Residential projects shine in W Cape entries - 2011/12 Corobrik-SAIA Awards of Merit and Excellence

Sept. 6, 2012 - PRLog -- Architects from the Western Cape have entered five differing residential projects into the 2011/12 Corobrik-SAIA Awards of Merit and Awards for Excellence.

Bantry Bay Apartment
This apartment refurbishment by Jacobs Parker Architects yielded several opportunities to contest and reinterpret the standard apartment typology. The client brief specifically required a view of the Atlantic Ocean upon entry, the efficient use of space and the incorporation of a Cape Dutch aesthetic. The largest and most defining architectural gesture is the introduction of a diagonal wall, which immediately directs the occupants’ eye to the view of the Atlantic upon entry. This wall draws its inspiration from traditional Cape Dutch architecture in its thickness, articulation and finish.

Courtyard House
Courtyard House by Van Der Merwe Miszewski Architects is situated in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. The plot is conventional at 30m x 30m with a magnificent view of the back of Table Mountain. The brief required a home for a family: three bedrooms, guest bedroom (to double as flat with separate entry) and a lawn. In planning, an ‘L’ shaped footprint was employed to maximise the balance between occupied and open space, the north aspect and the views of the mountain. The building is rectilinear, constructed of load bearing brickwork, concrete slabs and ‘flat’ sheet metal roofing concealed behind parapets.

House Letschert
Set within the leafy Cape Town district of Higgovale and embedded within its sloping site, House Letschert by StudioMAS Architects is immersed in a plethora of habour, mountain and city views, climaxing with Table Mountain as its dramatic backdrop. The brief entailed the creation of a family home with a central garden which preserved an existing mature oak tree. The intention was to create the rustic and authentic character found in traditional farm architecture, but without pastiche or mimicry. The client wanted a robust and unpretentious house, one which their boys could skateboard through, a home with warmth and soul.

House Sow
This project, by Cape-based SAOTA – Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects with Sra Kossler and Morel Architects is located on the banks of Lake Geneva in Switzerland and was designed as a family home and private office. The dramatic site, with  restrictive design and building parameters required SAOTA to come up with a reductive design that developed as a result of carving and sculpting away forms from a prescribed triangular development envelope. Inspired by the client’s heritage, the building is an expression of an emerging African aesthetic in the way that it plays with sculptural form, texture and relationship to the exterior.

Voelklip
The brief to SAOTA – Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects called for a beach house suitable for a family of four, on a vacant site in Voelklip, Hermanus. The gently sloping site presented the opportunity for a split-level living space allowing lounge and dining to be placed above the bedrooms on the ground level, all enjoying dramatic sea views. The double volume family room and kitchen form the heart of the home and form the connection between the sea facing accommodation and the internal sunny terraces, pool and garden. The main garden courtyard functions as a large wind free and sunny outdoor entertainment environment.

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.


Please let Shirley Williams know which images you would like as high resolution images.

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