Rivertown Beerhall: Surfacing The Hidden

Abstract

Heritage landscapes in South Africa inevitably embody multiple layers of power that have contributed to the place over time, owing to our exclusive, Apartheid history. The reuse and renewal of such sites, have often been undertaken with a focus on economic growth at the expense of social and spatial justice (Dirsuweit 2009: 78-82). Consequently, this attitude towards the reuse of heritage sites has resulted in various spaces that further exacerbate the past power structures engrained in these places (Dirsuweit 2009: 86-89) (Winkler 2012:166). If the reuse of heritage could act to restructure and heal our fractured landscapes, then power embedded in these sites would need to be actively dealt with instead of being further suppressed, ignored or intensified. The Rivertown Beerhall in Durban presents itself as a heritage landscape that could be reused to either maintain past power structures and further contribute to the fracturing and segregation of Durban, or it could be reused to improve the social and spatial justice of the city. The primary intention of this dissertation is therefore to explore alternative ways in which South African heritage landscapes can be read and analysed in order to spatially, functionally, architecturally and infrastructurally subvert such power relationships in space and promote inclusivity and social exchange for future users of these sites.