwatersrand (TWR) and other tertiary institutions, the student intake of what will be called the University of Johannesburg, will skyrocket to 45 000.
This is an exciting initiative, with precedents in Europe from the 1970s. It's also known to be a fairly risky undertaking. Not only is the project about reaffirming the power of our democracy, but it will meaningfully serve to bring RAU into the geographical link that embraces Newtown and Constitution Hill in culture.
So continue watching this space. It is set to turn heads.
