Written for our website by SCAPE’s Commissioning Editor, Caitlin Hancocks.
‘Can we feel love in architecture the way we might taste love in a home-cooked meal?’ This is the question that triggered The MAAK’s Follies in the Veld (FITV) mission for 2024 and drew the team at SCAPE in to discover the answer alongside its creators. This year, they’re starting a new conversation — one which investigates the translatability of feeling through creation.
As founders of a studio that pursues a collaborative and socially driven approach to architecture, Ashleigh Killa and Max Melvill have been hosting this initiative since 2016. FITV was born as an exploration of materials and collaboration in the form of an experimental design and build workshop, turning the discipline on its head to present something beyond what the industry has seen before. Today, it stands as a continued joint celebration of multi-disciplinary talents and a means of moving communities forward as a design vessel.
The 2024 edition of this programme – titled Made with Love – in partnership with David Brits, welcomed 20 participants to collaborate in a journey of designing and building a new façade for The Ramp as it presents its newly found purpose. Located in Paarden Eiland, Cape Town, The Ramp is a shared space, a hub for a collection of designers, artists, and makers. It is also home to The MAAK’s studio. Max and Ashleigh would often have guests visit them at The Ramp, and when the tour of the space culminated at the top of the ramp, they would share their vision of it transforming into an event and performance venue. ‘Ja, right,’ was most people’s response. Little did they know that the future held an iteration which would turn it into exactly that.
This transformation was realised through Made with Love, which was shared with the public at a launch on Saturday, 23rd November 2024. A gathering of like-minded individuals made the launch a perfect event to introduce the new space. Beats by Bridges for Music and Ekrhad Miyoda carried through the space, while Minna Dundas weaved through the crowds to collect the thoughts and feelings evoked by the project.
In conjunction with the launch of Made with Love and the new community space at The Ramp, Studio Notes displayed an exhibition of pieces from the workspace’s tenants. The artists, makers, and designers that put their names forward to reveal where their ideas of connection and care lie, beyond human participation.
To support this initiative, Project Partners SCAPE, Young Urbanists, and Wunders, and material suppliers Jaigh Outsourcing and Cedarbrook, aligned in this shared vision: highlighting the alchemy that emerges when love and architecture collide. The project has produced a tangible essence of care; a space where art can be appreciated before, during, and long after its process of creation. The Ramp has evolved to be more than just a space for practical production. It is a venue that opens its arms as a cultural haven and host for events that break boundaries and advocate for a new approach to shared creative experiences.
Carrying the fundamental message of the project, it is the people who experience the space that complete the process. As they witness the evolution and experience the new dynamics of the space, they taste the proverbial meal to ultimately answer the question: Can you feel the love?
Alongside Ashleigh and Max, the 2024 Follies in the Veld participants:
Brett Scott, Crystalle Davel, Douw Steyn, Driaan Claasen, Emma Brecher, Faith Shields, Gideon Williams, Gillian van der Klashorst, Jesse Barnes, Kekeletso Ramodibe, Klara van Wyngaarden, Mark Tromp, Masego Seopa, Michelle Collis, Minna Dundas, Nicola Chidyaonga, Robert Bodiba, Ryan Haynes, Stephen Hitchcock, Zimkitha Patricia Ntebe
Studio Notes presented by:
Pia Truscott, Cameron Barnes, Yonela Makoba, Gaelen Pinnock, Renée Holleman, Ben Clatworthy, David Brits, Gabriel Hope.
