British designer Thomas Heatherwick has transformed a historic silo grain (1924) on Cape Town’s waterfront into the world’s largest museum for modern African art. The new Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) was unveiled to the press today ahead of its public opening next week. 

Heatherwick created the nine story, 100,000-square-foot project within the existing tubular structure, which had been disused since 1990. The process of adapting the unusual building typology for public use was “weird and compelling from the beginning,” the designer said in a statement. “The technical challenge was to find a way to carve out spaces and galleries without completely destroying the authenticity of the original building.”