The Nation Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) lead a walking tour in Harare to see first hand some of David Chudy’s public art works and also to observe some of the architecture his business Terrastone was contacted to face. Only buildings close to NGZ were chosen for pure logistic reasons. Here are some photos of places visited
Notable for me was Dolphin House. I have totally forgotten about this building, having been faced by Terrazzo Co. as well as the logo – which was designed and executed by David Chudy. I must obtain a close up image to include in the site.
Cathedral of St Mary and All Saints, Harare is incorrectly described as in the Wiki as sandstone. The original structure was granite which was too expensive a material to use when the building was extended. Chudy innovated a novel approach and produced ‘fake granite blocks’ which consisted of molded rock like concrete blocks which were faced with in a terrazzo like manner with a granite sand. These have stood the test of time and still match the real granite quite well..
Livingstone house was once the tallest building in the city. Terrastone clad the entire external facing of the building with terrazzo features and mosaics, including entrance flooring.
Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences (formerly Queen Victoria Museum) was an obvious destination – with Chudy’s animal sculptures. The entire external cladding of the building was done by Terrastone – including terrazzo entrance hall steps/floors as well as ‘copper faggots’ for wall panels, which were later acid treated to give them a green patina.
Khumbulani Muleya (Publicist – Talent Scout – Journalist) participated in this tour and shared his © video.