The MAAK

The Ramp, a multidisciplinary and collaborative creative space in Paarden Eiland, Cape Town, recently adopted an impressive new element. Gracing the entrance to the space is a new facade, an interactive installation of sorts. Created through an assembly of objects, the facade comes together as a spatially informed and harmonious whole. The structure was not created with the finished product as the necessary priority; rather, it stands as the outcome of an experimental and conceptual process led by the architecture collective, The MAAK, in collaboration with David Brits Studios, who called upon twenty participants to explore the intersection of craft and concept through Follies in the Veld (FITV), an annual programme hosted by The MAAK that explores ideas, action and learning through making.

Highly experimental in nature, FITV seeks to re-establish the process of making as a necessary tool for understanding creative output, asking the following question: What distinctive insights can emerge from the act of making that might elude us in the early stages of ideation? This year, the programme explored this question through the lens of ‘making with love,’ through a project that considered whether it is possible to communicate the intangible feelings of love through an object or, in this case, an architectural structure. The idea of love as the “secret ingredient” in a home-cooked meal became a central metaphor for the project. Just as one can often taste the care, affection and love in a thoughtfully prepared meal, participants were encouraged  to consider if a similar essence could be infused into a built structure. Can a building hold within it an intangible feeling that speaks directly to those who interact with it, much like the comfort of a lovingly prepared meal? 

But what does it mean to do something with love? What does it look like, and how does it take shape? When asked to define ‘love’ at the project’s outset, the group looked beyond its conventional understanding as a romantic connection between individuals, discussing instead its many dimensions as a universal and deeply influential emotion that shapes much of the human experience. They proposed love as an act of selflessness—a willingness to give unconditionally to another. They further considered that often love manifests through fostering a sense of belonging, which begins with offering your full presence to ensure that others feel genuinely seen, heard, and valued. These opening discussions, therefore, set an introductory precedent for how the participants could respond to the project’s explorative concept. 

Project leads Max Melvilland Ashleigh Killa (of The MAAK)  alongside David Brits (co-creator of FITV 2024) carefully pre-designed activities to take place within the workshop to trigger consideration towards the task at hand. The first being, members and participants were invited to bring their own ‘love object’ to share with the group. Over the four days spent together, time was carved out for everyone to share a short biographical history behind their chosen object, explaining how each item echoed feelings of love. Examples ranged from childhood toys and family heirlooms to small anecdotal keepsakes from precious moments spent with friends and family. This practice not only cultivated connections between the individuals involved, as they sat and actively engaged in one another’s reminiscence but likewise introduced the listening members to examples of how ‘love’ – a bodiless, intangible essence – could find a way to manifest itself in a physical and detectable form. Small acts of the previously identified selflessness and fostered belonging could be recognised as the undercurrents of each story. A mother’s devotion was in wrapping her child safely in his cushioned snake toy, and a father imparted an element of himself through his watch, gifting it to his son as a token of shared memory. These reciprocal references, therefore, provided tangible examples of how loving intentions could resonate through physical objects, the overarching aim of the experimental project. 

Armed with these small-scale examples and ready to build, the participants were highly conscious of their own intentions when collaborating throughout this venture. For each conversation shared, tool used, or material cut, it was important to imbue  each action with a loving and conscientious intention. In the same way, the stories behind their objects had infused this essence within them, the hope was that they could transfer this feeling through each act of the building process. Love could, therefore, be recognised in the time one participant took to demonstrate how to measure and cut a block of wood to another. It could be felt in the communal effort of the group to assemble each piece of the scaffolding and experienced through the adaptability of each participant to share elements of their own creative backgrounds with the others, be it architectural, design, curatorial or otherwise, to  enhance each task at hand. 

This exchange of experiences and ideas became a vital aspect of the process, reinforcing the project’s commitment to a horizontal facilitation structure. Each participant’s unique perspective was valued as an essential contribution to the experiment. Consequently, participants were frequently asked to share their perceptions of each step behind the building process: did they agree that arranging the truss in that way would work? Could anyone predict a potential error that could arise if they were to cut the fibreglass at this angle? The active interest bestowed on each individual transferred a degree of responsibility to engage more deeply with the building process. 

This active participation, formulated through such small and conscientious gestures, encouraged a dynamic and cross-disciplinary approach to the creative process. Without dictating leaders and instead an abundance of engaged contributors, the individual’s overall weight was reduced in favour of the strength of the collective. Derived from different backgrounds and disciplines, the group members could offer their own unique experiences as potent ingredients into this dynamic new recipe for creative exploration. ‘Within the field of architecture, there is often a lack of will to hear other people and engage in a dialogue with their ideas,’ one participant noted. ‘That makes this workshop so groundbreaking – its inclusivity, finding strength in what everyone brings to the table instead of bending others into the instructor’s will. You can’t isolate disciplines and expect sufficient growth. The greater the inclusion, the greater impact.’ 

The project was all about process—learning from each other’s strengths and weaknesses to extract and imbue individual knowledge into the collective pursuit. As another participant called it, this was their ‘urban gesture’—a selfless offering from a group of individuals to a process that shaped both the final structure and the way in which it would then be received. The new element at The Ramp is more than an architectural intervention; it is a testament to the power of collaboration, care and shared authorship. Built with intention, it challenges traditional modes of making, demonstrating how not only architecture but all creative disciplines can hold within them the thought of the hands that shaped them. While the installation remains a tangible outcome, its true impact lies in the relationship and insights forged along the way– lessons in love as an act of making, in collective presence, forming active community and the strength of an open, process-driven approach to creative pursuit.