Description

The prestigious cultural centre at the heart of the University of Pretoria’s Hatfield Campus opened its doors on 6 September 1958. This building marks a significant milestone for both the cultural development of the campus and the considerable evolution of modernist architecture in the capital city. The Aula is considered one of the seminal examples of the Late Modern Movement in South Africa, contributing to Pretoria’s unique architectural identity.

Planning commenced in 1951. Students from the University of Pretoria initially collected funds for a student centre and hall during 1952. However, the hall’s scope and intent gradually evolved into something more prestigious than just a student centre and eventually, the Aula became a showcase of groundbreaking developments in building technology and a cultural asset for the city. Funding for construction was further expanded to include public subscription. Subsequently, the Aula is regarded as a public asset with protection by the National Heritage Resources Act.

The architects of the Aula, Phillip Nel and Partners, are known for their influence on modernism in South Africa. The Aula is considered one of the country’s first late-International Style auditorium buildings and a unique local variant of South African modernism. This second wave of Modern Movement, originating in the former province of Transvaal, is defined as a regionalist development of the Modern Movement inspired by concurrent developments in other new-world countries such as Brazil, America, Australia and countries in Africa. This regionalism proved particularly fruitful in a South African climate searching for its own identity. Aside from the idealistic intent, the opportunity to showcase innovative engineering, local materiality and pragmatic adaptations to the climate influenced the design of this period.

The Aula is located on the southern edge of the primary open space of the university campus, known as the Aula Lawn. The enclosure of this space is completed by other significant buildings such as the Old Arts Building, the Old Clubhouse, and Old College House. The Aula complex includes an auditorium, a recreation hall (Rautenbach Hall), exhibition spaces, student offices and a cafeteria. While the auditorium on the upper-level hosts formal functions, informal activities take place in the Rautenbach Hall and cafeteria below.

To the north, the grand foyer boasts a 30-metre glass façade with teak frames, opening onto a generous external terrace, an open-air lobby to the building and a podium to the lawn. The 26-metre-wide grand stair invites visitors and passers-by to the Aula Lawn. The internal side walls of the auditorium are covered with teak strips with free-form projecting panels concealing the sound control rooms. Auditorium seats were initially covered with dark red velvet fabric, contrasting with the dark blue velvet stage curtains and white sculptural acoustic ceilings.

The Rautenbach Hall, located on the level below the auditorium, features a sprung floor of Japanese maple that opens onto courtyards to the east and west through generously proportioned glass doors, screened by free-form painted concrete walls, repeated in a scaled-down detail in a breeze-block wall to the north.

In the original design, external spaces connected the hall and cafeteria to the west through a courtyard. The cafeteria had a free-form internal courtyard with a sculptural concrete ribbon spiral stair to the south, connecting the lower spaces with the upper terrace. The free-standing staircase was inspired by a daring design at the Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont Airport (1938, architects MMM Roberto) but has since been demolished during subsequent insensitive alterations and additions.

The concrete structure of the auditorium and stage tower is covered with meticulously detailed precast terrazzo panels. The concrete stairs between the foyer and the auditorium are cut free from the supporting floors and finished with in-situ terrazzo and mosaic inlays, complemented by the columns on the northern façade covered with the same mosaic tiles.

In 2004, a pipe organ originally installed in 1904 in the Dutch Reformed Church on Bosman Street in Pretoria was relocated to the Aula. Subsequent modifications were made in 2012.

References

Barker, A. B. (2017). “Modern Movement Mediations: Brazilian Modernism and the Identity of Post-War Architecture”. In: Pretoria, South Africa, 18. https://doi.org/10.18830/issn.1679-0944.n18.2017.04

Fisher, R. C. (1999). “The Native Heart: The Architecture of the University of Pretoria Campus”. In: H. Judin and I. Vladislavic (eds.), Blank – Architecture, Apartheid and After. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, pp. 220–235.

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Originally published in: Uta Pottgiesser, Ana Tostões, Modernism in Africa. The Architecture of Angola, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Birkhäuser, 2024.