Yvonne Brecher and Tarryn Michael of the University of Witwatersrand have shared the regional award of Corobrik’s 27th Architectural Student of the Year Award.   Their projects confirm that the architects of tomorrow are not only pushing the boundaries of design, but are doing so cognizant of their transformative impact, creating beautiful places and spaces that are inclusive, relevant, exciting and importantly with low environmental impacts.

Speaking at the University, Allin Dangers, Director of Sales, Inland Region, said that during more than a quarter of a century of sponsoring this award, Corobrik had seen a change in architectural approach where, in satisfying the clients brief, economic and social factors pervaded to one where environmental sustainability issues enjoyed equal consideration. In recent years, students had not only demonstrated a growing awareness of the need to contribute towards sustainable development but also an increasing awareness of the important technological advances that would ensure that the future of architecture was closely linked with energy and water conservation to minimize the environmental impacts of future residential and commercial developments.

With Yvonne Brecher and Tarryn Michael sharing the first prize this year there was no second prize. Both Yvonne Brecher and Tarryn Michael will receive a prize of R7 000 in cash.
In third place Adam van den Houten with his project Space Invaders:  Appropriating a Youth Centre, illustrated that the days when the aesthetics of architecture could be divorced from key sustainability issues were gone.  

Van den Houten’s thesis looks at rethinking the youth centre in South Africa by offering a facility for Street Art, Skateboarding, Breakdancing and Parkour. He aimed to use these as the drivers in designing a youth centre for Newtown North providing recreational and vocational opportunities for youngsters but which is also representative of them.

Over the years, the awards programme has not only facilitated an ongoing discourse about what constitutes good architecture but have also helped push the boundaries of thinking on interventions and specification for creating buildings able to remain relevant well into the future. Tonight’s winners show that the architects of tomorrow are more than up to the job.”

Yvonne Brecher’s entry is entitled ‘Main Reef Opera and Choral Chamber’ in which she exposes the gold mining landscape.

Brecher says she has explored the relationship between above and below surface, to unlock their coexistence. From this she proposes an Opera and Choral Chamber to celebrate music and song within a former mineshaft in Boksburg is to set up an essential argument about the historical establishment of the Witwatersrand.

“The mined landscape was developed and constructed by man with intense toil. The remnants on the surface leaves a haunting trail of deep, dark memories that recalls the discovery of gold and the extraction of ore as foundation upon which urban settlement is built on,” says Brecher.

In essence, by inserting the high-end cultural world of choral and operatic into the local soil of an exposed mining network is to connect the city above with the mines below and to engage with the forgotten ghosts of the underground.

In contrast Tarryn Michael’s thesis is entitled ‘Party Sanctuary’,  She says Boksburg’s landscape is home to many left-over, forgotten, and wasteful spaces which offer no return.   She has explored the elusive landscapes, and suggests that nature should return.

In her research she has also explored the theory of ‘liminality’ to understand the notions related to event. The three narratives, within this dissertation, that marry this theory are: the ‘cloud’ (club), the ‘wetland’ and the ‘landscape’.

She questions whether the youth culture of Johannesburg in an understated city on the East Rand of Gauteng host a public space that caters for different user groups? Can this public space be appropriated for events? Can this public space supply Johannesburg with a definition for a ‘beach’ in a landlocked city?

The architecture she proposes is to conjure a sense of liberty and choice within the users and the role of architecture is to create a platform for diversity. The design aims to construct a place where society can re-create itself; where nature can reconcile the damaged environment; and where event can serve to produce ephemeral architecture to make [otheryoungerbettergreener] worlds.

Yvonne Brecher will represent the University of the Witwatersrand at is the national finals. At the 27th National Student Architect awards function in Johannesburg, the overall winner will receive a prize of R50 000.

Dangers said that students that had participated for this year’s awards and not least, Lana Simson who had won a R3 000 prize for best use of clay masonry, had demonstrated their architectural competencies and were ready for the challenges of their profession.

Simson’s entry Cannabis Exchange is designed to Empower rural communities through the legal trade and production of Cannabis plant products.  She demonstrated how hemp could be used in the construction of the building.  Simson said, “The building complex serves to process, exchange and exhibit the craft of hemp production from the raw material to the finished product. In the context of the project it was appropriate to explore the use of hemp bricks as an alternate to clay brick. The bricks are a mixture of lime, water and hemp hurds, creating a strong, light and durable building material from a natural renewable resource.”

Allin Dangers commenting on Simson’s innovation noted that brick in its different guises had remained relevant over time largely because of its format, ease of use and flexibility in design and application. Hemp bricks had fulfilled this requirement, were right in the context of the project and well addressed a number of environmental considerations at the same time.

“Brick is really a wonderful medium and its history in architecture evokes authenticity and desirability” added Dangers. “It has however been interesting to see how the pursuit of greater sustainability has helped bring to the fore the many fine qualities that make clay brick uniquely competent and relevant for securing a more sustainable future in South Africa. Durability, longevity, inertness and chemical properties recognized for meeting all necessary requirements for healthy living are amongst them but probably most topical is the contribution of clay bricks natural thermal performance properties to thermal comfort and low cooling and heating energy usage under South Africa’s climatic conditions. Conventional double skin brickwork in compliance with SANS 204 Energy Standards for the climatic zone well assures superior thermal efficiency cost effectively and with low lifecycle impacts and costs. Add incombustibility, natural sound insulation qualities, reusability and recyclability to the mix and clay brick construction, particularly with maintenance free qualities face bricks that incur no future carbon debt, and clay brick presents as both relevant and desirable for securing a more sustainable future.”
He added that Corobrik would continue to build value into the sustainable qualities of its products through the ongoing application of international best practices and programmes to drive down carbon emissions this including the wider use of cleaner burning fuels and the employment of ISO14001 Environmental Management Systems at its operations.