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SABC Headquarters
Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Elly HOLM: Artist
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Click to view large map Coordinates: | The SABC headquarters, at the time it was constructed, consolidated the corporation's Durban activities, which had for the previous decade been conducted from three hired buildings. The building comprises a six-storey office-block - designed to have up to an additional ten floors added at a future date - a studio block for the Zulu and Indian services, a studio block for English and Afrikaans services and a restaurant with recreation block. The entrance routes and the reception area are centred around a colonnaded courtyard in which the focal point is a series of fountains and pools and a sculpture by Ernst ULLMAN. The surrounding walls are faced with slate with incised figures of South African birds done by Ellie HOLM. All the studios are constructed in accordance with then state-of-the-art sound insulation and acoustic techniques in which each studio is effectively a box within the outer structural box, the inner one being entirely separated from the outer one through being mounted on steel springs so as to counter external sound transference. The building was completed at a cost of R1,4 million. The SABC building was officially inaugurated in August 1967. Mr Leslie DURSTON, chief architect of the SABC, was of the opinion that a large expanse of featureless façade on the eastern elevation, as necessitated by the internal acoustic environment, required some decorative device. The aggressive Durban climate was a determining factor in the use of a ceramic decoration. The manufacture of an impressive ceramic mural, probably the largest of its kind in the country at that time, measuring 46m in length and 6m in height, was commissioned. The mural, manufactured by Blakes Ceramic Designs (Pty) Ltd, of Stellenbosch, was made in its entirety of ceramic materials. Six large marine-themed motifs on a background of biscuit coloured brickwork make up the mural, designed by the architectural department of the SABC. [Extracted and edited from the original text of the Journal of the South African Brick Association 1968 s.p.]. References:
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