30th Corobrik Architectural Awards winner announced

Jean-Pierre Desvaux De Marigny, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Innovation with a view to lightening the built environment’s environmental footprint together with an innate understanding of social and cultural imperatives within South Africa are just some of the reasons that this year’s judges singled out De Marigny’s dissertation.

De Marigny's thesis, entitled ‘Design for [bio] diversity’, explored the potential of architecture for ecological conservation, proposing an environmental awareness and water research facility in the context of Springfield industrial park/ uMgeni River catchment area in Durban.

Impacts of population growth

His research revealed that human existence relies heavily on biodiverse ecosystems to survive, however as population increases, urbanisation and industrialisation occurs, resulting in natural areas often being exploited and degraded, most critically affecting the earth's fresh water systems.

De Marigny’s proposed architectural solution aimed to draw an analogy between the machine-dominated environment of the Springfield industrial park and the natural ecosystems found within the uMgeni river. This was achieved through the concept of viewing architecture as similar to that of a mechanical prosthetic device, so that the architecture (industrial machine) could begin to act as rather a natural life support system in the context in which it exists (ecology).

Minimal ecological footprint

Attaching to an existing 440m long pedestrian walkway bridge spanning the width of the river the facility hosts minimal ecological footprint, in addition to providing direct access to the water body to ecologically filter both surface (plastics, rubbers, geo-polymers) and subsurface (human, industrial, agricultural) water pollutants that are accumulated as the watercourse passes through habited areas before reaching Durban’s coastline.

As a result, both the technological and ecological solutions used allowed the architecture to act as a positive hybrid energy contributor, provide space for rehabilitation processes and is able to consistently produce and provide the public, tourists and researchers with fresh fish, vegetables, plants, seeds, flowers, biogas, fertilisers and clean water, who then have the option to relax and enjoy an organic meal, while overlooking the river, or take part in the various educational, ecotourism and research programs facilitated on site.

Competition judges

After presenting De Marigny with a cheque for R50,000, Corobrik managing director Dirk Meyer thanked this year’s judges for their invaluable input – Andre Eksteen, multi-award winning co-director at Earthworld Architects & Interiors, Tunde Oluwa, sustainable development guru and founder of Odyssey Architects S.A and Tanzeem Razak, who is passionate about spatial transformation in South African cities, and is the director and founding partner of Lemon Pebble Architects in Johannesburg.