Housing in Southern Africa August 2015

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August 2015
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Industry Buzz, Events & Products
New York born co-founder of Urban-
Think Tank (U-TT), Alfredo Brillem-
bourg, is also not to be missed at
AZA2015. Brillembourg is no stranger
to South Africa and was a guest
speaker at the 2012 Design Indaba.
There, Slum Dwellers International
introduced him to Ikhayalami, which
lead to a partnership in seeking to
upgrade informal settlements in
Cape Town with a unique double
story shack design. This ‘Empower
Shack’ collaboration is a perfect fit for
U-TT, which has worked extensively
in designing social architecture in
developing contexts worldwide.
Speaking about the shack design,
Brillembourg says, “We thought,
that if we could develop a prototype
that distributes the living area over
two floors, we could then recover
double the amount of footprint area
currently occupied by the existing
shacks. This would provide enough
space to develop the urban qualities
currently lacking in the densely built
urban fabric of the settlements.” One
hundred double-story shacks at two
sites in Cape Town are expected to be
completed by themiddle of next year.
Brillembourg’s focus is on serving
social needs through well designed,
sustainablephysical forms: “Fromour
beginnings in Caracas, to ourmore re-
cent activities in South Africa, Colom-
bia and elsewhere, we have sought to
work with communities and partners
to reimagine the possibilities of life in
the informal city.”
Like a true architectural visionary,
Brillembourg wants to push future
boundaries in how cities extend up-
wards. “The big question is if the city
is up in the air, towers can take on
any shape. Towers no longer have to
respect the rationality of the city grid
once we are up in the air.”
London based architectural de-
signer, Julia King is another capti-
vating speaker at AZA2015. King has
a special focus on sanitation and
participatory processes in developing
countries. Shewill share insights from
her sanitation and housing projects
in India which form part of her PhD
‘Incremental Cities’.
Palestinian architect and writer,
Suad Amiry will also speak at the
highly anticipated event, sharing
insights from her experiences as
founder of Riwaq: the Centre for
Architectural Conservation which
documents and restores architectural
heritage sites across the West Bank,
Jerusalem and Gaza.
AZA2015 is not just a conference;
there will be master classes, work-
shops and a multitude of public
events. It is an opportunity for inter-
ested participants from non-design
disciplines to share in the future of
South Africa’s cities and be part of the
regeneration of major urban life, right
in the heart of Johannesburg.
AZA2015 is proudly hosted by the
South African Institute of Architects
(SAIA) and sponsored by PPC Ltd. Af-
filiated partners include: the Gauteng
Institute for Architecture (Gifa) and
the University of Johannesburg (UJ.)
Formore information about AZA2015,
visit ■
Alfredo Brillembourg Beatriz Colomina