Funding plea for the recording of indigenous knowledge systems, with primary focus on the Mamre indigenous building system
PURPOSE
The purpose of this document is to motivate for a budget to be used for the following:
- Restoration of 2 heritage buildings
- Training of local youth in heritage building skills
• Recording of Indigenous Building Knowledge kept by old Masters in the village of Mamre.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Mamre is located about 60km north of Cape Town in an area known as the Sandveld. It was, around the early 1700s, one of the earliest settlements in South Africa, was established as a model Moravian Mission Town in 1807, and has a rich architectural heritage, which is in need of restoration. Mamre is a town of exceptional historical significance as a cultural and natural landscape. It is an area of unique biodiversity.
The City of Cape Town’s Heritage Department has committed funds to undertake the building of vernacular structures for use by the Mamre community, using traditional construction methods and materials. The project will be used to revive the use of natural, local materials.
This project will be feeding into the City of Cape Town Heritage Department’s Heritage Revitalization Initiative, whose first training and building project is in the pipeline, with a tender out for the restoration of the leiwater, which is a system of water channelled by gravity to gardens as well as the building of a new Info Centre.
The aim of the project is to help to revitalize Mamre’s threatened heritage, while developing local skills and the creation of employment opportunities. The first successful phase of the project was to establish a vision plan for revitalization initiatives in the town of Mamre through a public participation process. See appendix for a summary of the outcome.
All the restoration work and documentation has been designed to dovetail with the City of Cape Towns recently launched Mamre Heritage Revitalization Initiative (see attached Appendix) Note that approval was sought and met with great enthusiasm from the property owners.
MOTIVATION
There is a limited number of people in South Africa with expertise in indigenous building methods and we are fortunate that there are a few old masters remaining in Mamre who are able to talk about and demonstrate building with earth bricks; lime and dung plaster finishing; thatching, dung lime clay thatch capping, as well as where to find and harvest the local thatching reeds and how to cut them; adzing of timber beams; laying of reed and clay ceilings; and peach pip and clay/dung floors.
The idea of this project is to restore 2 old buildings in the heritage area using the old masters to train a team of young trainees in these technologies. These filmed processes with the final product will be edited and a professional video will be available for presentation at conferences and workshops; for heritage practitioners, architects and planners; and for use by museums and libraries, nationally and internationally.
At the conference, Terra 2008, held in Bamako, Mali, in February 2008, the need for such records was identified.
IMPLICATIONS IF FUNDS ARE NOT ALLOCATED
If funds are not allocated to this project, the lineage of knowledge going back hundreds of years will be gone as soon as the builders die. There is no time to be lost, as these builders are old and these skills may vanish.
MORE INFORMATION
Contact Eco Design Architects: info@ecodesignarchitects.co.za
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