BAY HOUSE: BANTRY BAY
For a private client
KrugerRoos Architects + Urban Designers

As with all good architecture, the making of this house seems effortless. The architects achieved a good proportioning of space and plane, while complementing it with a simple, carefully selected palette of materials. This is not an object building but chooses to reveal itself discreetly through an unfolding sequence of spaces. The greatest achievement lies in the highly successful carving out of the tight building mass, to create a series of calm and handsomely proportioned internal spaces. Each of these in turn presents unexpectedly framed views to the outside.
Bay House is simultaneously house and gallery, generous and intimate, solid and permeable. The architects are commended for offering suspense and a high level of sensory delight, while not compromising the core functions of a comfortable and permanently occupied family house.

NEW RESIDENCE AT DE WATERKANT
For Messrd Nicola & Knight
Meyer+Vorster Architects, Urban Designers and Interior Designers

This gem is a delightful insertion into the fine-grained historic fabric of De Waterkant.
Within this urban conservation area, the architects have successfully introduced a contemporary building which, while tipping its hat to its neighbours, succeeds in carving out its own unique identity.
Within the constraints of a site measuring 5.6mx33.7m between two party walls with dual public frontage, the architects have provided inventive design solutions. These are successful both in terms of access and circulation, resulting in a commendable mediation between public and private realms.
The building envelope largely follows the pattern established by the existing row of houses. It contains a light-filled, expansive living environment. Decks at each extremity form an integral part of the design, providing impressive views to Table Bay and Table Mountain thereby maximizing the scale of the outdoor areas.
Interiors are exquisitely detailed, using materials which include concrete, steel, glass and timber, combined to create a wonderfully tactile environment.
This holiday home is proof indeed that the best things come in small packages.

NEW HOLIDAY HOUSE AT PARADISE BEACH, LANGEBAAN
For Gawie & Gwen Fagan
Gabriël Fagan Architects

In the context of this exclusive West Coast development, this house challenges the approach and philosophy of what a beach house should be.
The house is carefully tucked into the landscape with only the vaulted roofs and chimney visible. Surprisingly, this contextual response affords the house total privacy from adjacent double storey houses. Through compact planning, the house provides impressive accommodation for large family gatherings.
The problem of orientation to the sun is resolved through a generous courtyard, which allows morning sun to be splashed into the house. Well-detailed adjustable shutters protect the house from afternoon sun. Views across the lagoon are carefully framed through windows and doors, creating a layer of desirable spots in the house.
The exclusive use of bricks, built with no expansion joints, concrete or waterproofing, bears testimony to the architect’s exceptional knowledge of construction. The clean crisp and highly inventive detailing and choice of material for doors, windows, shutters and joinery will ensure that the fittings will stand the test of time with minimal maintenance.
This house merges a wealth of knowledge and personal references into a significant contribution to architecture.

HOUSE KENNEDY
For Sally Kennedy
Peter Rich Architect

This timber structure is hidden on a sea-facing slope, far from any amenities.
The needs of the owners had to be catered for within a 150m² footprint, in a structure featuring vertical elements and horizontal platforms. These are exquisitely combined on two levels. Through the manipulation of the roof and setback in the first floor, the entire space forms a singular sculpted entity, with only the main bedroom being separable. Within the central, unified space, a range of varying sub-spaces is provided, catering for different moods.
A good sense of enclosure is provided, as well as framed links to the surrounding vistas which are enlivened by the movement of the sun through the central space. The structure is unobtrusive, with a language of columns and cross-bracing building, mimicked in the roof structure.
The result is an elegant, well-proportioned building.

BEACH HOUSE SHEFFIELD
For a private client
Dean Jay Architects

The brief for this weekend retreat was for a simple and relaxed environment around a courtyard. There should be an open-plan living space, with the kitchen screened there from, but not separated; and four bedrooms with a dormitory space as back-up accommodation. The established Milkwood trees were to be conserved and the exterior was to be painted ‘seaweed’ colour.
The habitable spaces surround a courtyard designed as an informal yet private outdoor living area. Materials and finishes are simple and the numerous features of the design geared toward informal yet secluded relaxation are executed with care. There is no formal front door. The entrance falls between house and garage, and follows the axis of the view to the ocean, via the courtyard and the living space. The ground floor is thus given over to informal outdoor and indoor living space; the upper to bedrooms surrounding the courtyard volume.
To be able to build on this site an existing watercourse had to be diverted and filled-in and, though of brick construction, ground beams on piles were unavoidable. To meet with the required simplicity, the roof is of fibre-cement sheeting; walls bagged and painted; floors screeded, polished and sealed; and on the upper floor, raked strip ceilings rest atop exposed trusses. Extensive use was made of built-in furniture and fittings, including beds and cupboards, and custom-designed baths to the two en-suite, sea-facing bedrooms. Each bedroom has its own screen-enclosed balcony.
The gentle, understated and seemingly effortless response celebrates the tradition of the vernacular in an understated manner yet with the integrity of a contemporary architecture.

ELPHICK STUDIO: WESTVILLE
For the Elphick Family Trust
Elphick Proome Architects

This pavilion in the landscape is an addition to the ISAA Award-winning villa of 1991, distanced by a glass covered walkway.
The concept is of an elongated vaulted roof shading various habitable spaces, closed from the rear by a spine wall and opening to the forest opposite the stream to which the site abutts. This is in essence the veranda of a lightweight roof covering a large semi-outdoor space divided by panels.
To give this physical expression the spine is of bare reinforced concrete, punctured to accommodate barbecue, kitchen counter and ablutions arc; the roof of the corrugated sheeting on bowed steel beams; and the floors are of oxide-dyed granolithic panels. The internal panels are finished in ochre, the remaining spatial definition is provided by way of frameless glazing. An actual veranda defines the eastern end facing the original residence. Unlike the interior space, this floor is decked and the roof is exposed metal sheeting. A glazed covered walk joins the two residences.
While acknowledging its compositional debt to Mies, and its linear plan and vaulted roof plane to Murcutt, this is an accomplished design of considerable formal strength and elegance, and the high quality resolution and the refinements of detail is lauded.
References: NIA Journal 1/1992; Architecture South Africa May/June 2004.

AUDLEY GARDENS
A residential developement for Dean Jay
Dean Jay Architects

“The project was an unmitigated disaster. From start to finish everything that could go wrong, did. The project was almost stopped by a court case with neighbours, the built quality was appalling, the project was late, the contractor went into liquidation and the owners were left to sort out the mess by themselves. Sometimes, however, when I am having a drink on the roof terrace at sunset, I think that it was almost worth it”. Dean Jay
The stated goal of the designer was that of bringing thoughtful architecture to urban living, custom designed to the lifestyles and mobility of the owner-occupants - group of single professional friends -, and the acknowledgement in the design of Durban’s mild yet humid climate.
Though positioned on the crest of Durban’s Berea, due to the surrounding buildings, views can only be captured from the upper levels. Hence the novel approach to the design of the studio apartments with the living rooms atop of the bedrooms, and the former opening to the sky by way of sliding roofs, which otherwise serve as decks of the roof gardens.
The project consists of four studio apartments, each for a single professional, and the brief was to provide an architectural concept attuned to such lifestyles. In particular, each apartment was to capture the views inherent from the location on the crest of Durban’s Berea, contain two bedrooms, and generous living and parking accommodation.
The vast east-facing elevation is protected from inclement sun and weather by giant-order operable timber shutters which filter the inclement effects without compromising the view.
This is an elegantly simple, architecturally bold and innovative yet quiet set of apartments to provide for an urban lifestyle in a vibrant city.

RED HOUSE
For Kim Howard & Steven Kahanovitz
Slee & Co

The brief required a weekend house as a place of retreat from city life. Two long double storied red buildings are set back at right angles to the river but slight inclined to one another, establishing a privacy from neighbours while commanding views filtered through trees to the river. On arrival one has a sense of place - a relaxed air of repose and pleasure. The simple double volume shed has the air of the farm house.
This retreat seems to synthesise and refine, in a remarkable way, many of the ideas for domestic living that the architect has developed as trademarks of his work over time – the long dining table experience paralleled by the long kitchen counter as part of the same space, saddlebags of service spaces concealed behind double volume spaces with easy transitions from inside to outside, the doubling up of private indoor and outdoor shower.
Together with the simplicity of the building forms, it is the restraint and masterful use of a restrained palette of modest materials, the clearly thought through juxtaposition of natural and more sophisticated finishes, and impeccable planning that gives delight to the indoor and outdoor spaces. The subtleties in the use of the red earth colours, add brilliantly to the cohesion of the identity of the Red House in its setting of the veld.

HOUSE STEYN / KUNZ
For Cilliers & Sandra Steyn : Dirk & Lorette Kunz
Thomas Gouws Architects

Situated east of Pretoria in Mooikloof Estate, the house nestles on a rocky outcrop on a generous plot densely vegetated and largely in its natural state. Barn-like masonry structures are grouped around a courtyard and open outward towards views and private enclaves claimed from the landscape. Sheet metal roofs with deep overhangs are supported on articulated steel and timber, often separated from solid planes with substantial glazing.
The success of architect-client rapport is evident and commendable. Taking inspiration from its context, the volumes, materials and details are assembled sensitively and simply, reflecting the origins of the owners and reinterpreting the spirit of South African rural architecture. In spite of its pastoral setting, the junctions between floor, wall and roof lift the normally heavy tone of a country building with a lightness that reflects sophistication and an intimate relationship to the natural vegetation of the site.
In a society struggling to define its own architectural identity, House Steyn / Kunz makes great strides in this direction without reference to the stylistic pitfalls found in its immediate surroundings. The relationship of the buildings to each other and to the landscape suggest a timelessness which will prevail long after current popular styles have become unfashionable. The regional sensibilities and crafted manner in which programme and context are interpreted with apparent ease.

BERGLUST FARM HOUSE
For Mark & Tienka Millar
Mira Fassler Kamstra

The clients required for their imminent retirement a compact farmhouse which was both comfortable and secure, to be owner built by their son and farm labour. The game farm site is a narrow rocky platform amongst enormous wild figs, acacias and paper-barks, and constrained to the east by a rock sheet, located along a stretch of corrugated and rocky dirt roads deep in the Waterberg Bushveld.
The architect took inspiration from the traditional Transvaal Farmhouse as a shed building, but then interpreted as a plan libre, the facilities designed in the manner of traditional organic mud architecture. What was unusual in the execution of the project is that the only drawings available for construction were the set of sketch drawings and timber engineer’s plans.
What is achieved is a small building of high merit, with a sense of spaciousness and enclosure, exceptionally well crafted and detailed, that has fit with the landscape and fitness for its purpose, and allows for a lifestyle of comfort and repose.

HOUSE MILLAR
For Mark & Tienka Millar
Mathews & Associates Architects cc

The estate in which House Millar is located is a conservancy in which the chosen format of the low density development scheme unfortunately impacts negatively on the site’s high scenic and conservation value through allowing houses to be dotted over the whole estate. Within this paradigm, the design of House Millar consciously takes a counter-position by indicating and supporting a more concentrated settlement type with active engagement with the internal street network, thus leaving more open space with high visual and conservation quality. In contrast to most estate developments where there is a lack of privacy between units, the siting and lay-out of this design provides for a high degree of privacy while having good neighbour and street relationships.
The form and scale of the house addresses both the vast scale of the environment and the intimate scale of family life. There is good resolution of the transition from public to private space. Interior spaces are well defined, and aptly respond to their intended functional uses while being open to redefinition. The exciting form and scale of the central living space acts as formal space for social linkage with society, as well as being the spatial connector to members of the family. The arrangement of rooms is well considered as flexible container for evolving family life. The achieved relationship between interior and exterior spaces facilitates the seamless contact with outside covered spaces, taking full advantage of the possibilities of outside living.
The house employs passive design principles appropriate to the region in order to achieve a suitable energy use profile and optimise human comfort. Finishes range from extremely rough to very smooth, and were carefully chosen to enhance the experience and quality of space – the workmanship and detailing is excellent throughout. The landscaping acts as appropriate mediator between the formal exterior architecture and natural landscape.
Karel A Bakker : Convenor MPIA Merit Award panel

NEW GYM & SPA
For the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town
Revel Fox &Partners cc

The success of these additions is clearly a result of the architect’s understanding and careful response to the context: a complex grouping of historical and modern buildings.
The new gym, spa and riverside bedrooms are discreetly placed along the edge of the site creating a backdrop to the exceptional established gardens done to the design of Anne Sutton. Upon closer inspection, the steel and glass pavilions are beautifully made open-plan spaces separated by a pool reflecting filtered sun. The elegantly detailed steel structure allows uninterrupted views to the garden, pool and mountains through moveable glass doors.
The slope of the site is optimally used to hide the underground parking and minimize the scale of the spa and riverside bedrooms. Concrete roofs and the stepping of the double-storey bedroom wing are combined with landscaped terraces, timber screens and stonework, resulting in a comfortable transition to the river’s edge.
The architectural restraint and sensitivity to scale of these buildings have resulted in an exquisite composition which is both a foreground and background building.

BEAU CONSTANCE
For a private client by
Metropolis Design

Beau Constance is a captivating union of architecture and nature.
The building programme called for a main house, meditation pavilion and guest cottage. The location is a new wine farm on a site of spectacular natural beauty. The design response achieves architecture of exquisite subtlety with minimum intervention on the pristine site, characterized by a minimalist design vocabulary.
Whilst each of the buildings are a response to the respective briefs the commonality lies in their essential expression of enclosure. The primary building components of wall, floor slab and roof, are reduced to planar elements throughout, composed to create a sculptural interplay between mass and void.
This lightness of touch is immediately evident when approaching the main house. The private accommodation it contains appears as a simple volume poised above a loose landscape of ground planes which define the principal living area.
At Beau Constance, space and scale have been masterfully manipulated. Its inhabitants are provided with a spatial experience which is richly layered, and perfectly in tune with its natural environment.
The project is one of conceptual rigor and architectural clarity - from the planning through to the resolution of detail.

NEW CORPORATE HEAD OFFICE: BP AFRICA
For the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Company
KrugerRoos Architects + Urban Designers in association with Joshua Conrad Architects

The BP Headquarters at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront has been heralded for incorporating a number of Sustainability measures, which include batteries of photovoltaic cells on the roof, dramatic roof lights which serve a dual purpose of admitting light into the building and allowing hot air to escape. It also employs the use of metre-thick facades, to moderate interior/exterior temperature differentials.
The architectural quality of the building is to be found in the arrangement of the interior spaces - light-filled, airy atria which form the major organising elements of the building around which the office spaces are clustered and the more public and semi-public facilities such as coffee bars and meeting rooms are arranged. This hierarchy of spaces is reinforced through the cross-sectional treatment of the building, promoting legibility and transparency and allowing natural light to penetrate from the roof to the lowest levels.
The exterior treatment responds to the Portswood Ridge context in which the building is located and makes use of a restrained palette of robust materials. It is considerably enlivened by the play of light and shadow on the deep recesses of the façade with its balconies, ventilator shafts and sun-baffles.

CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE
For Convenco
Foreshore Architects: an association comprising
Revel Fox & Partners cc Architects and Planners, Van der Merwe Miszewski Architects, Lucien Le Grange Architect & Planner, Stauch Vorster Architects (Cape Town) (Pty) Ltd, ACG Architects & Development Planners, dhk Architects (Pty) Ltd, Magqwaka Associates Architects.

The project is substantial in its design. It required, amongst other skills, an artful bridging, in a figurative sense, between the spatial requirements of functions attended by thousands, and those of smaller events attended by only a few. It is thus a matter of size and human scale: the need for large functional spaces, yet also for warmth and intimacy; for a cohesive, overall image yet for variety and legibility. From the users’ point of view, the complex meets these demands remarkably well.
The quality of design of a building complex which presented numerous challenges from overall concept through to detail, is well considered, cohesive and logical. The stone-faced surfaces, wood panelling and glass, offset by exposed structural steel elements, all strike a good balance.
The building is flexible and modular, yet it does not give the impression of being repetitive. The scale of the indoor spaces is comfortable, even when empty. This is especially true of the triple level spine which forms a backbone, and the large indoor plant courts which assist with orientation.
Modern, international and cool, it makes for its varied purposes.
The complex is right alongside the city centre, appointing the rather dull Foreshore precinct with new purpose and in scale lending a sense of urbanity, using protected internal courtyards as extensions to the city scape and thereby creating protected city squares.
This is a first class “new boy on the block”.

NEW COUNCIL CHAMBER FOR EKURHULENI METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY
For the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (Department Roads, Transport & Civil Works)
Meyer Pienaar Tayob Architects and Urban Designers

In returning to the original architectural team for restructuring and extensively modifying their own work, the clients have a response by the architects that is confident, detached and professional. The project incorporates a new council chamber within the old civic centre, while retaining the library and the clinic of the old complex. Architecturally, the new insertion is not so much a contrast to the old but a counterpoint – the difference being that the former is bold and with an urban presence, the latter a quiet surprise, but creating an integrated whole of the old and new. In time the new will read as if it had always been there and yet distinguishable from what was old. A cleverly engineered and crafted new steel structure is elegantly and delicately integrated into the design. Robustly executed glass block wall enclose and internalise the old circular stair. The restrained use of tones of grey in furniture, fittings and décor, and the commissioning of a new carpet design, help to create a harmonious composition. Technically, from both the structural and servicing point-of-view, the design is outstanding, and the execution exceptional.

DAYCARE CENTRES - DELFT SOUTH
For the City of Cape Town
Noero Wolff Architects

The architects have developed a flexible prototype for the development of daycare centres that they have applied to two sites in Delft South. Through extraordinarily modest means a rich layering of space, and a complex hierarchy of both interior and outdoor spaces is achieved.
From afar, tall brick pylons directing pedestrians to the building offer visual relief in the relentlessly flat landscape. Moving closer, the pylons fold horizontally to become walls, seats, ramps, stairs. These elements provide parents with a waiting space outside the school, while creating a subtle private-public threshold between the walled interior of the schoolyard and the public life of the street.
This ability to manipulate architectural scale is echoed inside each classroom which has a generous central space, a more intimate verandah space, and child-size storage areas and play spaces. The classroom building has the added flexibility of two moveable walls, affording teachers the opportunity of sub-dividing the room into a number of different spaces
The architects have and have made a valuable contribution to the public realm in the most bleak and deprived environment.

USASAZO SECONDARY SCHOOL: KAYELITSHA
For the Department of Transport & Public Works, Western Cape Provincial Government
Noero Wolff Architects

The project is distinguished from surrounding schools through a well-considered response to the brief and appropriate responses to the severe contextual constraints of the area. They depart from the notion that schools are buildings as objects, and instead impart a strong identity at the street edge. At the street façade the scene is set for a vibrancy where entrepreneurial teaching can develop into active trading.
On site building components are informally positioned to form a series of treed and sport courts where students are sheltered from prevailing winds. Generous walkway canopies introduce a more humane scale to the entrance court, which continues in various forms linking the different building components.
The introduction of natural light into most of the classrooms, hall and library is innovatively designed and positioned with dramatic effect. The robust detailing and well considered use of materials acknowledges the strain and limited maintenance capacity of public buildings in this area. The school is a commendable example of an appropriately contextualised building which can accommodate a variety of needs beyond its brief, relevant to its surrounding community.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERINGDEPARTMENT
For the University of Cape Town
dhk Architects

The close interaction between a creative client and an inventive architect has culminated in a noteworthy addition to University of Cape Town campus.
The client’s brief that the architect preserve the close-knit interactive ambience that had characterised their original building has been elegantly achieved. A central, light-filled atrium invites chance meetings between students and teachers, post- and undergraduates, administrative staff and academics. This is because, according to the client, it is in these encounters that engender innovative thinking across disciplinary boundaries. Facilities largely face into the central atrium space. This affords the building a transparency and legibility rarely experienced in the large bureaucracies of academia.
Clearly visible specialised services and piping contributed to the excitement of the architecture. At the same time, this active interior space is complemented by the restrained and elegant treatment of the exterior.
The building sits comfortably alongside its more traditional neighbours on the campus.

NEW LINK BUILDING FOR THE INSTITUTE OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE AND MOLECULAR MEDICINE
For the University of Cape Town
Gabriël Fagan Architects in association with MLH Architects and Planners

Unlike the title of this project, the brief was in essence simple: it called for vertical and horizontal links, a new entrance and point of control, and a variety of mixed facilities serving three existing academic buildings. How easily a brief of this sort could have succumbed to becoming a derivative of the somewhat ponderous classical institutional buildings that it was to link. Instead, an apparently small, 3 storey-high jewel has been created. One has to ask whether the new knuckle links the three original buildings, or whether this new linkage is served by the older wings: which is the server and which is the served?
The building is technologically innovative. This is most evident in the design of the sunscreening blades which temper heat and light which track around the curved façade at the various levels, permitting important views across the highway at Devils’ Peak. Both in concept and in detail, issues have been thought through. It is not that there is no room for critical discussion.
This circular glass ‘tempietto’, with its multi-levelled tail wedged between the existing buildings, is lively from within but most striking as seen from outside. It is a pity that the fast flowing highway rushing past this building does not permit the driver’s eye to dwell on this delight. The university authorities must be complimented on supporting the construction of such an innovative structure on its campus.

THAKANENG BRIDGE : UFS STUDENT CENTRE
For the University of the Free State
The Roodt Partnership

The project is an inhabited bridge over DF Malherbe Drive that connects the University library with the rest of the campus. It accommodates offices of the student centre at top floor and restaurants, commercial facilities, conference rooms and an amphitheatre at ground floor.
The architect has created a fragment of a city with intertwining and overlapping functions. The language is modern. A single mono-pitch roof serves as a structure across the road. As with all lively districts of a city, varying public realms of streets, squares, fore courts and suchlike are intricately knitted together.
In order to counter the amorphous structure of the existing university lay-out, the architect has set up parallel walls and beams as a continuation of the theme of the bridge, and uses them as a back-bone to attach the various functions. This structure is extruded outwards to public open spaces, again providing a backdrop for students to congregate.
The project emphatically demonstrates how architecture can enable human interaction in a flexible way without regimenting it.

FACULTY OF LAW BUILDING
For the University of Pretoria
KrugerRoos Architects + Urban Designers

The new facilities for the Faculty of Law are the result of an architectural competition initiated by the client, the University of Pretoria. At the heart of the building is a circulatory spine, expressed as a multi-storeyed walkway or gallery under a light steel canopy seemingly detaching itself from the main structure. Trees screen the fully glazed Oliver Tambo Law Library, which claims most of the south façade. To the east it is flanked by the entrance - aligned with an existing avenue - and an administrative block dressed in deliberate white walls that are carefully punctured, a pattern expressing similar functions elsewhere. Wings housing office and seminar spaces are formally grouped around two courtyards open to the walkway. Circulation towers - suggestive of their function - and auditoria protrude from the main body of the complex.
As an urban intervention the building remedies the previously frayed edge on the north-eastern periphery of the institution’s main campus. Purposefully but sensitively wedged into its context, the building embodies some of the higher ideals associated with the legal fraternity – gravitas and transparency – by contrasting visually weighted solids to lighter steel components and glazing. The innovative use of natural light throughout appropriately strengthens this concept.
The design competently addresses pragmatic concerns through a legible, rational structure and with spatial clarity, best expressed through the interconnecting walkway. This element eloquently integrates light, rhythm and natural ventilation throughout the building. The designers’, mindful of Pretoria’s moderate climate, have skilfully managed the comfort of traversing external and internal spaces.
While procuring a design by competition does not always guarantee success this approach has surely contributed to the success of the project.

THE CHAPEL OF LIGHT
For the Vaal University of Technology
Comrie + Wilkinson Architects and Urban Designers

The brief called for a non-denominational chapel. The siting of the Chapel of Light between the PoMo student hostels and the reinforced brutalist concrete institution of learning sets a moment of calm and delight in the most unlikely of contexts.
Conceptually the Chapel is a double volumed hall whose parasol roof is extended to shade a series of walls defining a sequence of entry spaces. The composition is held together by a detached vestry and ablution facillities.
The Chapel creates external spaces which invite pausing moments for everyday passers-by, and for contemplation, a nearby lake with its grove of eucalyptus trees set against the highveld sky. It is thus essentially an African building, capturing and making special the experience of landscape and of place as independent from but ancillary to the chapel space.
There seems to be nothing one can add, or take away from either in its massing or layering from a remarkably sophisticated yet restrained building, appropriately detailed and realized to a tight budget. Limited means seems to ilicit a resourcefulness which in itself has its own poetry.

DIAMOND HILL TOLL PLAZA
For the South African National Roads Agency
Mathews And Associates Architects
in association with
Karlien Thomashoff Architect

Diamond Hill Toll Plaza and its secondary components stretch over several kilometres of rural highveld along the eastern track of the N4 toll road that links Gauteng with Mpumalanga and eventually Mozambique. At its core is the main plaza, announced from afar by lighting masts leaning inward and swelling the horizon to a dramatic apex. A suspended steel canopy floats over the articulated tollbooths and the associated safety kit, both exaggerating in perspective the direction of travel. Scattered along the highway in both directions are minor ramp plazas that borrow their design language from the main plaza and the theme of water tower reservoirs as landmarks.
In obvious contrast to the agility and tentative lightness of the main plaza that it faces onto, the control building is made up of pavilion-like sheds on stone plinths. Face brick panels in steel frames are cut open and glazed across corners. Squat passages connect through courtyards interspersed with corrugated steel water tanks and sparse indigenous flora amongst boulders that cover the surface.
Materials were sourced locally and applied responsibly. Masts, wing-like roofs and water towers invoke a strong sense of place.
Three main influences are apparent in the project: the most obvious is that of the programme and the pragmatics of procession illustrated in the main plaza. Secondly, the building forms were inspired by the agricultural vernacular, skilfully reinterpreted with a persuasive sense of proportion and composition. Thirdly, and most convincingly, the design responds to the landscape. The countryside setting is masterly exploited by inserting structures, unapologetically but not inconsiderately, into it. This response powerfully realises the aspirations of the client to have the project act as an urban-rural threshold.

BAOBAB TOLL PLAZA, MUSINA, LIMPOPO
For the South African National Roads Agency
Matthews & Associates Architects

The figurative architectures of analogy and metaphor are fraught with the pitfalls of failure, either becoming so abstracted as to be obscure, or so literal as to be banal.
The architects of this project manage to traverse these extremes by bringing to the design the very practical requirements of the safety of the toll booth operators. The re-design of these in conjunction with the engineering consultants and their integration with the analogous interpretation of the baobab forests in abstracted form satisfy the requirements of the client, the National Roads Agency for a symbolic gateway to South Africa, and as symbol of South Africa’s commitment to NEPAD.
The project speaks of sophistication, technical proficiency, is legible and serviceable, bringing architecture of high quality into an unexpected domain while subscribing to a functionally rigorous and prescriptive brief. For this the project is deserving of a National Award of Merit.


MAPUNGUBWE NATIONAL PARK: NEW TOURISM INFRASTRUCTURE
For SANParks
Crafford & Crafford Architects cc

The architects were required to design the facilities for a new National Park in an area previously without infrastructure, which had been declared a World Heritage Site in 2003. The area has not only an ecological diversity but is a centre of African civilization, famed for the site of the discovery of the Gold Rhino on Mapungubwe hill in1933. The project was to be realized with the aid of the DEAT Poverty Relief Fund.
The designs are for the entrance gate, Main Camp, Wilderness Camp and tented Camp, as well as various day visitor and viewing amenities.
The most important aspect of the design response was the guidance given by the architects in siting of facilities, reuse of brownfield sites, avoidance of extensive archaeological sites, reuse of existing fencing materials, reinterpretation of a vernacular technology and available skills and labour force into and executable architectural idiom of recognisable identity. In an area where water is scarce, water efficiency is also a concern and addresses in the design of services.
While all the planning relies on regular geometry which sometimes becomes restrictive, given the freedom of space, the complex breaks from what was typically associated with the facilities of the Parks board, namely a rondavel and lapa style.
The visitor, in meeting with the widely separated elements in a vast and diverse space, across time constructs in memory the spirit of a unique place assisted by the punctuation of architectural elements built on a leitmotif and synthesised into a continuous and harmonious theme, and that is meritorious.


SINGITA LEBOMBO LODGE – Kruger National Park
For Singita Marketing (Pty) Ltd
omm Design Workshop CC

The Singita complex, a private concession situated on the eastern boundary of the Kruger National Park, is set against a rhyolite ridge of low hills that are part of the Lebombo mountains and is bounded by the N’wanetsi and Sweni Rivers. The Singita Lebombo lodge was the first of three interventions, the other being a second lodge and a commercial complex. While the chosen location has great scenic beauty and provides fantastic views over the N’wanetsi, it has a low absorption capacity for a range of negative impacts related to a physical development of this scale.
The architects have admirably taken up the responsibility that comes with designing for a site with these environmental qualities, and fulfilled the demands of the brief that required that the project be sustainable, have minimal impact on the environment and be easily removable at the end of the 20 year concession period. The choice of structure type and the positioning of structures on site ensure that there was minimal disturbance of the natural environment. Indigenous plant material and site features were protected vigorously, buildings in the most sensitive areas of the site were constructed on stilts, and the components of most buildings are demountable. The design incorporates for passive design principles to temper the extreme heat and humidity that is prevalent in the area, as can be seen in the use of lightweight materials, shade screens wrapping around the skins of inhabited spaces, the use of large overhangs over large glass surfaces, and in the use of mass to delay heat penetration for spaces that need constantly cool temperatures like the wine store tower. The liquid waste system was designed to prevent pollution of the N’wanetsi River. While the 5 star establishment provides every conceivable luxury on demand, patrons’ water use is restricted. It is admirable that the project used a large amount of local labour, that there was a high degree of skills transfer, and that the health profile of the local community increased positively due to the project’s sustainability approach.
The design has an active dialogue with both physical and intangible aspects of the site and the surrounding environment. The commonly used method of referring to traditionalist African architectural form and space typologies, which typify most game lodges in the country, are avoided in lieu of a critical regionalist approach. Neo-Modern architectural devices are used but details and elements are inspired by the local condition and through rich historical referencing. There is a synergy of crafting, engineering and space making. The architecture shows an honesty and ingenuity in terms of material use, in terms of the locality, detailing, assembly and finishes. There is a planned mix of foreign and local, high and low tech, engineered and on-site crafted elements. In all these dualisms there is engagement with the tangible and intangible dimensions of site as well as of the region.
Apart from possessing the required architectural qualities for an Award of Merit, the mastery shown achieving all the design objectives, in making meaningful place and an architecture with strong associations to place, in forging a non-stylistic approach to the existing bush lodge typology and in achieving a high level of sustainability, the Singita Lebombo complex expresses a high level of architectural excellence.


THE NEW CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
For the Johannesburg Development Agency
omm Design Workshop Architects in association with Urban Solutions

This project has already received considerable publicity and wide professional acclaim. Therefore, one only needs to highlight its key themes and perhaps link them to emerging international views on public works of this kind. The new Constitutional Court is a remarkable realisation of the essence of small narratives. It incisively suggests South African past requires inverse narratives. It takes the South African Judiciary’s collective view expressed in the competition brief as absolute architectural value. A direct result of this is the airy, light, transparent and open feel of the building. Lightness of touch, not being stuffy and over-bureaucratic, transparency and openness are also the ideals of the Judiciary of the New South Africa.
Urban design, planning, architecture and interior architecture are not seen as separate processes but as one single unified process.
The project is an ensemble of modest but dignified new buildings with some of the older built structures retained. It is non-exclusive in the sense that even a minor building like the existing and adjacent transformer house is brought into compositional play to create a sense of enclosure for the recreational garden for the staff at the rear. The notorious prison Blocks 4 and 5 are opened up as museums of history with permanent as well as periodically changing exhibitions of topical interest. It is integrated with the Court complex by a gently ascending series of steps, intended not to present a monumental building on a podium but to provide the possibility for a gentle promenade. The gentle African Steps flow into the foyer then becomes the exhibition gallery to be viewed from inside and outside from the steps and eventually culminating in the library. The old Isolation Block in front of the present foyer was demolished to make way for the forecourt and the brick from which it was built recycled to provide a rough wall surface for the court chamber, creating a robust hybrid,as South Africa is just such a hybrid.
Constructional systems are straight forward. So is the design of the landscape. The passive cooling system is a feature of pride for the client.
The administrative block serves as a buffer or rather a transition between the public exhibition area and the judges’ chambers. The art works in the court are integral to the space, both internal and external and the fabric of the building. They present an inverse narrative of classical arcadia where poets and philosophers strolled through nature reflecting on the nature of art. The judiciary is offered opportunity for reflecting on society as they move through arts collections. The possibilities this project offers for prodigious interpretation are immense.


SOUTH AFRICAN EMBASSY, BERLIN
For the Department of Public Works and the Department of Foreign Affairs
MMA Architects cc

A commission of this type is littered with conceptual pitfalls, not least the temptation to revert to the excessive use of Afro-centric ornament and/or pastiche, when a South African architecture itself is so illusive to define. It was considered that the architects were successful in advancing South Africa’s image in Germany through sophisticated architecture that recognizes the industrialized world context while giving subtle hints of its origins. It is a quiet, well mannered building that is likely to adequately sustain its purpose as a diplomatic outpost.
This is the first time a building outside South Africa has been submitted to the South African Institute of Architects for an award. Also, it is one of the first government buildings since the New South Africa to be built out of the country. So it was with a certain amount of optimism as well as some caution that we went to visit it.
The site is wonderful. It is one of a row of embassy and consular sites in the heart of the old diplomatic quarter of the capital Berlin and overlooks the Tiergarten.
Essentially an embassy is an administrative building that, at the same time showcases a country internationally. This building does not disappoint on either count. Rather, it exceeds expectations in successfully showcasing South African architecture and South Africa as a sophisticated country in Germany, one of the most technically advanced countries of the world.
The building is not trying to falsely put across an image of a South Africa as something that we are not. It is restrained and one is left with a feeling of pride and reassurance that we can hold our heads up anywhere in the world: ‘a sense of optimism for success’, as the architect’s submission describes it.
As a venue for public functions, it is well planned. In Northern Europe so many buildings are dark and internal. In contrast, the approach path which leads one into the reception area of this African building in turn leads onto a sunlit courtyard. And the formal function room at one side of this courtyard can open onto a paved external garden surrounded by trees.
In an understated way one is exposed to African sculpture, materials, art and applied decoration which have all been successfully integrated to create an African atmosphere in a sophisticated building.
The detailing is excellent throughout. The South African Government was fortunate to have architects who have been trained and have gained experience in Germany and, with their German colleagues, were able to meet not only the South African but also the demanding German standards and building regulations to which the building has carefully adhered.
The delightful roof garden (that even includes nesting places for swallows) is used each week during summer for an after office hours braai and get-together. The Counsellor responsible for the building told how much this event was enjoyed by all the staff, both South African and German.
As the entry submission states, ‘The diversity and richness of the sources from which we drew our inspiration, seems to be the one unifying factor which could point towards defining our South African Architectural identity. This we hoped would be the attribute this Embassy building would be associated with.’
The architects have been successful in the search they set themselves for a ‘South African design spirit.’
The South African Embassy Berlin, by MMA Architects for the user-client The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Public Works is a worthy recipient of the SAIA Award for Excellence.