Bonnie Bopela

African pedagogic transmission transcends written communication and requires spatial interventions that foster embodied musical knowledge’s transference. Indigenous African music is at risk of erasure in a South African context with a history of systemic oppression and a segregated education system prioritising Western Artistic Music. This research analyses the relationship between African musical pedagogy and architecture. It aims to address the erasure of musical knowledge through a spatial intervention that evokes regeneration in an urban setting. Using Pallasmaa’s theory of phenomenology as a guiding focus, this research contextualises African music and how it manifests architecturally. The haptic and embodied architectural experiences defined by phenomenology are inherent within African music. By focusing on the musical bow instruments at the centre of many tribes across Southern Africa, the intrinsic qualities of these instruments are translated and abstracted to form an embodied architectural design intervention imbued with an African musical identity. This research argues that phenomenological architectural design methodologies can regenerate, preserve and sustain indigenous musical knowledge(s) for future generations.