Alliance Without Walls project moves full steam ahead

GLOBAL organisation, Alliance Française expects its project, Alliance Without Walls (AWW) to be concluded by the end of 2017 or early 2018 at the very latest.

This initiative is part of a broader Durban-wide project entitled Imagining a City Without Walls. Director of Alliance Française in Durban, Vincent Frontczyk said through AWW project artists in Durban will now have a platform where they can exhibit their work, it will also promote community cohesion.

“Alliance Française, too often seen as a ‘private club’, reserved for the French community and/or elitist, needs a redevelopment of its exterior in order to be more representative of its identity : creative, dynamic and open to all. The purpose of this project is to propose a model of iconic, socio-cultural architecture in the city of Durban, by eliminating the urban post-apartheid boundaries. The project is to break down existing concrete security walls in an effort to create more open, visible, integrated and engaged public spaces and so far we have managed to do so,” said Frontczyk.

Taking the place of the solid boundary walls, works of art will now be placed along the boundary of the property, serving not only as a buffer to street noise, but giving artists an opportunity to exhibit their work and more importantly, giving the public a chance to view local art in a dynamic and exciting new space.

The idea of the project is to promote new ideas and design practice that will positively impact safety and social cohesion. Interest and support for the project, and the Alliance Française initiative, has been received from a diverse group of stakeholders. These include architects, urban planners, criminologists, public police and the private security industry. In addition, a strong voice of support has been provided by the community that borders Sutton Park and eThekwini Municipality.

The project was initiated at the end of 2014, after research by Professor Monique Marks of the Durban University of Technology and Brian Jackson of Blue Security, showed that crime rates are higher in places surrounded by walls.

The Alliance Française is a world-wide non-profit, apolitical and non-religious network devoted to promoting French language and Francophone cultures. The Alliance Française is the world’s largest French teaching centre with over 800 organisations in 134 countries, serving over 500 000 students every year. It is recognized and sponsored by the French government.

For more information contact Alliance Française on

Tel: +27 (0)31 312 9582 or info.afdbn@alliance.org.za