AN UNDERSTATED ART MUSEUM
When architect Pierre Swanepoel and gallerist Monna Mokoena took a dilapidated electrical substation in Forest Town off the City of Joburg’s hands in 2012, they imagined turning it into offices or studios for creative-driven businesses. An art museum or private art foundation wasn’t a possibility they entertained or could have imagined. However, Swanepoel of studioMAS architects and Mokoena of Momo Gallery eventually concluded that any serious alterations to transform the edifice wouldn’t be cost effective. As it happened, one of Swanepoel’s former clients, Gordon Schachat, a businessman and art collector, was looking for a venue to exhibit his art collection, which was being managed by Clive Kellner, a former director of the Joburg Art Gallery.
“Gordon and I have had a long relationship. We even shared offices at one time. I was always aware of his love for art, and that he was looking for a space to show his collection,” says Swanepoel.
This is how the Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation (JCAF) came to find its home in a former city substation in a tranquil neighbourhood near Zoo Lake. Initially built in the 1930s to serve as a shed to fix trams that ran between Braamfontein and Zoo Lake, it stopped operating in the early ’60s.
Swanepoel has worked on many art-related projects over the decades for corporate clients, as well as for Everard Read, establishing the landmark Circa gallery, which stands as a sculptural beacon to art on the corner of Jan Smuts and Jellicoe avenues.
The building for JCAF isn’t a bold architectural showpiece in the vein of this Joburg landmark. In fact, when you drive down Durris Road you would need to pay attention if you were to guess that it is a destination housing art. It is the multiple windows that appear to almost float on one of its exterior walls that first hint at the subtle contemporary transformation of the building. Swanepoel has been careful to maintain the robust red-brick character we associate with Joburg’s municipal buildings. Indeed, clearly announcing and being economical with modern architectural gestures was the ethos guiding his approach.
“When we added stuff to this historical building, we wanted to be very clear about what we added. We liked the building and did not want to hide it. The glass entrance, the new floor is very clearly added and nothing we had added touches the old building. The new doors stand away from the plane of the wall and are bigger. Everything we added floats above or in front of the building and its internal structure,” says Swanepoel.
The most overtly new architectural addition is the entrance tunnel — a striking rust-coloured structure that guides you to the entrance of the art foundation. It was important to create this feature and announce “to people that this building is not a tram-station or substation. We could not design a foyer so we had to guide people to the lawn in front of the building, which serves as the de facto foyer in our warm climate,” he says.
This steel tunnel might be an imposed element, but it remains rooted to its genesis as it is embedded in the trench where the trams were guided into the building for repairs. Much of the transformation of this heritage building into an art foundation involved removing elements rather than adding them.
“The building was in a bad state. There were trees growing on top of it and pigeons living inside. Below ground there were lots of huge, fat electrical cables, it was really messy.”
An extensive cleanup took place at the subterranean level of the building. On the ground level, walls were removed and other structural features opened up to make way for a 450m2 exhibition space.
JCAF is not a conventional museum or private art foundation in many respects. It is not a repository for art as Schachat’s collection is kept in storage off-site and the exhibition space is not defined by sleek white walls and interiors as is the convention.
“Clive feels that you can build a dry wall at any time, but a red brick one doesn’t come so easily. He and Gordon really wanted to maintain the fabric of the old building. They are truly questioning what a gallery is,” says Swanepoel.
Some art gallery and museum conventions are, however, being observed, such as features that keep the art safe.
Swanepoel’s “less is more” architectural approach may have been driven by practical and heritage concerns, but it is also in line with how this new art foundation has come into being. There have been no big openings, parties or the usual hoopla. The art, research, and dialogue will be the focus and Swanepoel’s sensitive approach to restoring this old industrial gem supports this.
Visit jcaf.org.za