The Impact Of Colonialism On Johannesburg Architecture
Johannesburg, Jozi, Joburg, Egoli this is the name of a province that is most populated in South Africa. Known as ‘The City of Gold’ it is the first place where gold was found but up until this day it still stands for that even met-aphorically, this is the city to make it happen for yourself, it Is the centre of business. This golden city is where wealth and different cultures roam around. Looking at the historical and the new architecture in this city a story can be told and in the following, I’ll be giving my own opinion as a 2nd year female in BAS (Bachelor of Architecture Studies). I can recall the time before being an architect student when roaming in the diverse streets of Johannes-burg there seems to be a change in the function of most streets in a sense that one street will be clean and not so far the next street is noisy and has a lot of trade happening. I found this very odd. There seems to be a variety in architecture within this city and all of this stems from the history of the country so let’s begin there.
On the other side of the world, a demand for labour had increased and the solution to this was to get more slaves, in response slaves were imported from all around the world Madagascar, East India and Africa. Dutch settlers arrived onto South African land as soon thereafter settlers from all over Europe increased which then led to the colonization and the occupancy change in South Africa. This brought about additional languages to SA which is part of the 11 official languages being Afrikaans (mostly used amongst people of colour known as white and coloured people as a first language) and English (most commonly used in everyday life in public throughout the country). A number of precedent studies will be made and the comparison of buildings before South Africa was colonized and thereafter until this day will be made. Looking back at the architecture in South Africa before it was colonized we tend to find a dominant feature(s) of the Dome on cylinder huts with doors facing the rising sun, most of these huts were painted according to culture. The huts were constructed with cow dung, daub wall and the roofs had a central pole holding it us along with thatch which was all locally sourced. According to the internet women use to be the ones who would build these, the floor finish was cow dung which was hardened, and these floors could be polished, and it would have a high sheen. As soon as South Africa was colonized these huts were replaced more and more over time.
A group of Architects in Johannesburg had been a part of this development, one of the most known architects in that time being was Her-bert Baker. Rectangular block buildings with corrugated iron roofs with window frames made from steel were being produced, a contempo-rary vernacular architecture was being devel-oped. Along with the colonialism an adaptation/change had been caused and just like change in language, there were a change and influence in our buildings, new ideas were being adopted and planted in Johannesburg.
Is this a bad thing?
I believe everything has a certain quantity of bad or good. When looking back the mud-walled, and thatched huts were/ are environmentally friendly, less land required to build theses, materials are locally brewed but also these catch onto fire easily and can be easily spread. However, the hut is simple, convenient, available materials, visuals along the hut which told a story about a family/culture/belief brought a sense of home/belonging / visual cheerfulness. As the development happened cement and rect-angular buildings could solve the issue of fire and smoke fuels, along with the 90-degree plan which replaced circular huts came the demand of 90-degree furniture which didn’t make it eas-ier for the people in South Africa ongoing their struggles, they still needed a reliance on the cash economy. As we know that architects play a part in the programme and the experience of a space, during Apartheid people were separated according to colour and architecture played a role in it.
Now to have a look at the British Architecture to pinpoint the influences and the evidence on this in Johannesburg can be made. “The great cathedrals and parish churches that lifted up their towers to heaven were acts of devotion in stone’’. Rectangular plan buildings, in churches this was the holiest part of the building because the altar lied within the rectangular slab of stone or marble upon a raised step, a roof which allowed for more lighting. This re-semblance can be seen with Johannesburg. What is colonial architecture? Is a style of architecture which is birthed from a specific mother country and is even-tually incorporated into the buildings of colonized countries which are more likely to be distant locations from the mother country?
Colonists tend to build buildings that resemble their original design characteristics infused with the characteristics of their new land, this creates a hybrid in design also known as contemporary vernacular archi-tecture. Looking at Joburg when it was colonized by the British, European elements such as columns, chimneys, sashed win-dows and columns are pinpointed along with this brought a mixture in the architecture in Johannesburg, a lot of design elects seen all around the world can be seen here as colonists took elements from one part of the world to the other.
