Opened in 2017 on Cape Town's waterfront, Zeitz MOCAA is the largest museum of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. It was created from a historic grain silo, a 187-foot concrete tower built between 1921 and 1924.
The London designer Thomas Heatherwick and his studio carved the museum out of the silo's 42 tightly packed concrete tubes. Cutting through them with a range of techniques, they opened up galleries and a tall central atrium. The cut tubes were capped with strengthened glass to let in daylight, creating what has been described as a cathedral-like interior. Outside, the biggest change is in the upper floors, where pillowed glass panels bulge from the old walls.
The museum spans nine floors, with a sculpture garden on a lower roof. The top of the building is a hotel, and in 2018 the project was named to the RIBA International List.
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