Stop

We arrived on site early this morning. The beer hall was in an amazing state; finally we had a clean building. It seems as though Mr Cindi, Stan and two other assistants took the beer hall’s condition seriously and launched a full out attack on the mounds of rubbish which covered the structure. We were completely impressed.

These last few days have seen some intense organising. Sorting out quantities, seeking out funding sources and planning our intervention. Our process thus far has been incredibly goal orientated, I suppose that’s how many architects work, we have a brief and create a building. We were well on our way to completing the structure, as envisioned in our plans until about half way through the day when a visit from Hannah and the German funders, Bernt and Christopher completely moved the goal posts. We found ourselves in an awkward situation, immediately having to defend our process and decisions, as our entire working strategy was suddenly under question. We grew increasingly alarmed when our entire progress, of which we have two weeks left, was suddenly halted with suggestions that essentially called for us to downscale massively, or shift direction immediately. The grand plan was replaced by ideas of spontaneity and most importantly, process. We all felt that we had been guided in a general, albeit goal orientated direction and were suddenly left to defend why we had taken that direction in the first place. After this interaction we were left in complete flux, politics of design indeed.

The afternoon panned out well with the cleaning of the litter surrounding the beer hall going very smoothly. We had a wonderful contingent of ANC Youth League members helping, and our great volunteers were also out in full force. Their assistance deserved praise as they have given up their time to help the volunteers and us students in the cleaning of a structure which they were not originally asked to assist in. Robyn and I visited the local school and talked to teachers about running a recycling workshop with some of the students. They were very keen, and told us about the school’s choir, which could perhaps perform at the launch. Gary Theodosiou from the Cement and Concrete Institute visited us to assess the state of the concrete structure. He found some areas which need to be propped, and some exposed reinforcing which has to be mended.

The evening was great fun, with Robyn suddenly arriving on site with a massive rolling machine, a huge thing which shook the entire building as it tried ineffectively to squash the surrounding rubbish. The sunset was spectacular. We spent some time with the children who play on the beer hall structure, they had a fantastic time running around the clean building singing and playing. We all sat down for a meal at Stan’s, a great time to talk and reflect on a highly controversial day.

Interview Sound Clips:

http://web.omnidrive.com/APIServer/public/z6wuGYW3nhTkLJbpd8agz2yP

Gary Theodosiou - The beer hall's condition

Children Singing - Fun in a new beer hall

Volunteers - The launch