Joburg treasured as architect's delight

Issued by GL events South Africa PTY (LTD)

15 Sep 2010

In the dusk of a successful World Cup, South Africans are starting to ask how investments will be utilised in a sustainable way, ensuring economic growth and prosperity. With millions of rands invested in infrastructure, the country now has to find a way to maintain the interest it received during the FIFA World Cup 2010. The Architecture ZA 2010 (AZA 2010) Convention will be looking into these questions.

AZA 2010 will be held in September in Newtown and will be co-hosted by the University of Johannesburg's National Architectural Student Congress and the South African Institute of Architects, who will be hosting their 7th biennial Convention under this umbrella. Oasys Innovations will supply the infrastructure for this event.

Says Daniel van der Merwe, convener of the convention: "This will be the first convention of its kind ever to be hosted in South Africa. The conference will discuss 'Joburg as a many layered city that is not entirely visible or legible in the same way to all its citizens', with exhibitions and design to support this."

Oasys was tasked with designing the décor, layout and exhibition infrastructure for the conference. They also worked on the South Africa Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai.

Newtown was chosen as a venue, due to its status as the cultural hub of Johannesburg. "It is unfortunate that the beautiful buildings in this area is not utilised more often," explains Van der Merwe, "Special care will be taken around security issues, as is done with any event. We want to create sustainability in South Africa and we believe that a strategic start is utilising buildings that are already part of the landscape. AZA will also focus the attention of world renowned architects on the treasures Johannesburg veils."

GL events South Africa is a worldwide provider of integrated solutions and services for the events industry, operating across the three main event industry segments.