Five projects from Western Cape entered into 2011/12 Corobrik SAIA Awards of Merit and Excellence

Sept. 4, 2012 - PRLog -- The 2011/12 Corobrik-SAIA Awards of Merit and Awards for Excellence has seen architects from the Western Cape represented in 14 entries – the following five projects are similar in their education and public uses philosophy.

Life Sciences Department, University of the Western Cape
The new Life Sciences Department is aimed to place the University Western Cape on the world map as a centre of teaching excellence. It fuses six departments into one development to promote interdepartmental and trans-disciplinary research. The two major components – laboratory and learning centre – are joined by a social nucleus comprised of the lobby and gathering space oversailed by a shading canopy, supported by tree-like columns. The learning centre integrates the development into the broader campus and houses a state-of-the-art lecture theatre, computer lab-resource centre, seminar and tutorial rooms and a cafeteria opening onto the gathering space.

Kuyasa Transport Interchange
The project originated from an urban design study for the new Kuyasa Station urban node in Khayelitsha. In an area of dire poverty the objective was to create an integrated urban environment around pedestrian needs. The project is structured around a series of new public spaces, forming the backbone of a future urban centre. A high quality public space is lined with trading facilities and covered walkways which link the station to the other modes of transport and the remainder of the precinct. These walkways protect the pedestrian users from the elements, while acting as areas of display for the wares of informal traders.

Drommedaris Social Housing Project
The Drommedaris Social Housing Project is situated in Brooklyn, which is within one of the Provisional Restructuring Zones of Cape Town. It is a mixed-use, social housing project, designed around public spaces and courts. It comprises of 219 social rental units, made up of 92 bachelor flats, 58 one-bedroom and 69 two-bedroom units. The residential buildings form a boundary that encloses the development in order to deal with security without creating an inward looking walled security estate. The layout of the buildings ensures linkages, public spaces and permeable routes that integrate the project with the existing urban community, without sacrificing security.

Ikhaya Trust Centre
A few friends established the Greater Stellenbosch Development Trust in 2002, bought the old beer hall site with the help of donors, and refurbished the buildings as an educational centre. By 2008 additional space was needed to accommodate the growing educational programmes. The aim was to design a centre that would suite various uses and make the best use of the land. Parts of the existing buildings were demolished to restructure the site. A central entrance and pathway through the site became the main element of the project. The new restaurant next to the educational part is another simple, plastered building with a wide stoep.

Administration and Classroom Building, Masibambane Secondary School
In 2000 the school was established through the endeavours of the Bloekombos community. In 2008 the Western Cape Education Department provided funding to allow the Masibambane School Governing Body to build the much needed administration facilities, library, specialist hospitality area and an additional nine classrooms. The re-use of steel portal structures that were originally on the site established the opportunity of making spatially generous and well lit and ventilated classrooms and a simple structural ordering with concrete block infill and steel window panels. This simple rigour has been maintained and adapted for the double storey administration building.

The South African Institute of Architects Award for Excellence was introduced in 1990, and is conferred every second year where it recognises an exceptional contribution to the field of architecture. The award programme was revised in 1999, and now includes the Awards of Merit running concurrently. The Corobrik-SAIA Awards of Merit are to be conferred at a function to be held in September 2012 as part of the SAIA AZA Biennial convention which is being held in Cape Town. The panel of adjudicators for the 2011/12 Awards is being convened by the President of the Institute, Fanuel Motsepe, and consists of Peter Kidger from Corobrik and an academic architect, Philippa Tumubweinee and designer David Tlale.

The 2011/12 awards have seen a total of 55 entries, a marked increase from previous years, and significantly, the Institute received entries from two new regions – the Northern Cape Institute of Architects and the North West Province Institute of Architects.


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A full list of entries can be found on:  https://saia.site-ym.com/2012CA

Ends

Prepared for the SA Institute of Architects
For more information, kindly contact Su Linning or Marina Meyer on 011 782 1315.  Marina Meyer’s cell number is 083 231 9271.

Distributed by Shirley Williams Communications
Contact Shirley Williams on telephone 083 303 1663 or shirley@swcommunications.co.za