THE DESIGN OF A COMMUNITY THEATRE IN MALABAR

One’s battle for identity is rooted in finding a sense of belonging in a multi-layered society. Besides the influences of the social media global trends, various struggles with self, gender and race constantly trouble the minds of today’s youth. In addition to this, South Africa, like many non-western countries, has a long history with various colonial influences. However, as history has progressed, the country has moved towards celebrating previously silenced minorities, such as the Indian community. 

 

This treatise deals with the representation of Indian Identity in South Africa and how it can influence the built environment, with the intention of instilling a sense of cultural belonging to a place. Malabar is a Gqeberha suburb that has developed into a predominantly Indian community due to past political planning. As with many suburbs created during the apartheid era, it lacks a sense of identity and belonging in its spatial quality at present. As a programmatic response to the issue of cultural identity and the physical context, a community theatre is proposed. The intention is that Indian culture and art can be expressed in architectural form and space, while responding to the needs of the community which currently has no leisure activity spaces in the area.

 

The issue of representing identity in architecture is explored through Jonathan Noble’s concepts of Magical Realism in architecture. Noble explores the relationship between cultural symbolism and architectural form in order to design architecture that has meaning. Therefore the design of a theatre for the Malabar community will root itself as a centre for placemaking and expression of Indian identity in which community activities can take place.

​

See below for full treatise [Best viewed in Desktop version]...