Construction World October 2016

Eclectic ZA Wilhelmiens Eclectic ZA Wilhelmiens: a shared Dutch built heritage in South Africa is a publication that is the culmination of years of dedicated work. The judges felt it showed what a rich architectural history South Africa had, how under- researched it was and that academics of the stature of the editors – Bakker, Clark and Fischer – could make a contribution to all of us ‘to know our past’.

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Number 1 Silo: Alan Gray headquarters, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town Relishing its role of being a ‘background’ building, where public space and the pre-existing are hierarchically more important than it is, the shape and form of this corporate building are informed by the decision to make the 1920s grain silo (and home of a future art gallery) the dominant element in the local context. The judges said the architects, Van der Merwe Miszewski Architects in association with Rick Brown Associates, had realised their intention that “the building’s conceptual foundation and façade resolution be informed by the integrity of the industrial and historical V&A Waterfront buildings, giving priority to practicality over image”. They felt the design had achieved levels of perfection unseen before in their oeuvre and generally in South Africa.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD OCTOBER 2016