Welcome to the GIfA Digital Newsletter

A fresh new perspective.

March 2022

JEWEL CITY

Description: Mixed-Use Urban Renewal | Location: Johannesburg | Client: Divercity Urban Property Fund

Architectural Practice: GASS Architecture Studios | Photographer: Louis van Zyl

It has never been easier to earn CPD points. From this month on, you can earn points from reading our Newsletter by simply clicking on the link at the very bottom, and answering 5 questions. 

Ref: Ignatius Du Plesis from @linework_drawing_workshop

27 November 2021 textiles through the Architectural eye.

We need to celebrate this day for the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women and also to call for gender equality urgently.Gender equality prevents violence against women and girls.Strategies and measures must often be available to compensate for women's historical and social disadvantages that prevent women from otherwise operating on a level playing field.

Equity leads to equality;

Society that value women and men as equal are safer and healthier.

GIfA is the place where equity and equality are respected; We ensure fairness and justice regarding benefits and needs for women and men.

Happy Women's Day.

Through my role as marketing convenor, I will aim to change the narrative and bring new energy to the profession that we so love. As an Advocate for Universal Design, I will take the opportunity to encourage an inclusive mindset, whereby as Architects, we ensure that our designs are not merely based on minimum standards, but rather, an embodiment of our responsibility to ensure fair and equitable access for all end users.You can look forward to new content, innovative changes, exciting training and development opportunities and value adding content, starting with our new newsletter. We hope that you enjoy this edition, and take the opportunity to heed the Calls To Action and become part of the conversation.  

#looking_forward_to_what_lies_ahead

#GIfA

CALL TO ACTION

We are looking for 6 GIfA contributors to helps us create diverse content from different perspectives. You can contribute with your photographic, writing, drawing, journaling or even doodling skills. To sweeten the deal, there are CPD points up for grabs. Click on the link to apply :)

There were issues raised by Architectural Professionals to GIfA on Plans Submissions Authorities. 

These issued were raised with SACAP and a number of recommendations were put forward in order to address these concerns going forward.  It was also proposed that GIfA Architects should be supported to work with the electronic plan submission system by collection and interpretation of problems being experienced by members, to provide input from the architectural profession for the improvement of the electronic plan submission system.

Quarterly Meetings to be held between the MMC, JHB Council Planning department and GIfA to ensure open, friendly communications.  

Upcoming initiatives will include:

• A tour to Lithuania to the cities of Kaunas or Kovna and Vilnius as well as different climates and environments which may include Poland or other Baltic states. We have already enlisted the support of the Lithuanian ambassador and touted a 5 year Schengen visa.
• Visit to an exhibition called “lutyens@lutyens”. Background: When the City of Johannesburg wanted to appoint Sir Edwin Lutyens to design JAG, our organisation GIfA, (the then Transvaal Institute of Architecture) objected strenuously but the Mayor’s casting vote won him the commission. This was also a time that Baker and Lutyens were still friends We have discovered a renowned international installation artist who is Lutyens’s grandnephew and will use this opportunity to ‘build bridges’ which has both a figurative and a literal significance for us BEP’s.
• Tours to galleries and museums designed by our members.

Plus, we are brewing an exclusive ‘worldwide first project’ that will only be disclosed to ACC members.  

CALL TO ACTION

Anyone interested in joining this committee should be in contact ASAP. We will have a maximum of 7 members and spots are filling in fast.

Purpose and Charge / Aims: 

• To recognise architectural work at a regional level that is setting a precedent in the creation of transformative, responsive and inclusive city environments
• To advance the architect’s role in innovating spatial and social justice through collaboration with adjacent professions   
• To build better relationships with government structures and to start lobbying for the importance of architects in the planning of housing developments and sustainable urban environments

Goals for 2022

• To use the database resulting from the 2020 COVID-19 CA+HR task team’s call for volunteers (architects, engineers and students) to promote GIfA membership through their participation and inclusion in planned events
• To create platforms that enable public and professional engagement  in order to educate and emphasise the significance of an architect’s role within society   
• To continue to build meaningful and strong relationships with various governmental departments

The Continuous Professional Development (CPD) committee is a subcommittee of the Education committee at GIfA. While Education committee focuses on matters of students and candidates training up to full registration, CPD committee focuses on the continuous professional development of registered persons. In terms of the Architectural Profession Act 2000 (Act 44 of 2000) all persons who are registered in a professional category, are required to undertake CPD over a 5-year cycle, in order to renew their registration. Registered persons are reminded that ‘the renewal date is determined by the year of current registration of the Registered Professional. CPD renewal must always take place on 1 January of the year indicated below, irrespective of the month of registration’ (www.sacapsa.com/services/continuing-professional-development ).

Registered persons my claim CPD credits in three different categories.This is further defined in the 'read more' link below, where you will find a table outlining this process.

The committee is made up of three members, and we meet monthly on a Wednesday. Others are welcome to join us as we forge ahead.

CALL TO ACTION

If you are a student who would like more information about studying architecture, or a young professional looking to get involved in conversations and projects aimed at creating positive change in the built environment then you are welcome to join the movement!

"Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle." - Napoleon Hill.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Don't miss out. We have an exciting line-up of events including educational, social, entertainment and networking opportunities.

FEATURED EVENTS

By focusing on architecture and related built environment case studies, the presentations will provide deeper insights into the cultural heritage spaces and places we occupy and debate how the design decision of the past influences current design. Amanda Breytenbach, academic and history lecturer for over 27 years, will chair the lecture series presentation. The series will align to CPD credits and be a collaborative initiative between GIFA, Universities and practices in South Africa.  

This first seminar will provide an overview of the current context and opportunities surrounding persons with disabilities and inclusion in the built environment. We will cover:

•historical and theoretical content including general disability awareness

•shared experiences from persons with disabilities.

•inclusive communication skills

•the seven principles of universal design and the practical application of these principles.

•the South African legislated framework that guides the implementation of inclusive goals.

•the built environment stakeholder and the professional team

•best practice examples showing successful inclusive built environments.

•an immersive experience with a simulated impairment

•an invitation to keep connected.

Click the link below to book.

Birthday Q & A

Krynauw Nel [24 February]

• Q: What is your favourite food? 
• A: Anything made at home. If from Uberfood- anything from  “Soup&Stuff”. And sushi. 
• Q: What is your favourite song? 
• A: Bach’s Air on a G-string, Elton John “This train don’t stop” and chamber music especially piano trios. 
• Q: If you could be anywhere else in the world – where would you be?
• A: Kruger Park or Iffley, a village in Oxford
• Q: What is the most impressive building in the world? 
• A: the gothic cathedral on the Île de France called Saint Chapelle.  How they build this with stone and glass in 1242 and 700  years before steel and glass in unthinkable 

• Books that changed my perceptions forever

  • “Guns, Germs  and  Steel: The fates of Societies” by Jared Diamond”. Anyone wanting to understand the “domination of the West” should read this.

  • “A BriefHistory of Time” by Stephen Hawking”

  • “A Course in Miracles” - a non-religious text and workbook on metaphysics and enlightenment 

    “Brunelleschi’s Dome” by King, Ross - how a tradesman “architect astonished the world by building the biggest dome in the world during the Renaissance - reads like a thriller. For a rare experience listen to Nuper Rosarum Flores by Guillame Dufay written for the “opening” or consecration of the building with plans and elevations.

• Q: What is your personal mantra/ motivation/ words to live by? 
• A: Now spelt backwards is Won. 

March Birthdays

 This massive urban redevelopment project on the outskirts of the Maboneng Precinct in Joburg’s eastern CBD breathes new life into the previously walled-off former centre of the diamond and precious metals trade industry in Johannesburg, South Africa. The complex consists of six city blocks of industrial buildings, some dating back to the 1930s. The entire area was closed off to the public in the mid-90s and has remained an isolated and forgotten node for decades. Jewel City includes the reinvention of this pre-existing industrial complex as an open, vibrant mixed-use precinct that introduces a more sustainable dimension (socially and economically) and new diversity to early inner-city rejuvenation projects. To read more, please click below.

Architect Iqbal Naroth shares his application of Universal Design principles when creating buildings for All. 

The architects have sculpted a warm, welcoming building that remains true to its regional context. Values of family within the realm of judicial administration are carefully considered and the design strives to promote a feeling of safety and structure to visitors. Universal accessibility, natural light and good ventilation are all accounted for. A common volume space links the individual floors whilst creating a sense of visual unity and way finding. Looking out through this volume, visitors are greeted by a pleasant framed view of the Durban harbour.

Venturing into the individual floors, one will come across individual pause spaces and waiting areas, allowing for groups to gather in calmer and quieter environments.Materials and building technology have been specified to promote a reduced lifecycle cost, thereby promoting economic and environmental sustainability. Effort has also been made to consider daily maintenance and architectural interventions have been put into place to assist with this task.The new point branch court will in essence encapsulate the justice system of our country and in doing this become a landmark of Durban’s Point precinct in form, function and duty.

To read more about how the Architects implemented Universal Design Principles, click on the link below.

Founded by Prof Amira Osman (Tshwane University of Technology) and Mokena Makeka (Dalberg),  Platform100 is an initiative of the SARChI: DST/NRF/SACN Research Chair in Spatial Transformation(Positive Change in the Built Environment) held by Prof Amira Osman at TUT.

We aim to:

·      Foster a transdisciplinary ecosystem of researchers, policy makers, professionals, community organisations and practitioners in the built environment.

·      Magnify voices from urban Africa and the global south.

·      Change the built environment conversation through research and academic publications. 

·      Accelerate innovation in the built environment through creative, applied research.

Our vision is to pioneer evidence-based solutions to create liveable, loveable cities for all.

Interesting to read online

Interesting to attend

Time to test your memory and earn CPD points. Click on the link below and answer 5 questions. If you answer all 5 correctly, you will earn 0.1 Category 0.3 CPD points.