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. 

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Often students make the most interesting design work, free of the limitations and pressures of clients and commercial success. All too often though, these projects are only seen by teachers, examiners and fellow students, which is why VISI are particularly excited about this exhibition.

“It is not only the way the architectural solutions are dealt with that is inspiring,” says architect Johann Slee, who put together the exhibition. “But also the way the projects are presented; skillful hand-drawn renderings (a dying art) and impressive mind-blowing digital visualisations that will take their work into the future.”

Browse the teasers above and make sure to get down to the exhibition – these are the talents who will drive the future of South African architecture!

Slee Gallery, 101 Dorp Street, Stellenbosch, 021 887 3385, gallery@slee.co.za

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For the past five years, the Thuthuka Jewellery Development Skills Programme has sought to encourage high-quality design and manufacturing among jewellery students, thereby aiding them in pursuing a career in the industry. Students from previously marginalised communities in particular are assisted, given the financial hurdle of studying jewellery manufacture.

The awards were introduced as an incentive in the programme and prizes include jewellery making equipment from the Department of Arts and Culture and the Jewellery Council of South Africa. The overall winner also wins a R10 000 bursary for further study sponsored by the Department of Arts and Culture.

We say the future of South Africa’s jewellery design is bright and bling!

More about Thuthuka.

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• Portuguese company Amorim recently spearheaded a project to create a collection of cork objects. Materia produced 22 objects by 10 designers from across the globe. We love the Par salt- and peppershakers by Nendo. Often used as the hidden stopper in the base of salt- and peppershakers, this historic use is celebrated in their design.  www.materia.amorim.com

• Mr Wombles table lamp, R1250 by Jonathan Fundudis and David Holgreaves for Snapp. The lamp is made from agglomerated cork.

Snapp 011 450 2770, www.snappdesign.com

• The corkers by Israeli design studio Monkey Business is a collection of animal parts that bring bottle corks to life. Available in six designs bear, buffalo, bunny, crow, deer and monkey, each pack (R50) includes the body parts required to make one ‘corker’.

BigBlue 011 880 3994, 021 417 7777 www.bigblue.co.za

• Laurie Wiid van Heerden creates these immaculate cork and ceramic bowls as well as drinking glasses. Cork and ceramic bowl set R1 400 for 3 sizes. R220 per glass

Wiid 072 494 5914, www.wiiddesign.co.za

VISI 60 is on sale now – get it while it’s hot.

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Through their 25 year sponsorship of the event, Meyer said that Corobrik had had a front row seat when it came to witnessing the evolution of South Africa’s architectural profession and the important role architects play as custodians of our built environment.

“25 years ago, these awards were created to promote excellence in design and to acknowledge emerging talent among architectural students. Today, the challenges facing architects and ultimately the students who will be the future crafters of our cities’ built environments is increasingly complex, demanding a competence in art, tectonics, science, building regulations, socio-economics and finance, in order to come up with design solutions that fit the budget, massage or engage the visual senses, inspire and address the social and environmental issues of the day”.

This year’s winner, Clifford Gouws, through his project ‘Magazine Hill: A Weathered Continuum’ concentrates on an abandoned historical military site on Magazine Hill in Pretoria. The site consists of two underground ammunition magazines and five bomb shelters and ammunition factories – all structures representing an era of unrest in South Africa. In 1945, a mysterious explosion of the Central Magazine scarred the face of Magazine Hill, abruptly stopping all activities on the site, trapping architecture in time.

The project places contemporary commemorative architecture under the limelight, criticizing the static notion of heritage commemoration through the typologies of museums and memorials. Gouws’ architectural response focuses on commemoration through everyday use. A brass foundry is proposed to recycle the spent ammunition shells of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), thereby introducing brass artists as a public interface. Where ammunition was once produced, it will now be reduced, exposing different layers of the past by reinstating a connection between architecture and time.

Professor Karel Bakker from the University of Pretoria described the winning project as a strong, adaptive re-use design that recycled an industrial foundry which has a contentious history. “It commemorates an event, conserves embodied energy, revives traditional techniques and provides work opportunities, being simultaneously rich in historic references and extremely contemporary in expression that is contextually rooted.  The design creates spaces and makes place for, and provides a rich cultural destination for Tshwane.”

Gouws took home a prize of R50 000 from Corobrik to add to his regional winnings of R6 000.

The judging panel comprised President of the KwaZulu-Natal Institute for Architecture, Nina Saunders, Senior Researcher, Sustainable Human Settlements at the Built-Environment Unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research at Pretoria University, Architect Dr Amira Osman and award winning architect Jeremy Rose of Mashabane Rose Architects.

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“The aim of the brief was to expose students to construction materials like timber, glass, metal, concrete, tiling and finishes as part of the Applied Technology course in Interior Design,” says lecturer Etienne Du Plooy. “The creation of garments allowed the students to apply their theoretical knowledge and explore the qualities of materials through practical application.”

Entitled “Second Skin”, the show will see each of the 25 students modelling their own garment inspired by anything from technology, nature and architecture to Lady Gaga and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey. The project exposed the students to the idea of the skin and the human body, and the relationship they have to the built environment, hence the title of the show.

Selections Warehouse supplied the students with an array of industrial materials to create their futuristic get-ups. According to Etienne, audience members can look forward to a woven, damp-proof membrane dress covered in timber, egg-shaped structures and a suit of metal flashing with integrated LED lighting.

The Inscape Design College Second Skin Fashion Show takes place tonight from 7.30pm. The event will be held at Wembley II, the second phase of the Wembley Square development.

More information: http://secondskinfashionshow.tumblr.com/, +27 (0)21 462-6915

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Anyone on the hunt for new design talent should consider this a one-stop shop. Over the course of the weekend, six teams of industrial design students will exhibit their work, so if thoughtful design gets you going, this is the place to be.

Furniture fundi? Be sure to have a peek at Five45’s multifunctional couch/benches, Smac Harry’s organizational units and Left Right Design’s Fit’it flat-pack table and chair sets – all clever, space-saving pieces that are easy on the eye too.

Those into gizmos and gadgetry will be equally impressed, what with Because 789’s repurposed wood, one-of-a-kind flashsticks, Take Cover’s Frag Bag (which makes carting your computer around a whole lot easier and more stylish) and Root Design Studio’s Sentinel – a pepper-spray armband which promises peace of mind for outdoor adventurers.

The exhibition is open until Saturday at 1 Hare Avenue Woodstock.

More information: 5kshow.wordpress.com, silviaremotti@gmail.com

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