New museum documents history of Cato Manor
"There are many voices from Cato Manor dating back to early Iron Age settlements."
CLAY brick is an integral part of the personality of the new uMkhumbane Cultural Museum at Cato Manor, Durban. eThekwini Municipality’s award-winning museum surrounds an atrium space with a dramatic red brick tower. It is not only the first new museum to be built in Durban in 100 years but also the first public cultural building constructed in the area.
The museum architects won the eThekwini Municipality Architecture Department’s public design competition in 2003, after the city’s Local History Museum team identified Cato Manor as the ideal location for a new museum.
The aim was not to only preserve the area’s rich cultural and political history but also stimulate innovation and local economic activity in Greater Cato Manor.
“There are many voices from Cato Manor dating back to early Iron Age settlements to which this project provides a platform for expression,” said architect Rod Choromanskii.
The five-storey museum tower will document the socio-political history of Cato Manor, cultural traditions and history of the Zulu Nation as well as offering venues for educational and recreational events.
The uMkhumbane project site was honoured by the reinternment of Queen Thomozile Jezangani kaNdwandwe (Mother of the King Goodwill Zwelithini) in 2011. The Queen resided in Cato Manor after leaving the Royal Household, and was a talented crafter and vocalist.
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The museum rises alongside her crypt where she is memorialized. The tower reduces the museum’s footprint freeing up the site for a park and future built phases. Its inner skeleton is concrete while the outer skin is clay. Various materials were investigated before confirming clay brick as the final cladding. Approximately 500 000 “Firelight Satin” bricks shape the tower with “Silver Grey Travertine” used on ancillary spaces constructed using a simple stretcher bond with minimal embellishment.
“I worked on the building for seven months at various heights of scaffolding. I joined the on-site training team which was conducted by the City and the Main Contractor and became part of the bricklayers responsible for the facebrick cladding. The project taught me many skills due to it being very complex and working at higher levels than what I was used to. The experience gained on the project has given me confidence, and work opportunities on other projects,” said Michael Nzama, a bricklayer from nearby Cato Crest.
The city’s master plan for the site envisages the future inclusion of a cultural park and public neighbourhood square, further retail spaces for traders and crafters stalls, and facilities for children.
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