INDUSTRY THOUGHTS ON SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE
Having been running for 3 years now, the AfriSam-SAIA awards have gained
momentum. The final closing date of 20 March for the 2014 award is around
the corner, leaving just a few more days for eligible entries to be submitted for
consideration.
Apart from the opportunity to raise awareness on the pressing issue of
sustainability in the built environment, the entrants not only get a chance to
show their talents, but receive personal and professional recognition from the
industry as well. The awards show-case qualifying designs on the dedicated
website and prove to the world the endless possibilities for sustainable
architecture.
With just a few more days to go before the closing date, we offer a round-up
of the latest comments from some of SA’s foremost architects and
sustainability thinkers.
Reon van der Wiel, whose Lebone II College design in Phokeng, North West,
won the AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture last year, believes
that for South Africa to have a healthy environment for future generations,
cities and buildings must be erected to consume less than they produce and
have a restorative relationship with their ecology.
“Sustainability and education are joined at the hip, as they are both concerned
with the future and future generations. For teaching to have lasting value, it
needs to embody sustainability. By the end of this century, it is projected there
will be four times more people living in Africa than there currently are. If this
happens, and we want our grandchildren to live in a healthy world, we need to
put these aspects into reality.”
As Joburg architect Hugh Fraser comments; “In spite of the length of the built
environment history, or perhaps because of, change comes very slowly;
usually forced rather than by choice. The evolution of technology and
proliferation of materials have allowed us to build buildings that are not always
appropriate for the climate in which they are placed. While the Climate
Change debate rages on, we should not be waiting to see the outcome, but
rather committing to the small changes that are possible while we still have a
choice.”
One of SA’s leading sustainability thinkers, Gita Goven, agrees. “The future
worth having will not come from doing the same things and expecting a
different outcome. We need to build collaborative and co-creative capacities
to find simple, relevant, real, cost effective and harmonising solutions. We
need to define what we want to sustain, why, for who' s benefit and how. We
then need to examine and generate our commitment to what is worth doing.”
Many people see design quality and sustainable design as two separate
issues. One tackles aesthetics, the other technical solutions. However, they
should be mutually reinforcing. It is not just how a building looks, but how it
functions and whether it meets the social, cultural, economic and
environmental needs of the people it serves.
For AfriSam’s CEO Stephan Olivier, the Awards are an important platform to
drive broad issues around sustainability. “We recognise that the next decade
is going to see major changes and innovations in architectural approaches to
the built environment, largely driven by social development needs. We aim to
encourage both established and emerging architects to focus on building in an
authentically sustainable way, in both the consumer and commercial arenas.”
Architects and developers have less than two weeks to submit entries for the
AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture. Entries close on Thursday
20 March 2014 at 12h00 – full entry criteria and forms can be found on the
website www.tmrw.co.za
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