TED-style Talk, ART DECO BACHELOR: HOLYROOD & THE ARCHITECHTURE OF SPINSTERHOOD, at Alexander Upstairs

A 45-minute "think up" - or TED-style - talk by Robert Silke, titled ART DECO BACHELOR: HOLYROOD & THE ARCHITECHTURE OF SPINSTERHOOD will take place at the Alexander Bar's Upstairs Theatre this weekend.

Can buildings make good husbands? Holyrood is a dense spindle of tight 1930's bachelor flats set on Cape Town's central park. Affordability, panoramic views and sculptural beauty in a prime position, means that the inmates tend to stay for life. Silke is one such inmate, an architect who has lived in the building his entire adult life and seems set to remain. Silke has published articles on the building's extraordinary architecture, and used it to set his critically-acclaimed cult mockumentary, THE SATYR OF SPRINGBOK HEIGHTS. Silke presents an afternoon lecture about an architecture that captivates - literally.

Silke is one of the city's most prolific young architects and urban theorists. Having designed Chevron's award-winning new headquarters in Century City as well as the futuristic Point mall in Sea Point, Silke is best known for his residential conversion of Old Mutual's former Art Deco Headquarters in Darling Street - and is widely credited as the catalyst for turning around the fortunes of Cape Town's city centre.

ART DECO BACHELOR: HOLYROOD & THE ARCHITECHTURE OF SPINSTERHOOD will be presented on 8 November at 4pm. Tickets cost R70 and be booked online at the Alexander Bar website or purchased at the bar. For telephone bookings and enquiries, call 021 300 1652. Alexander Bar & Café is situated at 76 Strand Street in the Cape Town city centre and can be followed on Facebook and Twitter.

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