A team of four BTech Architectural students have been awarded second prize in the 2011 Murray & Roberts Des Baker competition at the annual Architectural Student Congress in Port Elizabeth…
A team of four BTech Architectural students have been awarded second prize in the 2011 Murray & Roberts Des Baker competition at the annual Architectural Student Congress in Port Elizabeth. The competition was open to universities across South Africa with the awards ceremony held at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
The long standing award was established in 1983 and named after the former executive chairman of Murray & Roberts and is endorsed by the South African Council for the Architectural Profession. The 2011 theme titled Sustainable Architecture in the Developing World Competition focused on redesigning an existing school in a rural or peri-urban area.
Architecture HOD and lecturer, Yashaen Luckan said: “This is the second consecutive year that DUT has achieved second place and it is our intention to win the 2012 competition. We intend to compete for the Berkley international essay writing award, which we would base on the theoretical and conceptual framework that informed the Des Baker competition design. The Des Baker competition’s sub-theme from Cradle to Grade 6 focused on the early childhood development to the senior phase. Entries were judged by prominent architects and academics in the field and DUT architectural team has been awarded a cash prize along with architecture software.”
Team spokesman, Murray Hardman said: “The underlying theoretical framework that supported the design proposal was sustainability and contextualism theory which took into consideration the social, economic and environmental factors relating to the given context. The findings of the study influenced the proposal of including a facility for skills development and marketing of local crafts to tourists with recycling and permaculture projects.”
The primary school, Escola Primaria Completa Ponta D’Ouro, is situated within a disadvantaged community on the coast of Mozambique, in an area that has high tourist traffic and is in dire need of an infrastructural revamp. Low technology building solutions were proposed to take full advantage of the locally available resources and the limited skills available. The local vernacular was analysed and a new solution was developed to create an elegant built form which related to its surrounding context. The architectural design also included a solar water heater, a fruit dryer and an edible landscape as a solution to the children’s poor nutrition. Fruit trees were also considered as a source for natural dyes for arts and crafts. The team has also introduced a ventilated digester with fly trap, an improved latrine system with recycled tyres used as the base of the septic tank.
Beyond Grade 7, education opportunities in the community are non-existent. Students either discontinue their education or relocate to Maputo to further their secondary education. The DUT architectural team has launched a Facebook page to raise support for the project, as a long term social responsibility cause, through possible partnerships with civic organisations and the university community.
To support the initiative join the Kids in need – Escola Primaria Completa Ponta D’Ouro group on Facebook.
Second place winners of the Des Baker Sustainable Architecture in the Developing World Competition.
From top left, DUT BTech Architecture students Bruce Boxshall-Smith, Nhlamulo Ngobeni, Murray Hardman and Michael Blumrick
