Circa on Jellicoe
Design
The unique Circa on Jellicoe is a new art gallery designed by Pierre Swanepoel of StudioMAS Architecture and Urban Design. Swanepoel describes this latest creation as ‘a small building with a big attitude’, fitting as the building has a spiral shape and innovatively utilises light and space, unlike any contemporary building in the area to date.
“The architecture is a sculpture, moulding itself around its contents. Its elliptical form has developed from the constraints of a narrow site and the prospect of creating a landmark,” continues Swanepoel.
“Its main feature is an aluminium fin facade that allows views into and out of the building; the inspiration came from nature with its paradox of implied order and chaos. The experience of shadows on the ramp accentuates the sensory discovery of space and encourages views through the fins into the city.”
Circa’s 500 aluminium slates/fins stretch upwards 14 metres, totally enveloping the three-storey building forming a permeable external facade that accentuates the effects of the lighting design behind the slates.
“Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness’ , a fitting quote by renown international Architect, Frank Gehry, and when applied to the avant-garde building at the corner of Jan Smuts and Jellico Street in Rosebank (Johannesburg) epitomises why architecture is truly an art form."
Building Specifications
The building comprises three-levels; the public ground floor, consisting of 106m2 of craft exhibition space. From the ground floor, a perimeter concrete spiral walkway transverses the building connecting the ground and first floors. Multi-coloured slates bound the walkway on the outer side with a concrete wall on the inner side as it leads to the first floor.
The first floor has slots in it where seven massive rotating screen walls slide through from ground to first floor to create different spaces of exhibitions. Entering the main gallery, patrons are met with a double-volume , 177m2 gallery space where the artworks are on display.
The building’s top floor, the Darwin Room, is a spacious and stylish room with adjoining deck offering views over Jan Smuts Avenue and the surrounding Johannesburg suburbs.
The fire escape is slightly offset from the gallery (linked only by a short walkway) and is encased within a stainless-steel shell, which according to Swanepoel, allows for creepers to grow on its tall walls emphasising the importance of encouraging natural conditions to develop in harmony with man-made things.
In keeping with Mark Read’s (co-owner of the historical Everard Read Gallery) ethos, the new gallery is eco-friendly. Electricity is produced by means of solar voltaic panels and solar-heated water is being used for heating. Rainwater is collected and used for various non-consumable functions, such as in the ablution facilities or irrigation.
“Circa is built as part of the city, its art and its people; it is a fluid point in time that will morph and evolve as South Africa, and its art does,” concludes Swanepoel.
Project Team
Architects
studioMAS
Land Surveyor
Wimberley Kirschhoff
Rational Fire Design
Building Code Consultants
Structural Engineer
Vela VKE Consulting
Quantity Surveyor
Mi Consulting
Main Contractor
Murray-Dickson
