AMA Special Report

SPECIAL REPORT

“I AM AN ARCHOHOLIC. . .”

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“I AM AN ARCHOHOLIC...”

LIFE AS AN ARCHITECT – THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ADRIAN MASEROW

“Architecture is a difficult profession but it offers a lifetime of growth and inspiration. It is a physical expression of the dreams and ambitions of mankind. As architects, we reveal what we think about life and society and our design responsibility is immense if we aim to leave a legacy of value.”

– Adrian Maserow

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A review of AMA Architects over the decades “At AMA Architects, we never take for granted the privilege of designing buildings. The diversity of our work under one roof is a sign that with each opportunity, we gain new knowledge, always seeking refinement, efficiency and presence.”

into an urban framework, much in the same way that the now popular ‘New Urbanism’ has unfolded.

“My Masters thesis in architecture was an exploration into design processes that really interested me. I use these processes today as I think in the abstract in order to embrace the holistic vision that holds function, humanity, art and poetry in all design. The most significant mentors and academics that influenced my aca-

Adrian Maserow graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1981 with a Bachelors Degree in Architecture. He then went on to study for his Masters under the guidance of Professor Guedes and Professor Dennis Radford, completing it in 1985.

demic life and later my ability to practice architecture, were Pancho Guedes and Leon van Schaik.”

Pancho Guedes lives in Portugal and has been one of the most passionate promoters of architecture as an art.

Leon van Schaik runs The Masters Programme at The

Maserow’s thesis towards his BA in Architecture that was published in 1981 and was titled: A strategy for an urban pensioner community. It considered the human life cycle as critical to the designer’s field of interest and integrated a pensioner community housing project Sandton Towers.

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia.

After 9 years as a partner of Koseff Maserow van der Walt, he went on to form Adrian Maserow Architects when the former practice was disbanded in 1993. With

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a change of shareholdings and new partners on board in 1999, the practice was renamed AMA Architects.

In 2001, AMA Architects reinvented the firm’s mission and expand its opportunities. In 2002, the interior design firm, D12 Interiors was added to the group to complement the AMA service offering.

“I started AMA Architects a few short months before South Africa’s first democratic elections,” says Maserow.

“These were remarkable times. Parts of the nation feared the worst. Some people were stockpiling tinned food to take them through an imagined period of no basic services and food shortages.”

Maserow’s keen timing was fortunate. His ‘positioning’ equally so, as he joined forces with some of the country’s most vibrant and dynamic developers in the metro area of Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, which in particular included Sandton.

Council for Architects since 1983. He is further a member of The Royal Institute of British Architects and The South African Property Owners Association.

The practice is guided by a committed belief in the contribution that good architectural design has towards the life of the community. Maserow, together with principals Gerald Pereira and Marco Fanucci, are all deeply committed to an exuberant and evocative contemporary architecture which is appropriate to the age in which we live.

“One of the most stimulating aspects of architecture is that, in designing buildings for different functions, we become familiar with the workings of those businesses and industries. I have designed motor showrooms, golf clubhouses and retirement villages. I have spent valuable time with retailers anticipating

Adrian Maserow has been a member of The Institute of South African Architects and the South African

how their centres will be supported. Hoteliers have given me insight into their functionality. Through

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9> working with logistics engineers, I have gained knowledge of the flows and requirements for large distribution warehouses. I have designed head offices for banks, advertising agencies, parastatals, medical aid companies and leaders in the steel and diamond industries. All of this is so exciting because my staff and I invariably deal with the leaders of those industries and work at a high level of human endeavour and completion.”

Insight into life as an architect “There is no training prior to going to architecture school that gives you any indication that you may be able to be an architect. What you perhaps have is a sense that you embrace the ‘things’ of life a little differently from others around you – a piece of wood that was chiseled into a shape, a strip of leather that was made into a belt, building models, paper sculptures, mud houses, tree houses and the like. . . but do you know that you want to be an architect?” comments Maserow.

“You have probably also enjoyed exploring a cave, hiding in a dugout, climbing into a dormer roof or creeping into a cellar. You have walked the streets and alleys, climbed stairways at school, hidden under storerooms and made your own cushion homes in the lounge. You’ve had hobbies like sketching, playing music, writing poetry and singing and dancing.

These are the experiences that I’ve had and found that other architects have had, and that is why we have become architects!”

Architecture is different to those professions that only have logical and knowledge-based analytical outcomes to work with, because architecture is an art. It is one of the few professions that demands poetic interpretation in order to have a meaningful impact that transcends function which results in delight.

Shelter, of course, is a necessity and the provision of it is an imperative. But to build identifiable communities

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that are adequately nurtured means that the entire framework of habitation must embrace a holistic view of man that satisfies body, emotion and spirit.

“The ego plays a strong role in surviving as an architect in a consumer society because of the unrelenting competitiveness that you face on a daily basis. This either strengthens you or diminishes you as an architect.

10 > Much architecture has been a knee-jerk reaction to the perceived market place conditions, resulting in a kind of prescription architecture seen as a universal pill that provides ‘cures’ for all situations. This is, of course, extremely limiting and disappointing and it negates all that we are able to achieve.”

“But beyond that, the design responsibility of the architect is immense if we aim to leave a legacy of value.

The poetic aspects of architecture inhabit the centre stage of society. We must design with inspiration and it is our responsibility to shape our architectural world with spaces and places of iconic merit. Life is celebrated through architecture and the bringing of inspired function and beauty to the physical world is the responsibility of the talented architect.”

Our allies and friends are so important to our viability in this profession. But the danger that we sell out is always present. Our fragile egos could easily take us away from our centre, our inner strength.”

Sketching abstracts into reality As a student of architecture, Maserow explored the tools of architecture and the ability to compose buildings through drawing. The pen or pencil was his preferred medium for this exploration.

“Sketches have been a strong part of my life as an architect. The BIC pen allows for the explorations and thinking processes that I use. Beauty is sought, ideas are reconsidered and notions are revealed through

“Nevertheless, so many aspects of this demanding profession can trip you in your attempts to run ahead.

the workings and reworkings of lines on a page. This is where design starts and always tells its truth. I

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believe that no beautiful design can be built without its notion having been sketched on paper.”

Presentations Conceptual perspectives.

“Our clients are vital to our endeavour and the most promising relationships evolve where the level of respect and our joint mission is powerfully focused.”

Presentations are important, as communicating a vision from the abstract is vital to the level of acceptance, buy-in and promotion of the architecture. The communication ranges from sketches through to polished 3D renderings and animations. For the last six years, AMA’s in-house presentation facility has been run by Lana Myburgh, who has taken presentations to a new world-class standard of presentation and innovation.

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The need to be significant

and hope and we understand our responsibility in

Architecture is an art and yet it has a direct function

standing the responsibilities that they have towards

and purpose for humanity that elevates it simulta-

the world’s dwindling resources and energy sup-

neously into the realm of significance and presence.

plies, the partners at the practice make every effort

uplifting its people through world-class design.” Under-

to adhere to the correct use of renewable energy.

“AMA Architects have excelled in the areas of archi-

These issues are always brought into focus with

tecture that include housing, office buildings, retail

their contemporary projects.

centres, refurbishments, golf clubhouses, apartment buildings and interior design,” says Maserow. “Our

“For our design team, we are driven first by an inspi-

clients include private business, banks, parastatals

ration. We then find an order from which we distill

and listed property companies. Our friends and col-

an idea worthy of design excellence. In order to be

leagues are businesspeople, developers, agents,

inspired, we suspect that buildings have ‘hearts and

engineers, quantity surveyors, landlords, bankers,

souls’. Whilst our projects must perform their mate-

suppliers and contractors.”

rial functions first, the architecture must be imbued with meaning through the buildings’ ability to ‘speak

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to us’ – through a sustaining and encouraging vision.

Architects has been able to provide the full service design needs of its clients, delivering a full range of design services right through to the procurement of detailed assets like crockery, cutlery and artwork.

Sarene Lyon Nel heads up the D12 interior design team, and brings a strong and professional leadership to their offering.

The firm’s position in the marketplace has been strengthened through a dogged determination to always be relevant and at the cusp of need and vision.

“Most of the architecture commissioned is when there is a trust that the architect will perform responsibly. We attempt to grow that trust through a fresh approach towards the analysis of a project’s needs and availability to consider and review many options, with a worldly and a contemporary vision of the architectural field is always an advantage.”

Taking the analysis to its broader context, Maserow acknowledges that “South Africa is a land of promise

Views of Paddock House.

13 > We attempt to build environments that will exert a Sitting through the assessments of the chosen projects, kind of ‘magic’ that lives well beyond the functional Maserow was reminded why he chose a career as a practising architect. From 730 entry submissions, experience and its obvious environment.”

250 were singled out and presented to a esteemed panel of adjudicators, representing the best of the best in the discipline.

World Architectural Festival –

Barcelona, October 2008

highlighting the extraordinary role of architecture in

“Many of the entries came from the ‘starchitect’ firms, who seem to operate wonderful ‘talent-seeking production houses’. They work ‘out of the box’ in order to make their unique moments in architecture and, through this, they achieve prominence and recognition.

But, throughout the world, the highest proportion of architects are still smaller firms which are often a collaboration, a group of inspired and passionate teams that can transform the field of architecture. These groups are adventurous and experimental with purpose and

the world’s economy and in society generally.

I was grateful to see their works.”

In October 2008, Maserow attended the first World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Barcelona. Prior to this gathering, the international nature of architecture and the universal cultural aspirations that architecture represents, had not been expressed in any global event. The WAF reviewed the realised buildings of the profession’s global achievement on the ground,

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17 > “It is often strangely exciting to travel. Away from your mother tongue, it is stimulating to be an alien in a foreign city, far from the routine of regular day-to-day life. Barcelona is a really exciting, passionate and promising city and it was a fantastic venue for this world forum. It is a magnet for people that enjoy its drive and humanity. Its architecture has been recognised as a strong proponent of the contemporary and the modern. This dizzy combination of the World Architectural Festival and the City of Barcelona was so outrageously appealing. I soaked up the architectural genius and excitement of our age, much like a student would at the foot of his masters.”

“As architects, we engage with each other with a knowing recognition of our similar fates. Make friends with an architect and you will likely meet someone who urges you to celebrate your day to day life. We also often share the view that our age is far too formulaic, too calculating, too careful and too inhibited perhaps to recognize the magnificence in which we live.”

One of the most interesting discussions and debates revolved around the question: Who is the client? It is Concept for dry docks in China.

a simple question, but one that is problematic for architects. Is the client the person who pays the fee, or is the client the end user (often someone entirely different)? Is the client, perhaps, society itself? Or, in respect of sustainability, is the client in fact the Earth?

The conclusion was that the ‘place’ was the client.

The expression of identity and the aspect of significance At this time in the planet’s history, it is the dominant global economy that finds expression in the New Modernism. Westernisation has had a profound influence on the expression of the built form, and it inevitably changes the nature of ‘the place’. The current modernity is dominated by the Northern Atlantic cultures. It is symbolised in an outward looking, modern ‘Coca Cola’ brand of architecture and much as it may be loathed by traditionalists, as Jencks once noted: “The cultured Parisians loathed Eiffel’s grotesque iron tower, but it is now the emblem of France!”

18 > Architects have a ‘duty of care’ to take issue with. The matter of identity, although only partly to do with architecture, is very personal. It has to do with who you are, your sameness and your differences. Architects all come from communities. They have a ‘collective memory’. The world metropolis absorbs the mix of cultures. This is signified in the contemporary architecture which we subscribe to..

People are alive to a popular admiration of modern architecture. Interestingly, technology goes side by side with capitalism. It homogenises function and, therefore, design. Architecture concentrates on what is important to people, and thereby finds its significance.

“In the end, I identify with Ken Yang’s philosophy that states that ‘giving pleasure is one of the most important aspects of architecture’. For me, it’s the sensibility of the contemporary mind that seeks clarity of purpose through form and art that most attracts me. I admire incisive resolution and uphold architecture worked from a continuous flow of refinement of the moment. Our greatest goal is a process that is simultaneously exhilarating and elusive, that moment of recognition that holds the meaning of creation as its Helen Road Offices.

greatest purpose which gives us identity,” Maserow states.

“For AMA Architects, architecture of merit is the physical expression of the dreams and ambitions of our society. We design buildings to attract people to them – our cities must speak to us of community, technology, materiality and the hope of its people and its spaces in the African light. We design public spaces and private spaces, some with largesse and some intimate. But the ultimate responsibility of the architect is the Art of Architecture, which must function at an optimal level.

We attempt to build environments that will exert a kind of ‘magic’ that lives well beyond the functional experience and its obvious environment. Through this, we find meaning and memory in our architecture. Our architecture talks to a greater purpose – it provides an uplifting and human framework for our cities,” Maserow concludes.

“We have learnt that the four pillars of our design work are embedded in the concept of significance, presence, materiality and emptiness. Architecture has the capacity to be inspiring, engaging and life-enhancing.

It is through this process of architectural exploration that we find our purpose.” <

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