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Architecture is a visual art, and the buildings speak for themselves. - Julia Morgan |
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - In this edition: June Community Snapshot
The FNB Building Confidence Index Shows Slight Firming But Profitability Under Strain
South African Hotels Architecture and Design: The Most Innovative, Enchanting, Eclectic Places To Stay In 2010. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Member Spotlight DesignMind is now the official host for the 2009 Plascon Prism Awards!
The Plascon Prism Awards are about supporting budding design and architectural talent in academic institutions. The Awards give young talent a platform to showcase their artistry as well as encouraging interaction between learners and their future peers. The focus is on inspiring change through the use of colour, innovation and technology. Read More Tailor-made for trade professionals and design connoisseurs
Decorex Joburg is the ultimate roundup of the new and now; with 5 halls filled with the latest trends and launch products, fresh initiatives, the best in kitchens & bathrooms, fine finishes, four international pavilions and gifted designers. With Plascon as show sponsor and DStv as media partner, Decorex Joburg is hailed as Southern Africa’s leading décor and interior design event. Read More - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Articles of Interest Exploring Creative Interiors: Fireplaces To Flaunt!
Winter has set in and suddenly that summer-abandoned fireplace has become your best friend. This month DesignMind has found some interesting fireplace designs to inspire and ignite you! Read More www.buildmind.net has launched!
www.buildmind.net has launched! A sister to www.designmind, BuildMind makes it easy for anyone in Southern Africa’s construction industry people to promote products and services to the industry – and network, source opportunities and information, and communicate quickly and easily! Thanks to BuildMind sponsors, DesignMind members are free to create a personal and/or practice profile on BuildMind and connect to a rapidly growing community of developers, contractors, suppliers and service providers. Smart BuildMind functionality gives members powerful Web 2.0 tools to track industry opinion, collaborate on projects, find skills, search for information, access product catalogues and filter communications. Take 30 seconds to link up to a whole industry and put BuildMind to work for you. Read More - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -
You can post Jobs to the DesignMind Network for FREE... click here to see how!
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To all our valued DesignMind members We can’t believe how much our community has grown this June! There are now 4462 members on DesignMind! Get networking and view all our members here. Our photo gallery now contains the 2009 Plascon Prism Awards entries- view our photo gallery of over 5000 photo’s! You can also find out more about the Plascon Prism Awards by reading our article here or by visiting the Plason Prism Awards Group. Groups are a great way to network and discuss niche trends and topics. We have 64 groups on DesignMind! DesignMind has built up a library of 431 blogs on industry news, opinion and feature articles- you can browse all our blogs here. We hope all our DesignMind members have a productive June and keep warm in this chilly winter weather. Still not a member of DesignMind? Don’t miss out! Go to www.DesignMind.co.za and join the community of thousands! Nicole Hijbeek and the DesignMind team. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The FNB Building Confidence Index Shows Slight Firming But Profitability Under Strain The FNB Building Confidex Index for the second quarter 2009 shows a slight increase of one point from 28 in first quarter 2009 to 29 in the second quarter.
However, wholesalers of building materials, manufacturers and quantity surveyors recorded definite increases: Engineering News explains that “the FNB Building Confidence Index measures the business confidence of all the major companies involved in the building industry, including architects, quantity surveyors, contractors, sub-contractors, wholesale and retail merchants, and manufacturers of building materials. The index is compiled quarterly from the building, manufacturing, retail and wholesale opinion surveys undertaken by the Bureau for Economic Research (BER), at Stellenbosch University.” FNB Chief Economist Cees Bruggemans says that an analysis of the BER survey data and supporting anecdotal evidence suggest that business conditions are comparatively tough in the building industry at present. 93% of respondents indicated that there was an insufficient demand for building work. 87% of participants to the survey indicated that their profit growth was below that of the same quarter a year ago. The tightening criteria of financial institutions have had a definite effect on the benefit of the interest rate decline of 450 basis points. Read the full article here and - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - South African Hotels Architecture and Design: The Most Innovative, Enchanting, Eclectic Places To Stay In 2010 Soon South Africa will host one of the world’s biggest and most popular sporting events, the FIFA 2010 World Cup. With an estimated 716 million people watching the 2006 Final, we can expect not only a hugely increased media interest in our country but also an excited throng of tourists piling in. There will certainly be discerning eyes falling on our architecture in general, but more specifically, on our accommodation – our hotel design and innovation. This month DesignMind looks at the architecture and design of a few hotels around South Africa and examines what we believe are exciting, innovative gems in the South African hotel industry.
One of the most indigenous designs is the Afro-funk trailer by Carla Soudien. Using earthy colours, interesting textures and the recognizable face of our Nelson Mandela. Soudien was inspired by the street fashion and cosmopolitan yet distinctly African flavour of Cape Town; she creates an inspiring environment with her Afro-funk interpretation. Read the full article here and
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The sub-components of the index however generally showed decline with retailers, sub-contractors, building contractors and architects recording a slow-down in profit. The declines recorded were as follows:
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The Protea Hotel Fire and Ice is an exciting example of cool design in one of Cape Town’s hottest spots. In the centre of the city lies a hotel that has taken innovation and creation to a new level. Elevators themed towards different Cape Town attractions such as cable cars and shark cage diving, this is sure to be unforgettable accommodation. The rooms have an incredible view of Table Mountain and the design is an eclectic mixture of city chic and exciting adventure. It’s a design metaphor – a representation of what makes the city so extremely unique and interesting. The Protea Hotel Fire and Ice is seriously trendy and certainly luxurious. With intriguing added extras like lights outside the rooms that change colour whether you’re in or out and a coffin in the smoking room- this hotel is an adventure within itself. 
The idea of a trailer park has been re-examined by Cape Town’s swanky Grand Daddy hotel. Atop their roof, overlooking the eclectic bustle of Long Street is a cluster of Airstream Trailers all individually decorated by some of Cape Town’s hottest creatives. The seven trailers are something of an experiment in conceptual interior design. Design studio Whatiftheworld directed the ambitious project, which tasked local artistic minds with decorating the vintage trailers in a motif of their choice.
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