I WOULD LIKE TO TALK ABOUT A PAIR OF JOBURG BUILDINGS designed by Norman Hanson - one since demolished, the other altered beyond recognition. Both continue to exist as ideas recorded in drawings and memories, and captured in photographs. Had they been built today, they might appear unexceptional - but if we look at the photographs, the cars, the neighbours, the clothing and the horse-drawn cart, we can try to imagine just how strange they must have seemed almost 90 years ago. We still think of buildings like this as "modern".
While the language of modern architecture has been shared among many architects, Hanson spoke it in his own way. It is the plans for his buildings that are extraordinary, with oblique and curved elements set in tension with a gridded rectangular order. Architects read plans in the same way as authors read books; and just as the novelist Cormac McCarthy confessed that all books are made from other books, architects will admit that all plans are made from other plans. We read into them not just the shapes of buildings, but the lives that have been, or will be, lived within them by people who will never be aware of the drawings that give rise to so much of their daily experience.
We experience the secret language of plans when we visit a building. We are led from one space to another by the gestures of walls, drawn to the doors and windows, guided through an organised sequence of visual and physical experiences of space, light and materiality. Le Corbusier coined the term "promenade architecturale" for this invention, inspired by the idea of a camera moving through a scene as a protagonist in the story.
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Denne historien er fra 134-utgaven av VISI.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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THE STORY OF AN AFRICAN ICON
With a long line of very successful ancestors, the new-generation TOYOTA LAND CRUISER PRADO had some big tyres to fill. We look at the approach its design team took to CONTINUE THE LEGACY.
THROUGH THE LENS
We asked one of VISI's favourite photographers, PARIS BRUMMER, to choose her four FAVOURITE CAMERAS. The brief? \"From the fun to the profesh!\"
YOUR GARDEN DAY CROWN
Gardens have the power to unite us - which is why the GARDEN DAY movement encourages plant enthusiasts to don a flower crown and CELEBRATE THEIR GREEN SPACES in unique ways.
RETRO-LICIOUS
Mid-century is not just making an interior design comeback: food is following right behind. So put on your vintage 1950s LUCIENNE DAY-PRINT APRON - or '70s HALSTON JUMPSUIT if you're feeling a little funkier - and get inspired by ABIGAIL DONNELLY's reimagining of classic dishes. Think moulded jellies, finger foods and soft-serve ice cream.
FERMENTATION
When you hear about FERMENTED FOODS, your mind probably goes to pickles and beer. But thanks to a growing interest in Asian staples such as kimchi and miso, we're becoming more used to these flavour profiles, and even seeing them in fine-dining restaurants. We asked ABIGAIL DONNELLY to share her favourite recipes for fermented flavour bombs that you can replicate in your OWN KITCHEN.
THE CERAMICIST
IN AN ART DECO BLOCK IN THE HEART OF CAPE TOWN'S CITY CENTRE, RENOWNED CERAMICIST MERVYN GERS HAS RENOVATED AN APARTMENT TO REFLECT HIS OWN TASTES AND HIS LOVE FOR FIRED AND GLAZED CLAY.
SEAMLESS
SITUATED ON A PRIVATE GAME FARM NEAR RUSTENBURG, THIS BUSHVELD GETAWAY HAS ARISEN FROM THE ASHES OF ITS PREDECESSOR TO PROVIDE ITS JOBURG-BASED OWNERS WITH A TRANQUIL WEEKEND ESCAPE.
BUILDING AN ICON
Kevin Fellingham, principal architect at Kevin Fellingham Architects, and a former lecturer at Cambridge University, UCT and the School of Explorative Architecture, talks about HOUSE HANSON and DENSTONE COURT, built in 1937/38.
THE VANGUARD KELLY WEARSTLER
In this instalment of our series on the new wave of INTERNATIONAL DESIGNERS, we look at the super-talented Kelly Wearstler's DISTINCT STYLE and seemingly INFINITE CREATIVITY.
COOL COLLAB OF THE YEAR
In a partnership that highlights the strength and diversity of local talent, this collaboration by LULASCLAN and POPSTRUKT had an unplanned helping hand from VISI.
