Transformed car garage reactivates space
Nomos redesigned an existing car repair shop to become an affordable house.
News
15 Minute City model gains ground
The 15 Minute City model is the third project to ever win the Obel Award, which is an international prize presented to architectural projects that contribute to society. The model was developed by Professor Carlos Moreno and his team.
Trends in Urbanism
As an architect, Michael Eliason advocates for dense, green, bike-friendly, family-friendly cities with ample social housing and open space. He sees five influential trends in liveable and innovative cities. 1. Brownfields to eco districts European cities have been doing brownfield redevelopment — a strategy of urban recompaction instead of sprawl — for decades. The Dutch […]
South African Architectural firm wins international Docomono award
Mayat Hart Architects and Heritage Consultants from Johannesburg recently won in the category Educating Practices at the international 16th Docomono Rehabilitation Award (DRAW21). This category refers to pioneering studies and low budget interventions that have contributed to raising awareness of the need to preserve modernist architecture in challenging locations and conditions. Mayat Hart restored Aiton […]
Africa as Lab of the Future
In Africa one can also experiment with curricula and organizational structures more so than what is possible in Europe. She also emphasizes the importance to embrace diversity and at the same time to acknowledge individual skills and habits. However, she points out that people do not know how to do this and that “civicness” should be taught.
Q and A with Katherine Robinson, Stellenbosch Municipality’s new Senior Heritage Planner
Stellenbosch Municipality recently appointed Katherine Robinson as Senior Heritage Planner. She joined the Department of Planning and Economic Development in February 2021. Stellenbosch Heritage Foundation asked Katherine a few questions about her interest in heritage and her new position. Q: You have worked for several years with heritage related issues. Why Heritage? Was it a […]
New chair for Stellenbosch Heritage Foundation
Lauren Buchanan, newly elected chair of the Stellenbosch Heritage Foundation, sees the Foundation become more widely and pro-actively involved in the broader community of Stellenbosch. Lauren has been on the Foundation’s executive committee for the past three years and is also involved with projects for the national Heritage Association of South Africa. She has just […]
Heritage under fire
In the past years, heritage and its reciprocal relationship with society have been in the news and also circulates in everyday conversations. Again, so when the recent fire in Cape Town destroyed amongst others the University of Cape Town’s Jagger Reading Room and significant parts of the library, Fuller House, Cadboll House, Mostert’s Mill, hectares […]
April fires
In April the restoration of the Bloemfontein City Hall, which was gutted by a fire in 2017, was completed. Mangaung Metro Municipality formed a task team with Roodt Architects to manage the restoration project. Architect Anton Roodt explained that the restored building looks very similar to the original building, which was the agreed upon purpose […]
A historical garden in Stellenbosch
Charles and Dorothy Johnman were conservationists at heart (www.johnman.co.za). They wished that their house in Herte street to be a home for music and that future generations will also enjoy the garden. When Dorothy died in 1995, she left her house and beautiful garden in the middle of historic Stellenbosch for use by future generations. […]
Lanquedoc building nominated for Provincial Heritage status
Stellenbosch Heritage Foundation nominated a building in Lanquedoc for Provincial Heritage status. Several generations have shared their lives in various ways with the Old Shop, as it is affectionately called. This building was designed in the late 1800’s by Sir Herbert Baker as part of a bigger project when Rhodes commissioned him to plan a […]
2021 Pritzker Prize underlines shift in architecture
The 2021 Pritzker Prize, architecture’s equivalent to the Nobel Prize, to Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal underlines a gradual, ongoing shift in architecture. Lacaton and Vassal’s design philosophy includes the Never Demolish principle, which they coined. Architectural design begins inside the existing space and transforms and expands what is already there – the opposite of […]