STIAS fellows find themselves in a large atrium, where people and ideas can meet, in nooks, where the furniture is comfortable, the noise levels do not disturb, and the ambiance is friendly, inviting, and conducive to conversation. For seminars and conferences, there is a ‘public’ area, with a seminar section opening out to a spacious south terrace overlooking the vineyard. It can accommodate 80 people, and it is possible to seat a conference of 150 when necessary. State-of-theart equipment and IT systems in the working area are a given. Old, new, and sustainable Respecting the tradition represented by the old buildings, even as Visser was creating a future-orientated one, meant finding a careful solution. He did not want to replicate the Cape Victorian style of what was on the site already, yet old and new had “to stand in quiet dialogue with each other”. Visser’s solution was “to use the historic leivoor [irrigation stream] running in front of the manor house and cellar as the planning axis”, with three water features to “symbolize the continuation of the leivoor and form the spine of the new building.” Paralleling the solutions being forged inside, the building, too, had to be sustainable and comfortable during all seasons, especially during the hot summer months. Air conditioning was included, but the overall design emphasized low energy consumption and low maintenance. Liberal use of double glazing – together with solar heating and low-energy lighting – all help to reduce the centre’s energy needs. The waterwise garden has hardy plants indigenous to the Western Cape. And, to reduce pollution from motor vehicles, there is a large basement parking area. Finally, the arts are a key part of the STIAS thinking. It is intended that one of the fellows should be ‘an artist in residence’. The layout provides for music and other performances, and there are spacious walls and galleries suited to exhibits of artwork. In such an environment and conditions, STIAS expects its projects to grow apace, and for the solutions they bring to endure, and to benefit and reward the country and the continent in which they were generated. ■
What STIAS does The Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) was established in 1999 as a high-level research facility, to provide a meeting-point for a diversity of scholars seeking to address areas of knowledge relevant for Africa. Based on the model of other institutes for advanced study – such as those in Princeton, Berlin, Uppsala, Stanford – the vision of STIAS is to promote innovative and cutting-edge research. Unlike them, however, it caters for all disciplines, and it focuses on Africa and the challenges of this continent. Its international and transdisciplinary projects include the fields of economics (“Sustainable Livelihoods”, “Good Governance and Poverty Relief”, and “Social and Economic Justice”), health (“HIV Strain Dynamics” and “Affordable Health Care”), and education (“The Future of Universities in Africa” and “Bilingual Education”). Its project on “String Theory and Quantum Gravity” brought together renowned researchers and authors in the field – including a Nobel laureate. Apart from focusing on aspects of the mathematics of string theory that are also relevant to the description of rare phases of ordinary matter, the summer school and workshop exposed young South African and African theoretical physicists to people and activities operating in the top league. It is just as important, observes project leader Hendrik Geyer, “for SA to have a rugby team that can be the world’s best, as it is for our young scientists to be able to believe they can also achieve at that level. For that they need exposure.” They will get it with the National Institute for Theoretical Physics, to be housed in a special wing of the Wallenberg Research Centre from 2008.
How STIAS works STIAS involves all disciplines – from the humanities and social sciences to the biological sciences, physics, and mathematics – and in this way acts as a national resource for research at the highest level across all fields of learning. The issues facing Africa require the talents of the most creative minds, and, to produce solutions that work for the continent in practice, it has to take part in the process actively rather than remain for ever dependent on others. Says Bernard Lategan, the Director of STIAS, “if we do not take special measures to ensure we are part of the global process of producing new knowledge, we shall remain the consumers of the ideas of others and of knowledge produced elsewhere.” These special measures operate at two levels. First, STIAS offers a place, space, working conditions, and an atmosphere that allow for the most productive kind of scholarly interaction and innovative thinking. The Wallenberg Research Centre provides individual study rooms, a communal area, and a multipurpose conference facility. There, fellows will find optimal privacy, for concentrated and undisturbed work, and optimal interaction for exchanging viewpoints and perspectives and for stimulating new thinking. Second, STIAS promotes action that directs experimental and creative research to the real problems on the ground. In this way, the institute plans to provide sustainable solutions for Africa through the generation of knowledge. The institute is located on the historic 2.6-ha Mostertsdrift property in Stellenbosch, which dates back to 1693 and whose old buildings are protected by the Commission for Historical Monuments. It belongs to Stellenbosch University, but has been made available to STIAS to serve as its headquarters. Alongside the old farmstead, the newly opened Wallenberg Research Centre provides a place where the world’s leading researchers can, for a while, set aside their normal teaching and administrative duties, to work closely with their counterparts from Africa and elsewhere. Although STIAS was started by Stellenbosch University, in May 2007 it was registered as a Section 21 company, operating independently, at arm’s length from the university. It has the support of the Office of the President of South Africa, the Department of Science and Technology, the National Research Foundation, and a network of scholars and research institutions nationally and abroad. Financially, it depends largely on grants from within and outside the country. The generosity of the Wallenberg Foundation of Sweden made possible the construction of the new research and conference centre. For more about STIAS visit www.sun.ac.za/stias. Right (top): Bernard Lategan, Director of STIAS, with an architect’s model of the new research centre. Photograph: Cyclops Right (below): The completed building, ready for its formal opening.
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