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From all sides : Views of the cardboard recyclers facility in Durban's inner city. -
A cardboard recycler transporting her wares : Dennis-Lee Stols's award-winning presentation on socially responsible urban development which takes the form of a recycling facility for the cardboard recyclers of Durban's inner city. -
Multi-purpose and multi-material : The building housed a variety of functions such as packing facilities and meeting rooms, while working with a low cost, sustainable palette of materials -
The devil's in the detail : A close-up of the multi-volume industrial structure where it meets the existing city structure. -
Recyclers facility : Mike Ingram (Corobrik), Dennis-Lee Stols and Mthembeni Mkhize (UKZN) with the awarded model of the recyclers facility for the inner city. -
Police precinct : Michael Madden, Mike Ingram (Corobrik) and David Sharkey with their model of a police HQ and urban precinct. -
Transport interchange : Geoffrey Richards's model of his project, which explored a major transport interchange in the city of Durban.
WORDS Georgie Chennells
The KwaZulu-Natal leg of the Corobrik Architectural Student of the Year Award celebrated projects that explored Durban’s inner city.
The recent Corobrik Architectural Student of the Year Award has been under the spotlight as top students from architectural learning institutions in South Africa are identified and celebrated.
The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) awards evening was held at the KZN Institute for Architecture’s premises in Durban, where the top five projects from the University of KZN were exhibited. Local architects, lecturers and supporters of the industry turned up to find out who would represent the province at a national level in the final round of the awards programme, while sipping and socialising before speeches.
The top student awarded was Dennis-Lee Stols, whose project dealt with social and architectural issues surrounding Durban’s inner city cardboard recyclers, a network of insurgents in the city whose “make-do” attitudes and actions inspired him. Working closely with local award-winning NPO Asiye eTafuleni, Deniis spent the past two years investigating the urban challenges highlighted by the group’s endeavours. He was also inspired by Jan Gehl’s book Life Between Buildings and the questions raised about public space, its uses and definitions.
The result was a 5 500 square metre facility to support the recyclers’ activities and promote their integration and identity within the city. This incorporated a framework of industrial steel, zig-zag roofs and various modular structures from a palette of brickwork, concrete blocks and plywood. “It’s not about romanticising poverty; it’s more about celebrating the way people are actually doing things” said Dennis.
Joint second place for the award was shared by David Sharkey and Michael Madden. David’s project explored the stress levels of people negotiating the city and sought an urban solution through the design of public space and transport interchanges several city-blocks wide. Michael’s work explored perceptions of the police, physical security and public openness, which resulted in the design of a new regional headquarters for the SAPS, including a fallen officer’s memorial park.
Other impressive projects on display investigated various architectural solutions to the dearth of creative spaces in the inner city (by Cameron Finnie) and new possibilities for urban transport networks (by Geoffrey Richards).
What’s remarkable about this exhibition is its engagement with issues that are quite directly relevant to the local architectural and design scene. Viewers came away with some food for thought as well as having seen some inspiring visions for Durban’s inner city.
The exhibition will be available online through the KZNIA in 2013. See www.kznia.org.za for more details.
