Anyone who has recently been to Durban for whatever reason
it might have been; swimming, surfing, cycling or indulging in a hot roti; most
definitely would have had their eyeballs fixated on what has become an extraordinary
marvel on the rolling lush green landscape of Durban.
If it was thought that South Africa couldn’t pull off an
architectural piece of wizardry, go ogle the new Durban stadium. Durban Stadium
or Moses Mabhida, epitomises the design and construction capability of this
southern tipped wedge. ‘Handed over recently, it places South Africa’s
construction industry and its ability to deliver world class structures at the
top with its international competitors’, say the excited Osmond Lange
over-seeing director, Deon van Onselen
A new Iconic Stadium
The clients brief danced around the ideas of an iconic
building.
According to the Ethekwini Municipality, the brief’s
non-negotiable was that the stadium performed as an icon, as a beacon to the
city of Durban. To be an icon, the stadium ought to imbue meaning, familiar
associations and symbolic representations to distinguish it in a world of homogony.
To be iconinc, it must root itself culturally, aesthetically and through
meaning to its environment. By anchoring itself, its functioning and its
environment to cultural associations it will be rendered memorable and distinguishable. These
ideas of Icon, were to be achieved through common understandable space, through
texture, colour and artefacts significant to its surroundings and its people. the
brief laid out that it should be a symbol of civic pride and inspiration to
those using it, visiting it or running it. It should draw on its surroundings,
on the physical features which give identity and character to the site-the sea,
the river, and the dunes. That it should well in the spirits of the people a
sense of achievement, a sense of ownership.
That the icon inspires a web, binding people old and young, races and
nationalities. The iconoclastic edifice should hum a welcoming rhythm inviting
people of all walks of life to feel welcome in its embrace. The psychology of
the building through architectural and structural elements ought to encompass
or allow for people to feel easy, comfortable and alive with in its surrounds.
The stadium does exactly that, it wows, thrills and has etched excitement into
the minds of South Africans previously dubious about the possibility of it all.
The Stadium has somewhat defined the travellers experience of Durban.
The stadium would be seen too as a catalyst for further
growth and development of the city of Durban. It would also usher in a new
phase of the city’s emergence within the country. This new stadium is a
reflection of the ideas and ideologies of the Ethekwini Municipality, and
begins to signify its intent in expressing an interest in architectural
progress but also reflecting social, cultural and political change.
The stadium sits in its precinct as a light white edifice on
a green landscaped base, harking back to the piazza del Duomo in Pisa. This
podium, on which the stadium rests forms a gathering space outside the stadium
Having had the opportunity to scale the heights, to rise up
the elevated platform of an African landscape re-imagined, towards the stadium
bowl, I was absolutely mesmerized. I was
struck by the blatant expression of structural integrity, and by the light and
shadow play of the steel pylons leaning rather beautifully, sweeping around the
stadium like tutu-clad ballerinas in the pirouette position. The super structural elements visible, emerge
as off shutter concrete, light grey in colour and glass smooth to the touch. I was left gob smacked by the over arching
arch, pulled taught like a bow ready to
fling the country into a month of extreme excitement , splayed at the foot to
allow for a view, a window to the city of Durban, a most enticing backdrop. From
afar, a distance the arch is a defining silhouette, a recognisable marker in
the landscape, a means of orientation assisting in the navigation of the city. The
Arch a support for the tensile roof structure, a network of steel cables, looking oh-so-delicate
as to be plucked like a Stradivarius, the ring-beam, a bicycle wheel pulling
the steel ropes, binding the exterior façade, all piecing this whole marvel to form a
gymnastic ‘perfect 10’.
In contrast to the stark light grey coolness of the
off-shutter concrete, the palette of colours utilised on in fill walls and
interiors is far warmer. The architects dipped their paint brush into the
ocean, used the tones of the beaches, the brightly explicit colours of clothing
and the exuberance of handcrafted jewellery to express the vibrancy of the
local surrounds in the building.
Osmond Lange formed an integral part of a sextuplet of
architectural teams under the consortium Ibhola Lethu Consortium.
The South African team collaborating together with the
astute structural genius and functional planning know-how of a firm of German
architects has vaulted the stadium into the echelons of a world class sporting
facility and at the same time has created something rather special, something
aligned with a jewel in the Zulu kingdom’s crown.
The navel, the sugar bowl of the stadium, a light and energy
force on the landscape is encircled in a series of layered elements, both
functional and aesthetic allowing for social space, restaurants, gazing and
admiring of artworks. The social/public space, branded Imbizo Place, houses 6000sqm
of retail and dining facilities. The intention of this was to broaden the
possibilities of usage to which the Stadium and its immediate ‘precinct’ could
be put to so, other recreational activities, and diverse cultural events can be
hosted in the future. These resources bode well for the future longevity of the
stadium.
The stadium is designed to be transparent, allowing
by-standers to get a feel of the action taking place inside-everyone will be
able to sense the electrifying atmosphere even if you aren’t a fortunate ticket
holder. A facility to allow for those outside the stadium to experience the
frenzy has been developed. Its called ‘Peoples Park’, a 10Ha landscaped public
park area, including sports fields and the ‘Heroes Walk’, a mapped out route
from the city centre to the stadium. The
People’s Park incorporating the restructured district, the consolidated sports
precinct and the public space would serve as a central park for Durban and
collectively would form part of the Stadium’s iconic statement. An hierarchy of
urban functions and places will be established within the park with the stadium
being the central focus.
As I sat on the raw concrete steps that were to be the raked
seating I was informed that 70 000 screaming, excitable football fans could be
accommodated during the FIFA 2010 Football World Cup, and 54 000 in legacy mode
thereafter. I was awed. That is surely world class. The seating, a pixellated
image of bright colouring drawing its inspiration from the ivory coloured beach
sand merging into the turquiouses and pastel blues of the ocean is a playful
light-hearted aesthetic giving the stadium bowl a sense that it is a landscape.
The upper stand of the bowl seating is awash in colours graded from yellow to
white, the middle stand graded in a yellow to green pixel mix with scattered
light greys and whites, and lastly the lower stand sees individual seating
graded in a blue to green pixel mix dotted too with light greys and whites.
There are some exciting opportunities as a visitor to the
stadium to experience the building itself. If you’ve an inner core of iron clad
steel, you will be able to take a ride from the northern side of the stadium up
along the arch to its pinnacle. From here spectators can catch a glimpse of the
city from a birds perspective. The alternative for those more adventurous and
with calves of titanium is to take a guided walk up the 550 stairs to a
platform at the top. I’ll stick to rollerblading on the Peoples Park.
The stadium was intricately thought through, and in-bedded
are the symbolic elements which enhance the experience of being inside or
outside the stadium. The expanded steel mesh wrapping the façade and the infill
panels of the balustrades illicit the beauty of hand-made baskets. Depending on
one’s perspective the facades of the stadium appear to be either opaque or
transport. A dynamic feature of the building.
the white tensile roof, harbours notions of the nearby
harbour and of the white horses prancing, topping the seas of the natal coast,
the use of natural indigenous planting and trees linking the precinct on an
urban scale enhances ones sense that this is emphatically Africa’s world cup, Africa’s
party, the incorporation of signs and symbols particular to the African
landscape contextualises the building. All these elements give the stadium both
an intellectually and experientially enhanced
feel.
As I trudged away from the site with dust swirling in my
nostrils, I looked back at the stadium. Its purity and simplicity of form
reminding me of the Berlin Olympic stadium- It’s unwavering bold, sturdy form, absolutely
dramatic in the landscape.
This edifice is sexy, sultry, and sits prominently in the
landscape. It is without a doubt a marvel of a backdrop to a great event, a
great sport.
