Red Location Art Gallery
Township Gallery Named Best Building In The World
Last night, Thursday, 6 December 2013, The Red Location Gallery in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth was named the Best Building in the World at The Icon Awards, run by the leading international architecture and design magazine. The Red Location Gallery was nominated alongside Hopkins Architects’ Olympic Velodrome; Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Piet Oudolf’s New York High Line; O’Donnell and Tuomey’s Lyric Theatre; and Mi5 Arquitectos + PKMN’s Tereul-zilla.
This is just the latest in a string of awards for The Red Location Precinct, designed by Jo Noero of Noero Architects. The Red Location Museum won the Lubetkin Prize in 2006 for the Most Outstanding Building Outside the EU, as well as awards from The Institute of South African Architects, The Dedallo Minosse President’s Award, The Royal Institute of British Architects International Award, and a World Leadership Award for Public Architecture.
Red Location was the first settled black township of Port Elizabeth. It derives its name from a series of corrugated iron barrack buildings, which are rusted a deep red colour. Ironically, before being moved to Red Location, these corrugated iron barracks had earlier housed Boer women and children in the Boer War concentration camps in Uitenhage.
Red Location became a site of struggle during the years of Apartheid, while many prominent political and cultural leaders were either born or lived in Red Location.
The art gallery hosts local exhibitions of township art and also accommodates a permanent collection of Eastern Cape struggle art, which it shares with the Nelson Mandela Art Gallery. The Red Location precinct also includes a museum, library and archive, and housing, while Noero Architects is currently building an art, craft and music school.
For more information, visit www.noeroarchitects.com.
