An alternative archive : developing a research facility at the National Archive and Repository Service of South Africa

Abstract

There is an ever higher demand for improved performance standards and innovation in construction and architecture which can lead to a sense of homogeneity between different cultural or climatic regions around the world. With the influence of global ways of making, intellectual speculation will replace emotive sincerity and ultimately trade experiential quality for quantifiable factors (Pallasmaa 2012, Jekot 2007). A connection with the sensory, the experiential and traditional, however, should not be rooted in formal interventions or overt symbolism. It should come from the inherent logic of the space, where space responds to the original logic of the tradition - an understanding of why things are the way they are, instead of simply acknowledging them (Pallasmaa 2012). This inherent logic, better described as a type of implicit or indigenous knowledge, is embodied in crafted artefacts, made with a skilful combination of methods, materials, and tools. By association with this indigenous knowledge, the artefact gains sentimental value. Archives can be seen as unique gateways to academic authority – the repositories of primary sources - and often as portals to a world yet-undiscovered. Due to this unique status, the archive brings with it its own set of rules and material practices that directly impact the way in which visitors interact with artefacts. To propose a new way of using the archive, Schmidt (2016: 145-156) states that first the epistemological connection between the practices of the archive and the historian must be understood.