The Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theatre is an expansion of the existing Arts and Culture Center Guga S’Thebe (by architect Carin Smuts) located in the heart of the Langa Community in Cape Town, South Africa, attracting local children, adolescents, and artists, as well as international tourists. Referencing historic and cultural properties of the site, the rectangular building … [Read more...]
Cape Town apartment receives ‘chilled out’ makeover
The M & M Designs team began work on a two bedroom holiday apartment in Mouille Point, Cape Town last month. With every project, their first priority is to make the clients feel at home, a place they can relax, unwind, and enjoy while maintaining the homes luxurious appeal. Therefore it is M & M Designs' head designers first priority to engage with the clients, … [Read more...]
Doing justice to office design Part 2: The evolution of the workspace
Kuba Granicki, Alessio Lacovig and Mike Rassmann, the three partners behind Johannesburg-based Architects Of Justice, sat down to have a discussion on how the workplace, and the architect’s role in its design, has evolved over the past few decades and point out areas where they feel it can be improved. How do you see office spaces having changed over the years? Mike … [Read more...]
Doing justice to office design Part 1: Clients and their office space needs
Kuba Granicki, Alessio Lacovig and Mike Rassmann, the three partners behind Johannesburg-based Architects Of Justice, sat down to have a discussion on how workplaces are designed, and the architect’s role in finding out what a client wants (and needs). How do you find out what a client is looking for when they approach you to design an office space? Kuba Granicki: We try … [Read more...]
Paragon Group celebrates its women associates and directors
A culture of diversity, inclusivity, innovation, and attention to detail is the main driver of the Paragon Group, an architecture and interior architecture practice that has about 45% female representation at present. As South Africa prepares to celebrate Women’s Day on Thursday, 9 August, Paragon Group Human Resources and Operations Director Cindy Faux comments that … [Read more...]
An iconic Sheraton hotel for Nairobi
Marriot International has opened its second hotel in Nairobi, the Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport, adding to the existing Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Hurlingham. The 172 room Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport features spacious and modern rooms including suites. Its F&B options include an all-day dining, a lobby café and a rooftop bar and grill, … [Read more...]
An opportunity to rethink campus typology in Africa
The proposal for the Foum El Oued Technopole in Morocco by Urban Agency, Oualalou+Choi and Alto Ingenierie can be seen not only as an opportunity to design a new campus of innovative architecture, technological innovation and merit but equally an opportunity to rethink the campus typology and carefully examine the ways it should perform for the sake of its multiple users and in … [Read more...]
Compact housing in the informal settlements of Maputo
Casas Melhoradas is an applied research project on housing for low-income groups in the informal settlements of Maputo, Mozambique with a three-fold focus: 1) developing alternative construction methods to improve the quality and decrease the cost of housing; 2) developing housing typologies that utilise space and infrastructure more economically to initiate a more … [Read more...]
Self-sufficient settlement in Angola
Aldeia Solar by Costa Lopes is located in the Comuna of Cabiri about 50km from Luanda, not far from Lake Lalama, along the national road 110 (Luanda-Funda-Catete). More than a settlement and housing for about 500 low-income families, it is intended to ensure for a farming community some self-sufficiency in the about 100 available hectares, while respecting the fertile landscape … [Read more...]
Lecture Building at the Alioune Diop University in Senegal
The Government of Senegal, financially assisted by the World Bank, decided to start an ambitious plan to improve several universities in the country, commissioning IDOM to carry out the project and site supervision for a new lecture room building for 1 500 students at the University of Bambey, to the West of the country. The plan includes lecture rooms for 50 and 100 students, … [Read more...]