Open House Architecture

WORDS Lauren Shantall PHOTOS via oharchitecture.blogspot.com

She’s the key person, so to speak, of the Mother City’s sizeable architectural booty. Through her Open House tours, architect Ilze Wolff (who happens to be married to another architect, Heinrich Wolff) unlocks the doors to iconic structures, sites and private homes that members of the public – and even the architectural community – might otherwise never have been able to view in an intimate way.

Ilze has been running these tours since 2006. Past triumphs include the “Fagan Monograph”: well-orchestrated visits to landmark Gawie Fagan buildings accompanied by venerable local practitioners Gawie Fagan and his wife, Gwen. A coup in anyone’s terms, not just an architect’s.

There was never a doubt about Open House’s World Design Capital 2014 accreditation. Ilze is planning visits to factories in Salt River. The work of Andrews & Niegeman, who were responsible for the design of the Rex Trueform factory (1948) and the House of Monatic factory (1951), will be a particular highlight. The tours will also “raise questions about how contemporary practices of urban renewal engage or disengage with issues around gentrification and the deep histories of our urban realm,” she explains.

After that, she wants to review some examples of great architecture that house awesome art collections, in order to discuss the relationship between art and architecture. Anyone who admires the built environment and seeks to know it better should sign up now. The project’s website also carries a series of videos, produced and directed by Ilze, bound to please voyeurs and appease those with Fomo.

For more information and to book your spot on the tour, visit oharchitecture.com/tours or oharchitecture.blogspot.com.