‘Tower of Light’ set to honour Madiba
High-rise tribute to Mandela aimed at putting Bay on global map
A planned high-rise building aimed at transforming the way Nelson Mandela Bay is viewed and honouring the legacy of Mandela will tell the story of the former president’s life.
“The Nelson Mandela Tower of Light”, which has been earmarked for a site near the harbour, will stand 27 storeys high – symbolic of the years Mandela spent in prison.
Visitors will be taken on a vertical journey, with three destinations in the building.
The first will be a pre-prison section where people can learn about the friends who influenced Mandela.
The second landing is the “silent section”, which will create the feeling of solitude Madiba experienced in prison and, at the pinnacle of the structure at 81m above the ground, there will be a “space of reflection”.
Makeka Design Lab founder and architect Mokena Makeka, one of the partners involved in the project, said they wanted to create something that would put the city on the global map.
“People have always struggled to remember their heroes, their stories and narratives.
“Over time, we have created memorials and sculptures, and when the challenge was brought to this team to create a memorial of the moment that signified a huge impact on the world, it was easy to look at creating a statue that looks exactly like the president.
“But a statue does not actually capture the spirit of what he was – his spirit was about light, knowledge, diplomacy and being.
“It was important for us to imagine what this would be like 30 years or 100 years from now when the future generations ask how this country freed itself.
“This had to be larger than an everyday statue [and] more significant.
“Our project had to encapsulate this idea of what it means to be a tower of light, somebody who inspired the whole world to see within themselves the potential to be greater than what they are,” Makeka said.
“It required a different exercise of the imagination, spirit of what Nelson Mandela means and what the city offers with regard to tourism and a chance to show the world when we do something to memorialise our heroes, we do not simply replicate the models of the past but create something new.”
The landmark precinct is to encompass the identity of Nelson Mandela Bay with all the different cultures and heritages represented, including a statue of Madiba, and came to the development stage by means of a competition.
M&C Saatchi Abel and partners won the grand prize of R100,000 with its design of “The Nelson Mandela Tower of Light”, which was announced by mayor Mongameli Bobani at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Wednesday.
“We have something that gives purpose to the city and to use it with Madiba’s views that anything is possible, and so to take the name of the city and its assets we hope this will be a catalyst that will get attention and change opportunities by putting the Bay on the global map,” Bobani said.
While the team has proposed the location of the landmark building, necessary processes are still to be followed.
Abel was unable to say when the project would start as it is still in the planning phase.
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