Eight domed structures built from rammed earth will distinguish the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library that architecture studio Adjaye Associates is developing in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Set to be built in the suburb of Riviera, the library will pay homage to the country’s second post-apartheid president, Thabo Mbeki, and celebrate ancient and contemporary African history.
Among its facilities will be a research centre and museum, which Adjaye Associateshopes will establish it as an “anchor point” for local and international scholars.
“The Thabo Mbeki Centre presents an opportunity to realise the ambition of the dreams of President Thabo Mbeki to advance and empower an African renaissance,” said the studio’s founder, David Adjaye.
“The architecture of the library taps into the collective memory of the continent through the establishment of a new historical centre for African consciousness in which knowledge, education and sustenance are nurtured in the representation and intelligence of the continent.”
Once complete, the 5,400-square-metre Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library will comprise two levels – one of which will be concealed below ground.
The upper level will be housed within the rammed-earth domes that are designed by Adjaye Associates to evoke a collection of traditional African granaries – a type of storehouse for grains.[…]
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