Overseas Project
St. Peter's Seminary Hammanskraal, South Africa
ALLAN KONYA and SHALK DU TOIT,
architects
S. A. CATHOLIC BISHOP'S CONFERENCE,
clients
D. M. GILL,
quantity surveyors
J. W. STEIN and PARTNERS,
structural engineers
J. F. K. EVERITT,
electrical consultant
J. G. BARKHUIZEN, contractor
Chapel seen from parlour block roof
E
-
THE
HE gleam of copper visible for miles above the flat, dusty veld puzzles and intrigues travellers on the Great North Road that runs between Pretoria and Rhodesia and serves as a reminder to those who know that here, in the midst of a Bantu Reserve, 26 miles from Pretoria, is one of the most unusual and stimulating ex- amples of the new architecture in South Africa.
The copper beacon is, in reality. the vast tent roof of a chapel which towers above the low complex of the surrounding buildings known as St. Peter's Seminary, Hammanskraal
a Catholic institution at which Afri- can students are trained for the priesthood.
Designed by Pretoria architects. Allan Konya and Schalk du Toit, the circular chapel and its surrounding buildings are a striking example of how new ideas in architecture can be made to blend with the South Afri- can scene until both buildings and veld are so mutually enhanced that, eventually, the buildings seem an in- evitable extension of the landscape.
While this idea seems through the predominant use of earth colours
to have been uppermost in the ar- chitects' minds, they also studied the seminary life and there is nothing in the design which does not reflect the use to which it will be put, while everything in the chapel relates direct- ly to the latest developments in li- turgical practice.
Situated in the centre of the com-
64
PLAN OF CHAPEL
C
entrance porch, B
main altar,
blessed sacrament altar, D stairs down to sacristy and side altars below.
E sunken garden to sacristy, F sunken gardens to side altars, C altar,
H benches
confessionals,
side
organ,
Far East Architect & Builder September, 1965