Lighting in Design February-March 2018

Eye-catching space for Cradle of Humankind

At the official visitor centre of Maropeng’s Cradle of Humankind – Gauteng’s only World Heritage Site – Regent Lighting Solutions (RLS) worked closely with GREENInc, an award winning landscape architectural practice, to create an eye-catching and thought-provoking picnic and event space.

T he centre is currently undergoing a landscap- ing upgrade by adding the picnic site as an additional attraction for local and international tourists. Against a scenic backdrop of indigenous trees, the site will contain aggregate pathways, sculptures, benches, and picnic areas for use by the public. “The brief from government was to design three picnic sites that would function as an extension of the current museum experience,” explains GREEN- Inc’s Wallace Honiball. “For the Human Impact site, now named Stone Park, we didn’t want to overburden the space with content, so we created a spatial experience by introducing a man-made oval sculpture into a very natural environment. The

result is a contemplative space where visitors can engage with the theme of human impact.” Honiball says that one of the main intentions was to create a sheltered space for outdoor events since the environment at Maropeng can be at the mercy of the elements, with dramatic wind and temperature variations. Because it is a very sensi- tive site, an ecologist removed the top layer of soil and certain plants and stored them safely until after the earthworks were completed, ensuring that the landscape comprises locally sourced natural materi- als which are 100% indigenous. In the process of playing down the content for the picnic area, two exhibition items were designed for the space; a set of stone tool sculptures and a

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LiD FEB/MAR 2018