The story of rugby in South Africa has been described as the lens through which people can actually view the history of the nation itself. South Africa’s new ‘home of rugby’, due to open in September, will be Portswood House, a two-storey, 800 sq m stand-alone building on Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, one of Africa’s busiest tourist destinations attracting more than 23 million visitors a year.
The ground floor will be divided between an ‘Experience’ taster, a retail store and ‘Springbok Trials’ – an interactive game zone. The second storey is devoted entirely to a museum and will cover the breadth and complexity of Springbok rugby, including the overlooked story of black rugby history.
After several months of the client discussing the concept with various South African companies and researching international design specialists further afield, the decision was made to appoint Mather & Co. Mather & Co’s designer on the project, Sarah Clarke said: ‘We’ve won this contract based on our proven track record designing international sports museums, but in many ways the significance of this project transcends sport. It is a great privilege and major responsibility for our design team to help create this landmark visitor attraction.’
