The Future Is Female

Migration To Cape Town’s V&A Silo District Is Being Led By Pioneering Women Whose Innovative Offerings Are Setting The Scene For A New Vision.

- Emma Wright

Cape Town harbour is central to the city’s history, but for too long it has been cut off from the lives of its citizens. While the Victoria Wharf small constitutes connection of a kind, consumption is the focus and the story of the working harbour is veiled by the glamour of catamarans and tour boats.  

As a resident of the new Silo district at the V&A Waterfront and a long-time fan of the docks, I’m probably more aware of this than most. Here, the blast of a fishing boat’s horn in the early hours, the ropes, nets, crates and trucks lining the wharf, and the constant activity of the workers are a welcome dose of provenance in an otherwise future-facing development.

No surprise then that for Anya van der Merwe of  Van der Merwe Miszewski Architects, the architect (and the firm) at the forefront of the Silo district’s design plan, the development is about identity, context, experience and serving the people. Central to it all was the restoration and alteration of the historic grain silo, with the buildings around it premised on community building and the creation of public space rather than on making a statement. Architect Thomas Heatherwick’s transformation of the main silo building into the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa is impressive to look at, but its more intangible role as an art museum and ‘place maker’ for the city is equally exciting. Especially as it will champion African art to a public all too accustomed to longing for elsewhere.