Rodney Grosskopff, one of the architectural team that designed Ponte from 1970-75, looks back on his life and the story of Ponte. This article is based on a U3A presentation delivered in 2019. The piece was prepared for The Heritage Portal by Kathy Munro in 2023.
“Nothing you know about Ponte is true... In many ways the Ponte story is the Johannesburg story. Almost everyone you meet in the city has a tale to tell. Tales about it being a den of drugs, illicit sex, suicide, corruption and refugees - tales that perpetuate and polish the building's reputation as a makeshift ‘United Nations of criminal hit-men and whores'... but this 'the tallest residential skyscraper in Africa' and Johannesburg’s most notorious building, is just a building and for more than 4 000 people it is Home. I think Ponte is about breaking the prejudices we all have.” Ingrid Martens, filmmaker
“Ponte [is] a pivot of multi and overlapping transitions that hinge on it, from the Urban, economic, Political and demographic shifts around 1969... Ponte can also be seen as an expression of the pivotal Architectural element, its plan is a cluster of circles or as a Nucleus, as its shopping center was aptly called.” Hannah Le Roux writing in 'Ponte as A Pivot'
“Ponte speaks to a very Johannesburg condition. It has spoken to a city through cycles of decline and prosperity and decline and prosperity.” Melinda Silverman, speaking on a podcast compiled by Ryan Lenora Brown.
The clever things people say about Architecture always...
