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Constructing national identity : including local craft in the interiors of selected government buildings in postapartheid South Africa

M.Tech. (Interior Design) / Commissioned public buildings in post-apartheid South Africa exhibit a synergy between local craft and contemporary design in their interiors. Tasked with the design of buildings representative of a democratic South Africa, architects looked to the surrounding communities, recognizing and incorporating local craft skills and products into their designs. The buildings selected as examples for this study are the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature (2001) in Nelspruit, the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature (2003) in Kimberley, and the Constitutional Court (2004) in Johannesburg. These have been selected as they are the three buildings commissioned after 1994 by the democratically elected South African government. This research aims to determine how national identity has been communicated and represented in the interior design of these public buildings, through the inclusion of local craft. As key public buildinqs of this time there has been considerable research done based on these examples in the field of architecture, notably by the authors Freschi (2006,2007) and Noble (2011), however, no research has been done in the field of interior design. By taking an interpretivist approach, this qualitative study seeks to find meaning and deeper understanding. Data was collected in transcribed interviews, observations in the field as well as a literature review. Qualitative content analysis was used to initiate a comparison between the interior design of the buildings. Through the use of crystallization as a methodology it attempts to offer a thickly described interpretation of three public interiors undertaken in the development of a national design identity. This study could be of interest to interior design students, interior design and architectural professionals undertaking similar projects and government departments interested in this field.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:7911
Date14 January 2014
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
RightsUniversity of Johannesburg

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