Light on a Hill - The Constitutional Court of South Africa Stamp issue date: 25 June 2008 The building is open and airy and transparent. We see in it a symbol of the openness and accessibility we aim to ensure at the Court. This is in stark contrast with the past, when people went to court only under duress. A little more than a hundred years ago, a high security prison was built on the Braamfontein ridge in Johannesburg. A few years later the establishment was strengthened and given a military capacity through the building of a series of forts around it. That site became a landmark in Johannesburg. It was known in some circles as the Johannesburg Fort, and in others, as Number Four, the name given to the frightening section of the prison in which black male prisoners were incarcerated. That was typical of the times through which we have lived. Racial segregation prevailed even in gaols, for it was considered by those who wielded power to be necessary in every sphere of life. This site, rich in history, has now become the home of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. The Court was established in 1994 when, almost miraculously, after centuries of repression and exploitation, which caused degradation on a massive scale and unconscionable suffering, we committed ourselves to building an open and democratic society based on human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. The Court is a symbol of that commitment which lies at the heart of our new democracy. It stands in the place of the prison, a symbol of repression, that occupied the site before it. The beautiful new building, which is the Court’s permanent home, was inaugurated by President Thabo Mbeki on Human Rights Day 2004, as part of the celebration of ten years of democracy. It is unusual for a court to be built on the site of a prison. Yet the Old Fort Prison, popularly known as Number Four, was deliberately chosen by the judges because of its painfuil past. Built in 1893 and decommissioned in 1983, it incarcerated hundreds of thousands of people, including famous figures such as M.K. Gandhi and Albert Luthuli. Nelson Mandela first went there as a young lawyer, then as a prisoner and finally as President of South Africa. After being established in 1994, following the first democratic elections, the Court functioned in rented accommodation. An international competition was held for the design of the new building. Headed by the distinguished international architect, Charles Correa, the jury chose a design based on the concept of justice under a tree. The young architects responsible for the winning entry were Janina Masojada and Andrew Makin from Durban, and Paul Wygers from Johannesburg. Working closely with the Court they produced a building noted for its transparency and entrancing volumes. In contrast to most courts, it is welcoming rather than forebidding, filled with sparkle and warmth. It has no marble cladding or wood panelling, but has come to be admired for its graceful proportions. Nationwide competitions were later held for integrated artworks such as screens, doors, carpets, lanterns and the nosings at the edge of steps. The result is a building that glows with the imagination of artists and crafts-people from all social backgrounds and various parts of the country. The eight-metre-high front doors contain twenty seven carved wooden panels, based on hand gestures in sign language depicting themes from the Bill of Rights. The foyer, flooded with natural light, is evocative of a clearing in a forest. The more austere Court chamber has a low-lying ribbon of glass, which emphasises the transparency of proceedings. The building as a whole is cooled in summer by night air passing over a pond and being trapped in rocks in the basement. The Library is based on three floors of ascending ramps. The Constitutional Court is the flagship building on Constitution Hill. It juxtaposes itself with the Old Fort, the Women’s Section and the particularly notorious Number Four Prison, formerly referred to as the Native Gaol. The old Awaiting Trial Block had to be dismantled to make way for the new building and create space for Constitution Square. Four of its staircases, however, have been retained and its bricks have been reused in various parts of the new building. The whole area known as Constitution Hill, has been developed as a place of encounter between densely populated and frenetic Hillbrow, leafy and affluent Parktown and bureaucratic Braamfontein. Development of the Hill includes a new building next to the Women’s Section to house the Commission for Gender Equality as well as provide offices for other bodies established under the Constitution. At the inauguration ceremony, Charles Correa, quoting Lou Kahn, likened the building of the Court to the invention of an axe: at some point in human history, someone joined a stick to a stone and created something entirely new. This, he said, is what the new Constitutional Court building had done: it had cut decisively through history and completely altered the idea of what court buildings should be. When it opened, the Court caused something of a stir in the architectural fraternity. It was, at the very least, an unorthodox building, but despite the debates stirred up by such features as the angled columns in the Foyer and the incorporation of old bricks from the demolished Awaiting Trail Block, the warmth and openness of the building were undeniable. It was a court building for the people, expressing a range of cultural expectations of the concepts of justice and democracy. But in addition to its enormous symbolic import, the new Constitutional Court would help to articulate elements of South Africa’s architectural vernacular and would become the building around which questions of architectural identity would circulate. It was to become an iconic building, celebrated for its daring, its combination of dignity and accessibility, its warmth and light and its embodiment of the hopes of a young country. The Constitutional Court building as a structure gives architectural expression to the idea of transformation and to the values of democracy and ubuntu in South Africa. |