Location: Kimberley, Northern Cape
Client: Sol Plaatjie University
Size: 260 sq.m
Completed: 2016

This was a collaborative project between Activate Space and Activate Architecture.

The narrative sunscreen wraps itself around the Moroko Hall residence building and functions to protect the interior spaces from the harsh afternoon sun.  The story on the panels reflects the great human migration to Kimberley when diamonds were discovered there in 1870.  The patterns and shapes describe the incredible efforts required to travel great distances, mostly on foot, by migrant labourers who navigated using geographic markers and signs carved into trees and marked on rocks.  Worked into the visuals of the migration story are patterns from Driekops Eiland, which is sited on a farm just outside Kimberley.  These ancient geometric engravings are the expressions left behind by a group of nomadic people that traversed the landscape two and half centuries earlier, long before Kimberley even existed.

The sunscreen panels reflect and bounce these migration inspired patterns across the modern concrete finishes of the new university.  Recognisable shapes come into focus and then elongate and shift into shadow depending on the time of day and season.  They remind us to continue our own incredible journeys with care and consideration for those who have traversed the landscape before us.