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Welcome to the home of the Constitutional Court - a groundbreaking building that not only houses the 11 judges who guard South Africa's Constitution but also stands as an icon of our new culture of democracy and human rights.
The building - the outcome of a competition won by a talented and imaginative team of young South African architects - has become a landmark of Johannesburg and a symbol of the city's rebirth. But it is not just the design that makes the structure such a rich and powerful one: it's the history and significance of the site itself.
It is fitting that the Court, a potent symbol of the democracy that replaced apartheid, has been erected on the site of the Old Fort, Johannesburg's notorious prison - symbolising the triumph of hope over a troubled past.
The building, which had to reflect the values of our new culture of constitutionalism, needed a court chamber, public areas, a library, public reading space and rooms for 11 judges and other staff. Few modern South African buildings have inspired as much awe and excitement as this one.
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The Entrance
Entrance to the Court is through a pair of imposing 9m-high timber doors decorated with carvings of words and sign-language symbols that convey the 27 rights enshrined in the Constitution.
These are doors with a history: the judges asked for wood but the architects said they preferred metal because wood was not durable. So the judges replied: "Look at the great wooden doors in cathedrals in Europe - they're centuries old and still looking good."
It was a persuasive argument and so these doors came to be made of wood, which was carved by craftspeople in Durban.
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The Foyer
The foyer of the Court is a spacious, light-filled area punctuated by slanting columns, an architectural metaphor for trees under which African villagers traditionally resolved their legal disputes. This is just one of the many representations of a recurring theme in the building: that of "justice under a tree".
The columns are decorated by mosaics - blue, green, orange and red. And in keeping with the metaphor, the concrete roof has slots designed to create moving areas akin to dappled sunlight filtering through leaves.
The roof's concrete beams are inscribed with the words ''human dignity, equality and freedom'' in samples of the handwriting of each of the judges. And the focal point of the foyer is a wall of 512 stained-glass windows.
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The Court
The courtroom, the heart of the Constitutional Court building, was constructed on the site of the awaiting-trial block, which was built in 1928 and demolished to make way for the new structure.
But the architects commemorated the old building in a novel way: four of its central stairwells have been saved and bricks salvaged from the block have been used to build the south wall of the room, creating a rough but striking surface. The north wall is almost all glass and lets light flood the room.
The judges' podium, raised and in the shape of a half-moon, runs around the east side of the room. Each judge's name is printed just below the rim of the surface. The podium front is decorated in a cow-hide pattern - brown with splashes of white. In front of the podium is another long desk for the law clerks.
In front of them, facing the judges, are two rows of seats for the legal teams. Unlike other courtrooms, this one has no witness dock.
The public seating consists of brown metal benches and the judges sit on black leather chairs.
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The Library
When the Constitutional Court was inaugurated in 1995, the shelves of the new library were bare. But now the collection stands at more than 40 000 volumes - and is growing quickly. The library is aiming for 400 000 items eventually.
Now the library occupies a spacious and imposing three-story complex in the northern wing of the Constitutional Court's home on Constitution Hill. The new library has an expandable public reading room with a separate entrance.
The library nowadays is a major national repository. But it has even greater ambitions: to become the biggest human-rights collection in the southern hemisphere, to serve as a hub for the exchange of legal materials across Africa and to offer, through the virtual library, access to its resources beyond the physical confines of the Court.
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The Constitutional Court's new home was born of a remarkable and uniquely inclusive process - one that resulted in a public building like no other. This structure, South Africa's first major post-apartheid government building, was designed to embody the openness called for by the Constitution itself.
The building is noted for its transparency and entrancing volumes. In contrast to most courts, it is welcoming rather than forbidding, filled with sparkle and warmth. It has no marble cladding or wood panelling, but has come to be admired for its graceful proportions.
And the principal materials - timber, concrete, steel, glass and black slate - infuse the court with an African feel.
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In 1893 a high-security prison was built on the Braamfontein ridge in Johannesburg. A few years later, the building of a series of forts around it gave the site military capacity; it became a landmark. It was known in some circles as the Johannesburg Fort and in others as Number Four, the name given to the frightening section in which black men were jailed.
Hundreds of thousands of people were held there - including Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Luthuli. Nelson Mandela paid the Fort a visit first as a young lawyer, then as a prisoner and finally as the president of South Africa.
The prison was closed in 1983, leaving a scar on Johannesburg's metropolis - a bleak reminder of our painful past.
A little more than 10 years later the Constitutional Court was established. It spent its first few years in rented accommodation, but in April 1997 the cabinet gave the go-ahead for an international architectural competition to generate a design for the new building.
The competition drew more than 500 applications, but the winning entry - chosen by an international panel of judges led by Charles Correa, the distinguished Sri Lankan architect - was a South African one.
The young architects responsible for the winning submission - which was based on the concept of "justice under a tree" - were Janina Masojada and Andrew Makin from Durban, and Paul Wygers from Johannesburg.
The Court's permanent home was inaugurated by President Thabo Mbeki on Human Rights Day in 2004 - part of the celebration of 10 years of democracy.
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