Two schools, three houses, a university and a farm: these are the structures that captured the imagination of the assessment panel for this year’s Cape architecture awards.
Open to all buildings of every scale, type and location in the Western Cape, 54 entries were received (projects are submitted, with fees) of which 24 were shortlisted for site visits. The submissions included a book submission and heritage impact assessment (HIA) and were judged based on criteria suggested by the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA) as well as the knowledge of the panel members: Karel Bakker, Derick Henstra, Mike Louw, Simmy Peerutin, Alex Robertson and Carin Smuts.
The judging process took all aspects of the design process into account, from responding to the client brief to overcoming budget and programming constraints. Sustainable design interventions and energy-efficiency measures were considered integral to any project as standard practice.
Entries continued to be dominated by private residential homes. The desire for future submissions is to see more social responsibility projects, more low-income housing projects, more commercial projects, some urban design projects, and more books and HIAs that best represent the context, products and skills of the Western Cape.
“In times of recession, it is very encouraging to see such a high level of design and creativity, despite the difficulties encountered by built environment professionals over the last few years. The winning projects have all been designed sensitively and in context with interesting and creative solutions to their very different briefs,” said CIA president Simmy Peerutin.
“With three education sector winners on the list this year, it is good to see emphasis placed on creating extraordinary places for learning, and a welcome contrast to the high-end residential sector submissions that have tended to dominate recent years.”
The CIA Award for Architecture winners will go on to compete against the winning projects from all 11 regions in the national SAIA Awards next year.
The winning Cape projects are:
Springfield Pre-School Campus, Fra Angelico Art Centre and Jasper Walsh Art Gallery
Charlotte Chamberlain & Nicola Irving Architect
House at Johannesdal
Henri Comrie Architect & Urban Designer
Renewal & Redevelopment for Agriculture & Tourism Babylonstoren Farm
Malherbe Rust Architects
House Van der Merwe & Coetzee
Meyer & Vorster Architects, Urban Designers & Interior Designers
Unisa Phase 2
MSa michele sandilands architects
New Additions at St Cyprian’s School
Noero Wolff & Noero Architects
De Wet 34, Bantry Bay
SAOTA – Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects
