Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa May/June 2014 | Page 76
TALI ORLI GILD
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN
As the impact of climate change continues to dominate international debate,
there is an increasing need for responsible corporate citizens, not only to adopt
environmentally responsible practices, but to promote the concept of sustainable
development as widely as possible.
Tala Orli Gild’s entry entitled Architecture of the Machineis a desalination & salt harvesting plant
situated in Hout Bay.
Gild said, “My dissertation was born out of the fascination of large scaled infrastructural engineered/
architectural projects, where the individual human is absent from its initial architectural and programmatic
goals. This is a project where the architecture is formally governed by a process that is mechanical and
systematic. I chose to explore the machine of our future water supply, that of a desalination plant. 2013
marks the year that we, South Africa, are no longer water ‘secure’, in other words, the population of the
country is going to exceed the amount of water available to us. A desalination plant in Hout Bay, able
to produce 30,000M ℓ/day of potable water, situated on the edge of the industrial sector, harbour, the
informal settlement of Hangberg and the beginning the mountainous terrain of The Sentinel. Incorporated
are sustainable energy devices to help supplement this extensive energy consuming process.”
With great infrastructure comes great responsibility, therefore the design of this infrastructure must be
coupled with public activities. Building something that helps our future livelihood must be something that
people can also interact with, and identify with, thereby creating a physical and emotive landmark.
MONGEZI NCUBE
UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL
Ncube’s thesis explored urban informality as a generator for meaningful built form
through his proposal for a multipurpose trade hub in Warwick Junction. The proposed
building is to support informal traders who need a productive space to work from.
The central challenge he poses through his design is: Why not have the courage,
where practical, to let people shape their own environment?
‘The aim of the design was to provide a built-form where the people have the ability to define its
configuration. This was done through consultation with all of the relevant stakeholders because community
participation empowers people within a specific context to influence the way they want the built form to
be configured,’ said Mongezi.
‘This also has the benefit of making sure the built form will be of some value and meaning for informal
workers when they are given the opportunity to apply the knowledge they themselves have developed.’
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