14 shortlisted projects take centre stage as part of the AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation for 2017/18.

The projects highlight how reducing the environmental impact of building is pivotal for good architecture and social design. They provide a host of new insights into how great architecture or social design can be produced without compromising sustainability.

The Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre by Lewis Levin Architects. Credit: SAIA

Spanning across four categories – Sustainable Architecture, Research in Sustainability, Sustainable Products and Technology, and Sustainable Social Programmes – the projects were selected following a rigorous screening process which included assessments and on-site inspections by a six-member adjudication panel.

This year’s judges include Maryke Cronje (SAIA 2018 president), Dr Sechaba Maape (sustainability architecture academic and architect), Philippa Tumubweinee (academic and co-founder of IZUBA INafrica Architects), Niraksha Singh (AfriSam Raw Materials and Sustainability Manager), Dr Emmanuel Nkambule (academic with particular interest in the social environment) and Richard Stretton (founder of architecture and furniture design studio Koop Design).

“We live in a very rapidly transforming world, and this has become evident through the evolution of entries received in the AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation over the past decade. In 2009 when the award program was conceived, sustainability still seemed like an architectural style. Today, no development can happen without it,” said Cronje.

The biennial AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation acknowledges excellence in best practice and innovation in sustainable architecture, recognising the contributions that bring sustainable innovation to human living environments through integrated approaches to communities, planning, architecture, design, building practice and technology.

“Sustainability is not only about technology, but also about a whole new way of life – of relating to one’s self, other people and the environment. The shortlisted projects show how a more thoughtful and integrated approach to design can make the world a better place,” said Dr Maape.

The AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation will form part of a prestigious gala event on 26 October 2018 at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA).

The shortlisted projects in each of the categories are as follows:

Category A – Sustainable Architecture:

  • Northcliff House by Architecture for a Change (A4aC);
  • Khayelitsha Shared Services Office Building by ACG Architects and Development Planners/ Ngonyama Okpanum Associates;
  • House Burnett Prinsloo by Robert de Jager Architects;
  • Fulham Heights by Local Studio;
  • House Gardiner by Simply Sustainable;
  • RBDIZ Entrance Gate by Jeremy Steere Architect; and
  • Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre by Lewis Levin Architects.

Category B – Research in Sustainability:

  • A framework for a green infrastructure planning approach in the Gauteng City-Region by Gauteng City-Region Observatory.

Category C – Sustainable Products & Technology:

  • Rambrick by Use It Waste Beneficiation (RF) NPC; and
  • hearScreen by hearX Group.

Category D – Sustainable Social Programmes:

  • Malawi Church by A4aC Architects;
  • Silindokuhle Preschool by Collectif saga;
  • The Wilds – revitalising a forgotten public space by James Delaney; and
  • Table House by Noero Architects and Rainer Hehl.