20 February 2012
UKZN’S BEST HONOURED AT COROBRIK ARCHITECTURAL STUDENT OF THE YEAR AWARDS
The ‘best of the best’ is how Corobrik’s Director of Sales for KwaZulu-Natal and Border, Mr Mike Ingram, described the UKZN winners of the 2011 Corobrik Architectural Student of the Year Awards held recently at the Howard College campus.
Architecture students, Mr Bilal Haq, Mr Jeff Timm and Mr Olwethu Mkhize, received prize money and certificates at the ceremony which marked the 25th anniversary of this national event which has been sponsored by Corobrik since its inception.
Haq was named regional winner of the competition for his project titled: “Transformation of Museum Architecture in South Africa: Towards a children’s museum for the City of Durban.”
Haq’s design accommodates environmental resolutions in a structure that is geared to the way children learn and experience the world around them. He feels that a children’s museum for Durban ‘is the missing link in child education in our contemporary society.’
He explained further that ‘The increasing number of shopping malls, theatres, and gaming centres in Durban are hardly the places for children and families looking for a unique experience that allows freedom to learn, joyful interaction, self exploration, creativity, becoming one with nature and positive social and cultural exchange.’
Haq will represent UKZN at the National Awards in Johannesburg from 5-7 March. He will compete against six regional winners from other South African universities for the title and cash prize of R50 000.
Timm’s entry, which received the runner-up prize focuses on the design of an office node on a buffer strip of land between Umlazi and Lamontville and Chatsworth, with the intention of providing economic upliftment opportunities to the previously disadvantaged communities. It is titled: “A study of the Decentralised Business Nodes of the Post-Apartheid City of Durban: Towards a new business district as part of the greater Durban business system.”
One of the major features of Timm’s office building is the transparency on the south side, created by glass. It is intended to connect the building to Umlazi across the river. Another feature is the tree-like columns which hold up the roofs above the circulation. They are indicative of new growth and technological advancement in previously disadvantaged areas.
Mkhize, a second-year Architecture student, was honoured by Corobrik with a special award for the Best Use of Clay Brick in KZN. His design features a mixed use building – one that combines residential, office and commercial spaces – for a site in the Dalton area close to the Durban central business district and Maydon Wharf. The concept behind his design is ‘connection through upliftment’ as he feels it is important ‘to design architecture that will connect, join and link together the people of Dalton under one form with many functions.’
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Corobrik’s Ingram congratulated the winners on the high standard of their entries, which he said: ‘Echo Corobrik’s strong sustainability stance where the environment is one of the key pillars. Within the environmental sustainability equation, embodied energy of building materials forms an important consideration in today’s design and specification processes.’
Architecture students:
Bilal Haq 083 271 9666
Jeff Timm 082 923 0167
Olwethu Mkhize 072 614 6999
Issued by:
Nomonde Mbadi
Executive Director: Corporate Relations Division