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Johannesburg Mayor Busts Building Control Crime Syndicate

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 14:47

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AA Network


Over the last few years Johannesburg architects have been outraged by the manner in which the city's development planning and urban management directorate processes Building Approval applications. Most felt that the entire structure was corrupt from top to bottom and completely dysfunctional at all levels but were powerless to act. Building Approvals in this city had become almost impossible to obtain without greasing the palms of several officials and then waiting for years for the paperwork to be processed.

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SCAM ALERT : South African Architects Under Attack!

Wed, 04/25/2012 - 00:39

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Informed, Patient & Clever Nigerian Scam Artists Target Gullible South African Architects

A number of high profile architectural practices in South Africa have recently found themselves victims of a simple but effective scam perpertrated by criminals based in Nigeria posing as Saudi Arabian investors. If you have recently been approached by someone you trust claiming to represent Middle Eastern investors in need of architectural services for the mother of all projects in Qatar, or thereabouts, you may want to read this story...

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EES Scheduled To Execute Consol Glass Furnace Rebuild In Record Time

Thu, 04/19/2012 - 18:33

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AA Network


Electrical Engineering Solutions (EES) is currently embarking on a challenging furnace rebuild appointment, which is scheduled to be done within a very strict construction window. The client, Consol Glass, is the largest glass manufacturer in Africa and the rebuild is at its Bellville plant near Cape Town. 

An ISO 9000 certified professional services company, EES is a leader in project managing the provision of Information Technology (IT) solutions to the built environment. Integral to its business is intelligent infrastructure, the implementation of which entails the convergence of IT and Building Automation Systems (BAS). 

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City of Gold : Urban Art Festival : Johannesburg 15 - 21 April 2012

Mon, 04/09/2012 - 21:36

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In 2011 Grayscale initiated Johannesburg's first international urban art festival, City Of Gold. Due to the success of the festival and the amazing response from the artists and general public, the project will take place again from the 15th-21st April 2012.

International cities like Berlin, New York and Sao Paulo are destinations for urban artists from all over the world. The aim of City Of Gold is to establish Johannesburg as a destination for those artists and assist the development of the local street art community.

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Africa Union of Architects Signs The Tangiers Declaration

Fri, 03/30/2012 - 01:35

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The Africa Union of Architects (AUA) has entered into an agreement, known as the Tangiers Declaration, with the Architects' Council of Europe (ACE) and the Architects' Regional Council Asia (ARCASIA) to develop mutual multi- and bi-lateral cooperation between architecture organisations. The Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE) has signed an agreement with the Africa Union of Architects and Architects Regional Council ASIA (ARCASIA) to develop mutual multi- and bi-lateral cooperation between architecture organisations. Figureheads of the three major organisations met in March this year in Tangiers, Morocco to discuss how they may work in partnership to accurately represent the international architectural community.

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Trio Of Cape Town Architects Appointed To Lead The Expansion Of The CTICC

Thu, 03/22/2012 - 17:54

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"Architects for the Cape Town International Convention Centre expansion project get down to work, says Toefy" 

The Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) today announced the appointment of the design architects for the expansion project, which will see the centre doubling in capacity over the next three years. 

CTICC Chief Executive Officer Rashid Toefy announced that an award-winning Cape Town trio of architects - Piet Bakker of Stauch Voster Architects, Anya van der Merwe of Van der Merwe Miszewski Architects and Mokena Makeka of Makeka Design Lab - have been awarded the contract for the design of the new expansion of the convention centre. 

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SACAP - The Mysterious Withdrawal of CAA Validation Of SA Schools

Thu, 03/15/2012 - 17:35

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Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA) Accreditation of SACAP Recognised Architectural Learning Sites (ALS) – Rumours about the withdrawal of CAA validation of architectural qualifications.

The training and practice of Architecture in South Africa is regulated by the Architectural Professions Act (Act 44 of 2000).

The South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP) is the statutory body which is mandated to protect the public by implementing the Act. All architectural learning sites (ALS) training graduates for candidature must be accredited by SACAP and all persons practicing architecture must be registered with SACAP.

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Corobrik Recognises 25 Years of Architectural Excellence

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 13:47

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A project that highlights imagination and intelligent design - a unique, creative ability to combine the two to create a project that nevertheless treads lightly on our earth. This is how Corobrik's managing director, Dirk Meyer, described the project entitled Magazine Hill: A weathered continuum that came up tops in the 2012 Corobrik Architectural Student of the Year Awards. 

This year's event, held at The Wanderers in Johannesburg, landmarked the 25th year of Corobrik's sponsorship of the Architectural Student of the Year Awards. Meyer said that over a quarter of a century, Corobrik had had a front row seat when it came to witnessing the evolution of South Africa's architectural profession and the important role architects play as custodians of our built environment. 

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The South African Informal City Exhibition Goes LIVE 24/7

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 18:36

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AA Network

The Architects’ Collective, in collaboration with its partners, hosted the The South African Informal City Exhibition at the JDA's Bus Factory in Newtown, Johannesburg, from 11 November to 11 December 2011. The exhibition was one of the Technical Site Visits offered by the Local Government Programme for COP17, during the United Nations 17th Conference of Parties, which ran from 28 November to the 9 December 2011 in Durban, South Africa. The initiative is a survey of South Africa’s most relevant and innovative design and research projects, featuring explorations and interventions in the informal sector from across the country. The aim is to open up dialogue and discussion around the critical issues of informality and urban development. As such, the month-long exhibition was accompanied by a one-day seminar exploring the opportunities and challenges around informality.

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Western Cape Identifies Design As Key Driver Of Economic Development

Mon, 03/05/2012 - 10:35

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The Western Cape government and its Investment and Trade Promotion Agency (Wesgro) have identified the province as the only one in South Africa to prioritise design as a key economic tool to drive future growth and job creation. 

Wesgro CEO Nils Flaatten and Western Cape MEC of Cultural Affairs and Sport Dr Ivan Meyer emphasised the power of design as an economic driver in the Western Cape, at a dinner for 20 international buyers and 15 local designers and design exporters, participating in the Design Indaba expo and conference at the weekend at the CTICC. 

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AZA 2012 - Cape Town, Architecture Biennial : 13 - 17 September 2012

Wed, 02/29/2012 - 14:55

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Evaluating the role of architectural practice.

As a profession, architecture is relatively young. It had an easy birth into a structured system of gentility and patronage where the demands on it were simple: to make beautiful objects imbued with commonly held, albeit elitist, cultural capital. The growth of society under capitalism has added complexity to the discipline, demanding functional and spatial efficiency - along with the belief that architecture can also solve social problems.

Globalisation 2.0, with its market-research-based development, has started to turn the architectural practitioners as director into the directed: branding, lifestyle-research and "greenwash" delineate the architectural practitioners colour-by-numbers palette while "starchitects" cleverly construct themselves as a reliable brand producing "signature buildings".

At the other end "barefoot architects" disavow the culture of architecture in the rush to build shelter for the global poor. What about the "average" architectural practitioners caught in the middle?

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Anya Van der Merwe To Receive AIA Lifetime Achievement Award

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 13:12

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Cape Town architect is first South African woman to receive top international lifetime achievement award for architecture 

(Cape Town, 9 February 2012) The American Institute of Architects (AIA) this week announced that Cape Town architect Anya van der Merwe will receive one of its highest honours, a lifetime honorary fellowship and medal for lifetime achievement in architecture. 

Van der Merwe is the first South African woman and only the sixth South African ever to receive this prestigious international award, following in the footsteps of distinguished architects such as Gawie Fagan and Ivor Prinsloo.

The AIA, the largest professional organisation of architects in the world at 80 000 members, is honouring Van der Merwe for her significant contribution to architecture and society, based both on her professional body of work and contribution to academia.

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2012 AA REPORT : PAN AFRICAN HOUSING TRENDS

Sat, 02/04/2012 - 01:49

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THE A-Z OF AFRICAN HOUSING  :  A QUICK LOOK AT WHAT COUNTRIES MADE HOUSING NEWS BETWEEN 2008-2011 & WHY ...

In Algeria a United Nations housing expert today called on the Algerian Government to democratize its housing policies, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported. This is a clear notification that open markets in the housing sector in Algeria are due to manifest some activity in 2012.

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