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A Film School for Durban

Part 2 Project 2004
Alexandra van der Stoep
 University of KwaZulu-Natal Durban | South Africa
1
Videovision Entertainment have recently bought the once military base The Natal Command and have proposed to turn it into a film studio that will compete with Cape Town for a share of the South African film industry. Situated on the last piece of undeveloped land along Durban’s Golden Mile, Videovision have been ‘encouraged’ by the local government to make a sizable contribution to the development of the beach parade. Part of their proposal included a film school and it was this aspect of the scheme I proposed to explore.

2

In a desperate attempt to gain recognition, identity and tourists- our city has been re-inventing itself more often than Madonna. How is it that a city which is widely recognized as South Africa’s truly ‘African’ city end up with an identity crisis? From a pseudo Disneyland to pseudo Las Vegas our city bears the signs of suffering from an inferiority complex.

3

Located between the historical Natal Command Headquarters building and the gaudily themed Suncoast Casino the school makes a social comment about the state of our city’s identity. Billboards, screens and projected imagery on the building elevations refer to the constant need for re-invention and the lack of collective self acceptance.

4

Much like film, architecture is perceived as fragmented, mediated space. Although an observer may take any chosen path through a building, the viewer generally follows a predetermined route. A reality is proposed and the imagination is left to fill the gaps. In film, time and space are pliable making it possible for one to explore the relationships between the two which would be otherwise be impossible in reality. Although these abstract relationships may not be possible to recreate within the physical realm, they may provide clues to new ways of designing and manipulating space.



The design of the Durban Film School by Alexandra van der Stoep has rejuvenated the FUN in architecture once more. The presentation of the project and its contents conjures up the imagery suitable to the penchant of the paparazzi and the fickleness of fame.

The proposal, while currently being considered as an imminent addition to Durban’s “Golden Mile”, offers a realistic suggestion of what may soon become a reality. The candidate has skillfully engaged with the specific Durban context: sunshine, surf and sea sand, and has produced a building that is both suited to the glamour and glitz of the film stars while offering a technically sound envelope in which to house a facility for learning.

The development of the architectural response and the engagement of this candidate in the process from concept through to presentation, are highly commendable.

2004
The proposed film school is sited on Durban’s Golden Mile: a stretch of beach populated by hotels, theme parks, paddling pools, night clubs and restaurants
Situated at the Natal Command, a once military base, Videovision Entertainment propose to build a Hollywood style film studio. The site is the last undeveloped piece of land along the Golden Mile.
A Bizarre Context: a beach boulevard, a Las Vegas type casino, low cost housing, retro hotels and an apartheid military base all within a square kilometre
Within film one has the opportunity to explore complex relationships between space and time which can be cut, stretched or even held: A second can be slowed down to minute or an hour can be collapsed into a second.
The building explores the relationship between the linearity of the narrative time/ space line traditionally used in film and the fractured time/space relationships which have been introduced by new film techniques.
The fractured nature of film is expressed and juxtaposed with drift and flow in order to create a dynamic and explosive internal space.
The building is situated between the historical Egyptian Revival styled military building and the gaudy Art Deco themed casino. The building contributes to the urban context by extending the beach boulevard of cafés and restaurants.
The front portion of the site is the public interactive edge of the school comprising of a café pavilion, a protected courtyard and an outdoor cinema. The main body of the building is a triple volume exhibition space that is geared for public training. Vi
Although the first and second floors are exclusively for the use of the school, a visual connection is retained through the courtyard and triple volume.
Coloured polycarbonate sheets are suspended from the roof: These panels filter the light falling from the skylights above. These fractured plains create a shadow display on the ground below fluctuating as the light of the day changes.
The north facades communicates directly with the casino and its ice-cream art deco exterior.
The east elevation plays with a juxtaposition of scale: a lightweight café pavilion in the foreground and a heavyweight building behind it. The south façade has a more definitive industrial aesthetic and scale as it is within the actual film studio lot
The aesthetic of the film school makes reference to the neon lights and themed architecture which extends the length of the golden mile.
Since Durban continually attempts at mimicking the architecting of other cities (Las Vegas, Rio) the façade of the building comprises of billboards and screens, allowing for easy DIY self- reinvention.
Views of the building: Oversized stairs form the seating area for the external cinema-The courtyard formed between the café pavilion and main building provide a sheltered area from the salt laden north easterly wind -The suspended polycarbonate sheets cre
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