African Design Magazine ADM #40 May 2018 | Page 40

WINNER’S PROFILE
REGENERATIVE DESIGN FORMS THE CRUX
OF AWARD WINNER
RENÉE MINNAAR’S PHILOSOPHY
Last-minute career choices
in the final year of secondary
schooling are not uncommon.
Renée Minnaar, the winner
of the 2017 Corobrik
Architectural Student of the
Year Award, was advised by
a career guidance counsellor
to study medicine or Fine Arts
after matriculating.
M
innaar admits to having
both a pragmatic and
creative side but was
not drawn to either field of study.
Fortunately, intervention and some
sage advice from an architectural
student, changed the direction of
Minnaar’s career path, catapulting her
into the exciting and ever-changing
world of architectural design.
Born and raised in Pretoria, Minnaar
balances the long hours of studying
and working with hiking and cooking
alongside her husband of two years,
who is also completing his studies at
the University of Pretoria (UP).
After her third year of undergraduate
study at Tuks Minnaar acquired
40
AFRICAN DESIGN MAGAZINE © | MAY 2018
practical experience in the workplace
and at a small architecture firm in
Pretoria. She then elected to go to
South Korea to teach English and
on her return to South Africa she
rejoined her previous employer
where she enhanced her draughting
experience for three months after
which she returned to the University
of Pretoria to start her post graduate
studies. She is now employed at
W Design Architecture Studio in
Pretoria.
As part of her post graduate Masters
study course at UP, Minnaar elected
to write her thesis on ‘Remediator
– Restoring the dichotomous
relationship between industry and
nature through an urban eco-textile