Roundtable Series

The Gauteng Institute for Architecture (GIfA) warmly invites you to a roundtable online presentation exploring the intersection of space, memory, and cultural practice. Titled "Spatial Intersections – Mining and Music," the session features Bonnie Bopela and Chinenye Chukwuka, who will reflect on their research into the spatial legacies of Johannesburg’s gold mines and the architectural preservation of Indigenous African musical knowledge.  

Bonnie Bopela’s project investigates how architecture can preserve Indigenous African music, which has long been marginalised in formal education. Using phenomenology and the sensory nature of musical traditions, especially bow instruments, her work proposes a design intervention that embodies African musical identity and supports its regeneration in urban space.

Chinenye Chukwuka’s project, “Zama-Zama Dream-Building Tactics on Johannesburg’s Post-Mining Landscapes,” explores the legacy of gold mining and informal economies in Johannesburg. By reinterpreting mining maps and proposing a brick factory over abandoned shafts, the research reframes illegal mining…