AFRICAN IDENTITY IN POST-APARTHEID PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE, white skin, black masks

293pp., illus., paperback, Routledge, Reprint, Abingdon & New York, (2011) 2024

ISBN: 9781032922294

Jonathan Noble on works of contemporary public architecture in South Africa that move away from colonial aesthetics to new types of African expression. He focuses on projects that were won in architectural competitions post-1994: The Mpumalanga Legislature in Nelspruit; The Northern Cape Legislature in Kimberley; The Constitutional Court of South Africa in Johannesburg; The Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication in Kliptown, and Freedom Park in Pretoria.

"In this detailed and carefully argued study, Noble shows how a different kind of modern architecture is possible - contemporary in appearance, yet also public, democratic, political and symbolic. An inspiring piece of work.' Iain Borden, University College London

"If the problem of creating a Palestinian state is today's pathological example of man's inhumanity to man, we mustn't forget that only a generation ago the South African apartheid regime was the world's rallying point. Huge transformations have been made in South Africa since then, and Jonathan Noble's remarkable book is one of the first to study the architectural and urban ramifications of the collapse of apartheid. Other scholars will no doubt seek to challenge the interpretations offered in this book - as befits a subject of such importance - but they will be indebted to Noble for having written such a lucidly analytical account." Murray Fraser, University of Westminster

Dr Jonathan Alfred Noble is an architect and planning expert at the University of the Witwatersrand.