All the 2019-2020 Corobrik-SAIA Awards of Merit and Awards for Excellence winners
The winners of the 2019-2020 Corobrik-South African Institute of Architecture (SAIA) Awards of Merit and Awards for Excellence were announced at a gala event in Durban earlier this month. The awards recognises exceptional achievement in the field of architecture.
Award winners, adjudicators, and Corobrik and SAIA officials at the 2019-2020 Corobrik-SAIA Awards of Merit and Awards for Excellence
The SAIA awards programme is structured over a two-year period and is conducted in two stages. Stage 1 sees regional awards for architecture presented by the various regional institutes affiliated to SAIA. In Stage 2, the national awards, the winning regional projects receive either a commendation, an award of merit and/or an award for excellence. This follows a vigorous adjudication and shortlisting process. T
The national group of adjudicators is independent of the regional awards process and is selected by the SAIA president in their capacity as convenor. “This honour passed to me for the 2019-2020 cycle, which has been somewhat delayed, having taken place through a period of immense difficulty. The adjudication has had to navigate a series of national lockdowns and immeasurable personal and collective loss as a result of Covid-19. As we cautiously emerge into a post-pandemic world, this is a moment which requires pause and reflection – for the space the awards hold, and how SAIA as an institution might face and contend with the future,” says SAIA past president and Corobrik-SAIA Awards convenor Kate Otten.
Panel of judges
Wolff Architects won one award of merit and two awards for excellence.
The panel of judges for the 2019-2020 Corobrik-SAIA Awards of Merit and Awards for Excellence were:
Musa Shangase, commercial director: Corobrik; Boni Makwe, a practicing architect and director at studioMAS Architects & Urban Designers; Dr Huda Tayob, an architect, senior lecturer, and architectural historian; Muhammad Mayet, a practising architect, urban designer, and principal director of Mayet Architects; and Yewande Omotoso, an architect and award-winning novelist and writer.
The judging panel viewed a collection of 68 built works and three written works submitted to the final stage. The awarded projects were judged on their innovation, considered relationship to context, sustainability beyond a buzzword, functionality for purpose, and responsiveness to questions of inclusivity. In addition, it was important for the panel to acknowledge courage and experimentation, as it is in this testing ground of difficult choices that an alternative future for the profession lies.
The 2019-2020 Corobrik-SAIA Awards of Merit and Awards for Excellence winners are:
Commendations
- New Torwood Semis Forest Town, Johannesburg – BD Studio
- Arklow Villa III, Greenpoint, Cape Town – Douglas and Company
- 5 Magistrate Towers – Jeremy Steere Architects
- Barnato Hall Extension Phase 1, Wits University, Johannesburg – 26'10 South Architects
- Student Resource Centre, Sol Plaatje University (SPU) Kimberley – Designworkshop SA
Awards of Merit
- New Screenwriters’ Retreat, Monaghan Farm, Gauteng – C76 Architecture
- 1 Discovery Place, Sandton, Johannesburg – Boogertman + Partners
- Langbos Children’s Shelter, Addo, Eastern Cape – Jason Erlank Architects
- Mixed-Used Students’ Residence and Sports Precinct, Mpumalanga University, GAPP Architects and Urban Designers
- Wynberg Girls’ High School, New Classrooms – Noero Architects
Research Projects
- ‘Unstitching Rex Trueform: The Story of an African Factory’ by Ilze Wolff
Awards for Excellence
- House Mills, Hermanus – Pinad Architecture Inc.
- Vredenburg Hospital Phase 2B – Wolff Architects
- Grain Silo Complex, V&A Waterfront – Heatherwick Studio with Van Der Merwe Miszewski Architects (VDMMA), Rick Brown and Associates (RBA), Jacobs Parker Architects (JPA)
- Witklipfontein Eco Lodge, Vredefort Rural – GLH Architects
- Chere’ Botha LSEN School – Wolff Architects
