Heritage Studio: Museum Interventions

Studio leader: Johan Swart

The Campus Interventions studio considers universities as places for both the preservation and production of cultural heritage, recognises their potential as sites for the development of cultural programmes and their role as loci for experimentation with related architectural interventions, installations and experiences. The University of Pretoria (UP) Hatfield campus contains a dense and active concentration of cultural programmes situated along the historical arts axis (Tukkielaan) which are recognised through institutional collaborations such as the UP GLAM initiative for gardens, galleries, libraries, archives and museums. With the arts axis and its related cultural ecosystem as broader context, the studio connects to the ongoing curatorial projects at UP Museums as inspiration for project programmes. The studio will enable a series of architectural projects towards spatial interventions that serve to contextualise, interpret, extend and expose the artefacts and artworks of the university collections.

The studio projects will identify and develop museum related architectural typologies that could be implemented as visible and immersive installations in the public realm and provide spaces for narrative exhibitions, critical discussions, creative collaborations and conservation activities. Interventions will be informed through stakeholder engagement, contextualised within the historical campus environment and strategically developed as interfaces between the hidden cultural capital of the university and a broader community of users and visitors. During the course of this studio, students will engage with the cultural role of architecture, collaborate with UP Museums curators, discover new campus spaces and develop skills in the interpretation of cultural heritage. Ultimately, the studio aims to offer strategic directions and spatial contributions to ongoing heritage developments at the University of Pretoria.