Made With Love_

Location: Paarden Eiland, Cape Town Hero Material: Rip-stop Canvas

Over 2 fast-paced workshops, 20 public participants joined The MAAK and David Brits Studio (co-facilitators of FITV 2024) to form a short-term ‘super studio’. Working within the theme of ‘Made with Love’, collaborative making, material explorations, and experimental actions of care were used to re-imagine an existing security threshold as a new public-facing facade and flexible event venue for the multidisciplinary project space in Cape Town called The Ramp.

The dynamic intervention adds a welcoming and lively edge to The Ramp's industrial neighbourhood. Strong shapes and cantilevers define the front of the scheme as a playful lobby, re-claiming the street as an active public space. Two large blue fabric doors conceal a covered area and vehicle access ramp. The covered area is a new event venue and the access ramp is its ±200 person amphitheater. Through this project, the site (previously embraced only for its utilitarian function) is converted into ‘pop-up’ public infrastructure. With the ability to support a broader range of public events ‘Made with Love’ extends The Ramp’s capacity for cultural programming and its role as a creative hub in the City.

Embracing existing site conditions and 2nd hand materials, the scheme is an example of the power of circular thinking and adaptive re-use. Working with the physical constraints found on site, the project uses rip-stock canvas as a lightweight cladding to existing structural elements. Giving the scheme its bold and playful character, fabric (supplied from surplus stock at Cedarbrook Textiles) has been moulded into recognisable architectural components: column, beam and parapet. Bio-resin, fibre-glass and custom formwork help to give these elements a unique texture and form. Linking to the thematic approach of the project, participants inscribed love letters and notes of gratitude onto the fabric panels before each component was cast - although concealed in the moulding process, these messages remain embedded (and felt!?) within the space. Such actions explore the potential of using love as an active ingredient in architecture. These unseen layers of the project promote new ways to build empathy and care into our built environment.

As both an architectural intervention and proactive urban gesture, this small project prompts big questions around the transformative potential of love (and collective making) as a provocative architectural and community building tool. When contemplating this, South African curator and artist Lebo Kekana provokes:

“We can definitely feel and see when architecture/ design is divisive/ violent. Surely love/ openness/ generosity can be achieved too. This is a big conversation actually — particularly in South Africa post 1994”

Participants ↓

Amy Chaplin, Ashleigh Killa, Brett Scott, Cameron Barnes, Crystalle Davel, David Brits, Douw Steyn, Driaan Claasen, Emma Brecher, Faith Shields, Gideon Williams, Gillian Van der Klashorst, Jesse Barnes, Kekeletso Ramodibe, Klara van Wyngaarden, Mark Tromp, Masego Seopa, Max Melvill, Michelle Collis, Minna Dundas, Nicola Chidyaonga, Robert Bodiba, Ryan Haynes, Stephen Hitchcock, Zimkitha Patricia Ntebe

Project Photography ↓

Jesse Barnes