Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library Press Kit 19 November 2020

Adjaye Associates

Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library | [email protected] | www.adjaye.com THABO MBEKI PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY Johannesburg, South Africa

North Avenue Street View

Client Thabo Mbeki Foundation

Design Architect Adjaye Associates

Local Architect MMA Design Studio

Area 5,400 sm / 58,125 sf Aerial View Program Museum, temporary exhibition space, research center and special collections, auditorium, women’s empowerment center, reading room, shop, cafeteria, digital experience, seminar rooms, office space, archive center, and service spaces

Intersection between North & Main Avenue

Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library | [email protected] | www.adjaye.com Main Avenue Entrance

The Thabo Mbeki Centre presents an opportunity to realize the “ ambition of the dreams of President Thabo Mbeki to advance and empower an African renaissance. The architecture of the Library taps into the collective memory of the continent through the establishment of a new historical centre for African consciousness in which knowledge, education and sustenance are nurtured in the representation and intelligence of the continent. - Sir David Adjaye OBE

Project Narrative Located in Johannesburg, the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library is a space of excellence, learning, research, discourse and cultural exchange predicated on the African perspective. The new Library will feature a multiplicity of functions including a museum, temporary exhibition space, research center and special collections, auditorium, women’s empowerment center, reading room, shop, cafeteria, digital experience space, seminar rooms, office space and an archive center. The archive center will act as a repository for the papers, artifacts and key documents of President Mbeki and other significant African historical figures. Providing infrastructure for the preservation and distribution of African history and knowledge, the Library will become a new anchorpoint and campus for local and international scholars.

Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library | [email protected] | www.adjaye.com Long Section

Design Concept Conceptually, the new building makes visible the invisible knowledge of ancient and contemporary African history through both form and program. Sited in Riviera, Johannesburg, the Library will harbour the knowledge of the land whilst acting as a space for connection in which the advancement of an African Renaissance becomes the premise of the structure. Represented in design as a metaphor for knowledge- based nourishment, the new building references the structures of granaries — which allow for the extension of grain production and the systematization of cycles of feeding, planting and harvesting.

Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library | [email protected] | www.adjaye.com (1)Caption

Using architecture as a tool to reimagine storage and sustenance into form, the granary stores guide the overall building concept. The eight cylindrical granary-styled forms are made contemporary through the topping of domes with apertures that take into consideration the solar orientation of light within the site to create a distinct atmosphere for each of the programs within. The internal infrastructure of these chambers see to it that the building accommodates a multiplicity of programmatic functions. They are connected through an ‘indoor den’ — a horizontal (2) interstitial space that extends the length of the entire building to provide a new public space in service to the community.

(1) Roof View (2) Lower Level (3) Ground Floor Level (3)

Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library | [email protected] | www.adjaye.com Reading Room

Use of the locally sourced compressed mud in the form of a rammed earth facade, terrazzo flooring made from local stone and timber cladding from local wood species collectively reduce the overall carbon footprint of the structure. Through a site-specific understanding of the subtropical highland climate of Johannesburg, solar harvesting is utilized through state of the art photo-voltaic solar panels, located on the rooftop absorbing sunlight and generating electricity. Geothermal heating and thickened walls harness the earth’s energy by storing heat during the day and releasing it later at night to warm the building when temperatures drop.

Volumes subtracted to create controlled light source to interiors

Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library | [email protected] | www.adjaye.com Research Centre

The architecture of the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library brings together continental African thought and form as a powerful means of tapping into collective memory. This memory, embedded within the intelligence of the African consciousness, now sees a typology of learning and a typology of sustenance materialize into form.

My vision for the new presidential library aims to encompass both “ an African past and an African future. It will be a place where Africans uncover their own history and identity. A place where we are empowered to script a brighter and more prosperous future. Through this wonderful collaboration with Sir David Adjaye and his team, I believe this building will become the epicentre for an African renaissance — a place of pride, celebration and future- forward thinking in which a strong sense of the African identity is empowered for further leadership in service to humanity. - President Thabo Mbeki

Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library | [email protected] | www.adjaye.com About Adjaye Associates

Since establishing Adjaye Associates in 2000, Sir David Adjaye OBE has crafted a global team that is multicultural and stimulated by the broadest possible cultural discourse. The practice has studios in Accra, London, and New York and completed work in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Adjaye Associates’ most well-known commission to date is the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, opened in 2016 on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

In addition to the National Museum of African American History & Culture, selected completed works include: Ruby City, a new contemporary art center in San Antonio, Texas; 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces in Manhattan, New York; the Alara Concept store in Lagos, Nigeria; the Sugar Hill Mixed-Use Development and Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling in Harlem, New York; the Aishti Foundation mixed-use development in Beirut, ; two neighborhood libraries in Washington, DC; the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO in Russia; the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver; the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo and the Idea Stores – two pioneering community libraries in London’s Tower Hamlets.

Selected current projects include a new home for the in New York; a new facility for the Princeton University Art Museum; the Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA) in Benin City, Nigeria; the International Financial Corporation (IFC) Headquarters in Dakar, Senegal; the Winter Park Library & Events Center in Winter Park, Florida, the National Cathedral of in Accra; the Marine Drive Tourism and Investment Masterplan in Accra, Ghana; and the UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, situated in London next to the Houses of Parliament.

The firm has received widespread recognition for its contributions to architecture. Most recently, Adjaye was announced the winner of the 2021 RIBA Royal Gold Medal. Personally approved by Her Majesty the Queen, the Royal Gold Medal is considered one of the highest honors in British architecture for significant contribution to the field internationally.

Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library | [email protected] | www.adjaye.com