Figures released recently rank South Africa 81 out of 96 countries when measuring the ratio of architects to the general population.
Whether we need more architects or not depends on who you talk to, but it does reveal the level of our society’s attitude towards the quality of our built environment.
The virus of ugliness that pervades much of our suburbia is not restricted to South Africa; it characterises development around the world.
Despite this, good architectural work has emerged from around the country during the past decade. Architecture clearly does not exist in a vacuum and the shifting sands of patronage within the country have influenced the nature and quality of buildings.
Like world music, regional architecture is defined very much by place. The much-vaunted term ‘South African architecture” is elusive and would be difficult to define characteristically.
We have a trove of elements at our disposal, including climate, landscape, a wide choice of materials available and space, although this is coming under pressure. South Africa’s contribution to the Phaidon Atlas of World Architecture outweighs its size and reputation.
Good buildings can be evaluated by region, architect or type. Ironically, our tortured history has provided much opportunity for building expression.
Among the symbols of the past decade would be the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg (designworkshopsa / Urban Solutions), the Apartheid Museum (Mashabane Rose / GAPP / Bannie Britz et al) and Red Location Museum of the People’s Struggle in Port Elizabeth (Noero Wolff Architects), which won the Royal Institute of British Architects Lubetkin Prize in 2006.
In a similarly internationally re-cognised project the Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre designed by Peter Rich was awarded World Building of the Year for 2009 in Barcelona this year.
This building is a sensitive embodiment of building and landscape that is a common thread defining South African work. Sarah Calburn’s Fynbos House in Betty’s Bay is a powerful response to her approach of ‘the mutually deforming relationship between building and landscape”. Continuing this theme, Freedom Park (Mashabane Rose) in Pretoria integrates our human history with an intriguing route through the landscape.
Domestic architecture is often at the vanguard of architectural expression. Among powerful responses to site and sea are Igoda View House in East London and the New Beach House in Plettenberg Bay, both designed by designworkshopsa, which works out of Durban.
In Pretoria Comrie + Wilkinson’s House Rosa continues a long history of architecture responding to that city’s climate. Their simple and elegant design continues in their Chapel of Light in Vanderbijlpark.
In the Cape Roelof Uytenbogaardt’s house in Kommetjie and his Steinkopf Community Centre (1978) and Gawie Fagan’s houses in Camps Bay and Langebaan have defined a local genre that is both unique and stimulating.
Van der Merwe Miszewski Architects are renowned for their Tree House in Cape Town and also, on a large scale, their contribution to the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
As Johannesburg rediscovers itself, small pockets of rehabilitation are emerging. This includes Arts on Main and 44 Stanley Avenue in Auckland Park.
As the pressures of energy force buildings to become more responsible, the challenges that face architects could be used as an opportunity for responsive design. Although South Africa does not sit high on the palette of world architecture, it’s not because of a lack of talent.