Accessibility and mobility in towns and cities are international issues and increasingly so becoming burning issues to solve for town planners as more and more people flock from rural areas to larger towns and cities. Accessibility and mobility can never be solved in...
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Adam Small festival in Pniël is highly recommended
Trevor Manual provides the audience with a wake-up call The recent (21 – 23 Februarie) Adam Small festival in Pniël impressed audiences with a unique and varied programme, which was compiled by Darryl Earl Davids and presented by the Pniël museum. Highlights included...
The benefits of improving a public space – such as die Braak
Stellenbosch is a town and not a city, but it is worthwhile to take note of the wealth of newly published research and incentives that focus on improving urban areas. (A definition for the word city is somewhat elusive and, as Sudjic Deyan explains in his fascinating...
The sweetness of an intelligent design remains
Benjamin Franklin presumably said that "the bitterness of poor quality remains long after we forget the sweetness of a low price". This saying is turned upside down in the design of a family home which won the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) 's award for...
Tracing the patterns of cultural heritage and ancestral homelands
Two research publications traced the ancient patterns of cultural heritage and the location of ancestral homelands to Southern Africa and in doing so, focused international attention on Southern Africa. A team of researchers from the African Centre for Coastal...
Books
Unstitching Rex Trueform: The Story of an African Factory A book that follows the story of a Cape Town building that housed a clothing manufacturer, Rex Trueform, received its second prestigious award. Unstitching Rex Trueform: The Story of an African Factory, by Ilze...
Stirling prize awarded for community housing in Norwich
Goldsmith Street, a community housing project in Norwich, wins this year's prestigious Stirling Prize for British Architecture. This is the first time in history that the prize has been awarded for social housing – or for a street, according to some commentators. The...
Stellenbosch Municipality’s Heritage Inventory and Conservation Management Plan receive prestigious awards
The Stellenbosch Municipality's Heritage Survey and Conservation Management Plan have just won the Presidential Award of the Institute of Landscape Architecture (ILASA). In response to this honour, the mayor, Advocate Gesie van Deventer, has said that it is...
68 Jonkershoek House by Gallagher Lourens Architects
“We want light, light and more light, we want to be aware of the mountains around us and we want to still enjoy relaxing under the huge Tipuana tree in the back garden. We live close to the earth, we are not clinical and we prefer the texture to color.” The brief was...
Explore the potential of the Braak
The mayor of Stellenbosch, Adv. Gesie van Deventer invited the inhabitants of the wider Stellenbosch area in a recent newsletter to “begin a public participation process so that we can gather the inputs and the suggestions from the broader community about how the...
Atterbury moves into historic building in Dorp street
La Gratitude Manor House in Dorp street, one of the most prominent and second oldest building in Stellenbosch, became the head office of developer Atterbury. La Gratitude is also a national monument. According to its Western Cape development head, Gerrit van den Berg,...
Cutting edge plans to improve quality of life in city neighbourhood
The company, Sidewalk Labs, recently submitted its updated, innovative and futuristic masterplan to transform two neighbourhoods in Toronto's waterfront. If the masterplan is accepted, the implementation of the plan in these neighbourhoods will be the pilot of a...
New World Heritage sites
The World Heritage Committee recently attributed world heritage status to 29 new sites so that the list of world heritage sites now contains 1121 entries from around the world. The World Heritage Committee consists of representatives of the United Nations Educational,...
African cities of the future
In May an international conference, the Forum for Sustainable Construction, was hosted by the American University in Cairo. The conference was sponsored by LafargeHolcim, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of cement. According to Graham Wood the conference was...
New roads must make sense
Lees hier oor Stellenbosch se paaie.
Development upsets Jamestown
Talle inwoners van Jamestown het verlede week hulle ontevredenheid met die voorgestelde ontwikkeling van 55 wooneenhede in die Blaauwklippen on Rivierbehuisingskompleks op 'n vergadering van inwoners en ander belanghebbendes uitgespreek. Lees meer.
Thousands sign petition
Meer as 4000 mense het al 'n petisie, Save the Square, geteken...lees meer.
Possible freeway upsets residents
Inwoners van Brandwacht en Paradyskloof is bekommerd oor die moontlike bou van 'n groot deurpad deur die woonbuurte teen die hange van Stellenboschberg. Lees verder.
Fires and historical buildings: Notre-Dame and Bloemfontein City Hall
The recent fire that consumed the roof and elements of the Notre-Dame cathedral reached the headlines of most international news sites. Although the nature of the damage to the interior of the cathedral is still uncertain, the building was not completely destroyed by...
The principles feeding into Stellenbosch Municipality’s Spatial Development Framework
The previous newsletter referred to Stellenbosch Municipality’s draft Spatial Development Framework, which is open for public comment until May. The preamble to this framework explains that growth and development of settlements is inevitable and that certain...
A Boston suburb’s new law to protect bicycle lanes
The city council of Cambridge, the university suburb of Boston, passed a new law on the 8th of April that mandates the addition of bicycle lanes on all streets due for upgrades. Although this process will happen slowly, Cambridge is now the most progressive cycling...
Academic African focus on an African city
Professor António Tomás’ book, In the skin of the city: Luanda or the dialectics of Spatial transformation, will soon be published by Duke University Press. According to Professor Tomás, who recently had a talk at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies...
Stellenbosch Spatial Development Framework just launched
In the past week, Stellenbosch Municipality has published a draft spatial development framework. There is now an opportunity for public comment before the framework is submitted to the Council for final approval in May. It is too early to comment in detail on the full...
What do we know about early Stellenbosch history?
When and where did the human story begin? A short essay by Dr Jannette Deacon for the Stellenbosch Heritage Foundation describes what we currently know about the archaeology and history of the Stone Age people who lived in the vicinity of Stellenbosch and nearby...
Arata Isozaki receives highest reward in architecture
The Japanese architect, Arata Isosaki, has received this profession’s highest international reward, the 2019 Pritzker Architecture Price. The fact that he grew up close to the bombed city, Hiroshima, facilitated the young Isozaki’s ideas on how to rebuild cities and...
Fight won to prevent development of Maiden’s Cove heritage site
A planned development at Maiden’s Cove, that included 54 bungalows, a boutique hotel with 100 rooms as well as retail and restaurant spaces, was stopped in court. Attorney Bill Gundelfinger contested the sale of the Maiden cove site to Vunani Capital. Judge President,...
Books to read during autumn
Three recently published books can inspire readers during the lengthening autumn evenings. Constance: One Road to Take – The Life and Photography of Constance Stuart Larrabee (1914-2000) by Peter Elliot, published independently Walter Gropius: Visionary Founder of the...
Who lived in the Stellenbosch Winelands before 1652
This short essay describes what is currently known about the archaeology and history of the Stone Age people who lived in the vicinity of Stellenbosch and adjacent Winelands in the Western Cape before European colonisation. When and where did the human story begin?...
Protected Area Management Plan for the Boland Mountain Complex
Boland Mountain Complex - Part of the CAPE FLORAL REGION PROTECTED AREAS WORLD HERITAGE SITE. Western Cape, South Africa Protected Area Management Plan 2019 - 2029
Kelvin Campbell lecture in Stellenbosch
Kelvin Campbell, an innovator and world leader in urban design, will be speaking in Stellenbosch about the challenges currently facing towns and cities all over the world, including South Africa, on 25 September. Campbell's lecture is important for anyone who wants to...