Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is a towering art gallery with over 80 spaces, designed by architect Thomas Heatherwick. What’s so unique about the recently unveiled gallery is that it was converted using a collection of old grain silos that previously stored grain from throughout South Africa.
Each of the 42 tubular silos was redesigned into a large contemporary art space, which is flooded with natural light from the towering overhead windows. Designing the space involved maintaining the distinct tubular shape of the silos while repurposing it into a spacious art gallery.
“We realised we needed to do something that your eye couldn’t instantly predict,” Heatherwick explains. “Our role was destructing rather than constructing, but trying to destruct with confidence and energy, and not treating the building as a shrine.”
