Sustainable building in focus
Sustainable building was the focus at the 31st Corobrik Architectural Student of the Year Awards.
GREAT architectural design is sustainable design which ensures that the built environment complies with the principles of social, economic and ecological sustainability. It requires skill and sensitivity on the part of the architect, and this was evident in full measure during the regional rounds of the 31st Corobrik Architectural Student of the Year Awards, according to Dirk Meyer, managing director of Corobrik,
The competition has been held annually for the past 30 years to reward and advance excellence in the architectural profession countrywide. It involves regional competitions at eight major South African universities in the build-up to a national award ceremony in Johannesburg in April 2018 at which the overall winner is named and presented with a prize of R50 000.
Allin Dangers, Corobrik Director of Sales Coastal, presented prizes to architectural students of the University of KwaZulu-Natal University in Durban recently. The regional winner of R8 500 was Sherwood resident, Yousuf Vawda, with Joshua Montile receiving the R6 500 second prize and Thabo Cele taking home the third prize of R4 500. The prize of R4 500 for the best use of clay was also won by Yousuf Vawda.
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Yousuf’s thesis is entitled ‘Memento Mori – Remember Your Death’. He says places of the dead throughout history have played a significant role in shaping the urban fabric and portraying a society’s attitude towards their dead. These sacred spaces would be important elements in the landscape for the living to pay respect and remember those that have passed. The Christian faith has a unique history regarding their interment spaces, utilising a variety of methods throughout its two thousand-year history.
The purpose of this project was to explore the relationship between sacred space and the memory of the dead, in Christianity, through mnemonics. The study investigates the relationship between life and death via sacred and memory evoking architecture through the design of a cemetery complex for Durban.
Situated in the otherwise underutilised Stellawood Cemetery, the project attempts to engage the public through retail, community and leisure spaces. Thereafter the user is lead along a ‘journey’, acting as a metaphor of life, death and the Resurrection, where the spaces are meant to evoke memories of the dead, as well as act as a reminder to the living that there is more to life than the mundane and profane.
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In addition, Bio-Cremation or Resomation is incorporated as a sustainable body disposal method.
Discussing the reason to incorporate clay brick into his thesis, Vawda said: “The materials incorporated also reference the passage of time and the effect of deterioration through time on the materials. The temporality of the materials, as well as its deterioration reminds the user of the temporality of human life. Materials are chosen to emphasise weathering, allowing the structure to age, without the need for continual maintenance. The use of clay brick throughout the scheme perfectly encapsulated this idea.”
Speaking about the awards, Dangers said: “We expect the architectural students to be conscious of the big picture and the global environment in which they operate. This includes the concept of sustainable building and an awareness that life cycle impacts are critical to the design of environmentally responsible buildings. It was clear that this was the case with the winning students this year.”
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