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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - INDUSTRY NEWS Words of warning and wisdom DesignMind came across this speech by Briton John Callcutt (former boss of English Partnerships), in which he warns architects that they are set to become irrelevant "unless they overcome their timidity and engage better with developers, planners, regulators and the government." Cape Town's new skyscraper to be built green The City of Cape Town has given the necessary permissions for the construction of a R1.2billion mixed use development that will be built according to the Green Building Council of South Africa's Green Star rating system. Sub-Saharan Africa ripe with opportunity - but we need skilled people! According to the Washington Post, it seems that foreign investors are finally seeing beyond the continent's turbulent political history. Africa is increasingly being seen as the place to enjoy a great return on investment - news that can only be seen as good for all sectors of industry, and particularly those feeling vulnerable in the current economic conditions. KPMG offers insights into the industry According to Engineering News, the results of a KPMG survey found that only one third of companies involved in major construction projects worldwide produced 80% of their projects on time. KPMG's project advisory director, Jeff Shaw, said that the ‘poor' project performance could partly b attributed to project risk management - "either risk management is not being done correctly, or it is not contributing to the success of the project," he said. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Web Track The Venice Architecture Biennale is currently underway - read here www.nysun.com for more information about this event, which is open until 23 November 2008 - visit www.labiennale.org for more information if you'd like to visit. If, for any reason, you're in Sydney, Australia, early in October, you could also visit the Sydney Archtiecture Festival, taking place on 6 October, which is World Architecture Day - visit http://architecture.org.au for more information. If you're going to be in the States, you could visit Chicago's Architecture Exhibition opened on 23 September, and runs till 21 November - for more, visit www.ftnnews.com
Imagine the site for your design brief was only 8 feet (just under 2.5metres) wide - how would you create a living space in an area that narrow? Here's how a Belgian team did it: http://archinect.com
And now for something completely different - there are plans underfoot to build an underground football stadium in Doha - it's one way of beating the heat: www.footballcupleague.com
Landscape architecture comes home to New York - take a look at this Manhattan penthouse that integrates landscape design and architecture - althought the renovation to set everything cost more than $1million: www.nytimes.com
The 2008 International Architecture Awards have been announced - for more information, and links to slide shows about the winning projects, visit
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - HELP US SHAPE DESIGNMIND This is your space, and as creative professionals, we'd love you to help shape it. We're looking for interesting content from you, the Members! Are you busy with, or do you have completed projects you're particularly proud of? Why not shout it out to the design world! Or, perhaps there are some thorny, controversial issues you'd like us to cover? Please mail us your thoughts - positive and negative, encouraging or outrageous to our editor, Kerry, on info@designmind.co.za and we'll work on making this mail and the DesignMind website the premier design industry meeting place.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - EDITOR'S NOTE May you live in interesting times, says the old Chinese curse, and it is indeed in interesting times that we find ourselves in. It's not just South Africa that's having an interesting ride though - we might be in a politically challenging time, but the rest of the world is reeling from the economic impact of financial crises in America. What does this mean to us? All things considered, Clem Sunter is of the opinion that South Africa remains one of the greatest lands of opportunity, particularly given the economic climate in the rest of the world - and it is particularly so for anyone in the construction and allied industries. Talking to Moneyweb, Sunter says that South Africa could well be a good place to be over the next couple of years for a number of reasons. "The amount of work available in construction is a big positive in South Africa's favour. We have the World Cup coming up and, while it was not a very big event in Germany's economic life, it is a big one in ours and our construction sector is operating at full tilt." The strength of construction is borne out by the FNB/BER Construction confidence index, which says "With the biggest construction companies hugely expanding their order books with contracts for Gautrain, power stations, roads, sports stadiums and other related infrastructure, as well as private sector orders, there doesn't seem to be a limit to the bright prospects ahead. According to SAFCEC, employment in the industry in the year through June 2008 increased by an estimated 14% to reach a level of nearly 136 000, the highest in decades."
http://www.designmind.co.za/profile/Kerry
Have a great month! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Talking Heads SA and the UK: A housing challenge in common
According to Rick, South Africa is not alone in its challenge to provide housing for its population - the UK needs to build more than three million homes by 2020 - that's more than 240 000 new houses each year. Presently, the country is only producing around 160 000 each year - a similar lag to that experienced in South Africa at present. Another common challenge faced by the two countries is that housing is needed in a diverse range or economic brackets, and even though South Africa is much larger than the UK, with much more space, there is still a shortage of develop-able land within easy reach of the economic hubs of employment opportunity. Rick points out, however, that social housing (housing built by government) as a notion is not as well developed in South Africa as it is in the UK, and that there is no lower end to social housing here. This means that social housing in the UK is strictly controlled in terms of design and construction standards, and when an area is going to be built or regenerated, extensive consultation is undertaken with all the stakeholders, getting them involved in design briefs. This ensures that the residents have a strong vested interest in the final project, ensuring their emotional investment and longterm commitment to the upkeep and sustainability of each project. In terms of meeting the demands of integrated housing developments that cater for various income groups, avoiding the segregation that may come as a result of developments that only cater for one particular group, Rick points out that this needs to be sensitively done - and that the different units need to be as similar as possible. Further, in spite of pressures for numbers of units, no new housing developments exceed seven storeys in height - in recognition of the negative effects of housing estates built in the last century. Another element that Rick highlights for consideration by South Africans is the notion of prefabricated construction. Even though this method has long been tarred with a negative brush, British construction companies are beginning to understand the benefits both of alternative building materials (like gypsum board, steel frame and timber construction), and the construction various elements off site for installation. Time and cost savings are significant, and new innovations in this type of building style mean that there are no restrictions in terms of finishes, for whatever type of building is being planned. Even though it may seem that our countries are a world apart in many respects, the architects of the South African built environment - whether in the public or private sectors - could learn much from the commonalities that we have. What do you think? Can South Africa's housing challenges be compared in the same realm as those in the UK? What lessons do you think that we still need to learn if we're to create effective accommodation for the whole South African population? Please comment below, or email us at info@designmind.co.za - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Jobs
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Rick Burgess is Technical Director at PRP, a London architectural firm, and was in South Africa recently to judge the Gyproc DesignHub Student Architecture Competition. DesignMind was lucky enough to chat to him, face to face. 
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