2004
The Constitutional Court is the home for the body which protects South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution.
It was designed by South African architects, OMM and Urban Solutions Architects and Urban Designers.
The Court occupies the site of the Old Boer Fort and notorious 'Number Four' prison block in the heart of Johannesburg.
The building reflects South Africa's brutal past – incorporating elements of the original fort and prison into the structure – and its overcoming by a system based on a legal framework that rests on notions of equality.
Its delicate, eclectic style is designed to be anti-monumental, an antidote to colonial and apartheid era architecture, to reflect the importance of the rights of the individual in a multiethnic society.
Photo: Julia Gallagher