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A U GU S T 2 026

THE UNBUILT

VOL. 1 3 1

S A 'S H OME OF ARCH I TE C TU R E A ND D E SI G N

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We celebrate it once the scaffolding comes down. We photograph it when the landscaping has settled. We award it once it has proved itself to the world. Yet every building we admire once existed only as an idea — uncertain, unresolved, and entirely dependent on someone believing it could become something more.

There is something strange about architecture...

For all the time we spend looking back at architecture, we very rarely stop to look forward. This is Scape's first unbuilt issue, created because we wanted to explore everything that exists before architecture becomes architecture. The conversations. The experiments. The sketches. The ideas that influence the profession long before a building is realised. One of the great privileges of putting this issue together was welcoming Manuela Lucà-Dazio, Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, to its pages. Her career spans two fascinating worlds: the Venice Architecture Biennale, where architecture is often communicated through exhibitions, speculation, and temporary installations, and the Pritzker Prize, where architecture is recognised through its lasting contribution to humanity. That juxtaposition fascinated me. On one hand, architecture as possibility. On the other, architecture as permanence. Yet, as Manuela reminds us throughout our conversation, the two are inseparable. Every enduring building began as an uncertain proposition, and every speculative idea has the potential to shape the discipline long before it is built. Throughout this edition, you'll encounter that same idea from different perspectives. We step onto God's Window Skywalk with Boogertman + Partners. We sit down with the principals of SAOTA to explore award-winning projects and proposals. We explore Ōshen Residences, the collaboration between Jaun van Wyk (Studio JVW) and Tristan du Plessis. Anthony Orelowitz of Paragon Architects offers his perspective on imagination, culture, and architecture's role before construction begins. We welcome Kate Otten, whose reflections move well beyond the traditional idea of the unbuilt. Through 'constructions for self', competitions, negative and leftover space, and what she provocatively calls 'unbuilding', she reminds us that architecture is just as much about testing ideas, reading landscapes, and imagining futures as it is about completing buildings. I hope this becomes the first of many unbuilt issues. Not because there is a shortage of completed architecture to celebrate, but because there is an extraordinary world of architectural thinking that deserves just as much attention.

Chanel x

This issue is an invitation. Tell us what resonated. Tell us what challenged you. Tell us what conversations we're not yet having. And if you have a perspective that belongs in the next unbuilt edition, we'd love to hear it. After all, the future of architecture has always begun long before the building.

Cover image: 9Miles Learning Centre by SAOTA (World Architecture Festival 2026 WAFX Winner).

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NAVIGATE 18

Architecture Before Architecture:

Ideas Before Objects

Complex Simplicity

Architecture as Dreamwork

Dreams, Shadows, and Leftover Space

Sandton Gautrain Station: An Architectural Apophenia

What Survives the Unbuilt?

Drawing Together

Walking in the Clouds

101

Rooted in Discovery

An Exclusive Interview with the Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Manuela Lucà-Dazio

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BUILT ON POSSIBILITY Material That Does More Than Perform. It Inspires For Mixx, micro cement is more than a finish. It is a design language that celebrates texture, craftsmanship, and the power to create architecture that

calm, continuity, and longevity to contemporary spaces. Moya immersed herself in the science behind cement,

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endures.

exploring how carefully balanced raw materials, polymers, and additives could shape both function and aesthetics. Her laboratory existed on construction sites, inside homes, lodges, restaurants, and commercial developments, where every completed project became another opportunity to test, refine, and perfect the material. Those decades of experimentation became Mixx Cement, a proudly South African company founded on craftsmanship, innovation, and a ceaseless pursuit of quality. Today, Mixx Cement is trusted by architects, interior designers, developers, and specialist applicators across seven countries.

aesthetics with durability, offering designers a palette that is as resilient as it is refined. Yet, the story has never simply been about cement: it is about giving designers the confidence to challenge convention. To embrace texture over ornament, authenticity over excess, and materials that quietly enrich the experience of a space rather than dominate it. Every bag of Mixx Cement represents decades of research, thousands of hours of refinement, and a steadfast belief that exceptional design deserves exceptional materials. As Moya reflects, 'People often ask why I chose cement. The truth is, I don't think I chose cement at all. Somewhere along the way, cement chose me.' Follow @mixxcement to discover how architects and designers across Africa and beyond are using micro cement to create timeless spaces.

Every extraordinary building begins long before the first foundation is poured. It starts with an idea, a conversation, or the belief that imagination can yield something unforgettable. For Mixx Cement founder Moya, that belief has always been rooted in one of architecture's most understated materials. More than three decades ago, while designing luxury homes, safari lodges, and commercial spaces across Southern Africa, Moya began searching for finishes that felt timeless: materials that complemented architecture rather than competed with it. She wanted surfaces with honesty, depth, and character. Then she discovered decorative cement. Where others saw industrial material, Moya saw possibility. She saw warmth instead of plainness, restraint instead of excess, and a finish that could bring

ARCHITECTURE BEFORE

An Exclusive Interview with the Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Manuela Lucà-Dazio

ARCHITECTURE

19 2023 Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony. Athens, Greece.

Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize

interview

Few people understand both the legacy of built architecture and the contributions of architecture’s unbuilt, speculative side as fully as Manuela Lucà-Dazio does. She holds a PhD in History of Architecture from the University of Roma-Chieti and has dedicated much of her career to exploring the discipline’s present resonances, provocations, and possibilities. At the Venice Biennale, she first oversaw the technical and production side of the art and architecture exhibitions, before working with curators, artists, architects, and critics as Executive Director. In 2021, Manuela was appointed Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, an international prize that honours living architects who have made significant contributions to humanity through their work. With a deep understanding of architecture’s past and a finger on the pulse of the discipline’s current evolution, whether in our cities or galleries, there is no better person with whom to discuss the relationship between ideas and outcomes, the value of unbuilt work, the power of architectural ideas, and how imagination leads to impact.

Your career has placed you at two

Architecture is one of the most

poles of architecture: the Venice

powerful means we have to transform

Biennale, where ideas are often

and improve people’s lives. By its

more important than buildings, and

very nature, architecture is a hybrid

the Pritzker Prize, which celebrates

discipline, which engages with the

lasting architectural contribution.

major social, humanitarian, political,

How has moving between these

and cultural challenges that shape our

worlds changed the way you think

societies.

about architectural value? 20

21 By Pritzker Prize-winning architect I. M. Pei. The Louvre Museum, Paris, France.

interview

We may (paradoxically) choose to take no interest in the other arts, but we cannot escape architecture: it is the space in which we live, work, meet one another, and build relationships every day.

In the context of an Unbuilt issue, can an unbuilt project be culturally important in its own right? I have always been fascinated by unbuilt projects as repositories of

At the same time, architecture is an

possibility. They occupy a unique

Art, because meaningful solutions

space between imagination and

can only be found by pushing beyond

reality, where ideas remain open,

the boundaries of the discipline itself Manuela Lucà-Dazio

unconstrained by the compromises

— with vision, imagination, and a

@manuelalucadazio

of construction or the limitations

willingness to think radically.

of time. In some cases, they can reveal the essence of an architectural vision more clearly than the finished building.

I can distinguish between two broad types of unbuilt projects, each carrying a different significance. The first comprises projects that remain unbuilt for practical reasons: financial constraints, bureaucratic obstacles, political opposition, changes in circumstance, or shifting cultural priorities. Many of these live (or disappear) into the vast archive of what might have been, their existence preserved only in drawings and documents. Others acquire a remarkable afterlife, continuing to inhabit architectural discourse as enduring ‘missed opportunities’ — projects whose absence becomes as meaningful as their potential presence. 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The second group consists of projects that were never intended to be built in the first place. These proposals are conceived as speculative or critical

interview

"I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN FASCINATED BY UNBUILT PROJECTS AS REPOSITORIES OF POSSIBILITY." 23

interview

exercises: they seek to provoke, to test disciplinary boundaries, to explore radical possibilities, or to challenge established assumptions about architecture and its context. Their value lies not in the prospect of physical construction but in their capacity to generate ideas, stimulate debate, and expand the conceptual horizon of architectural practice. In this sense, their ‘failure’ to become reality is not a shortcoming but an intrinsic part of their purpose. While differing fundamentally in their relationship to reality, both categories demonstrate that unbuilt projects can shape architectural culture and influence subsequent generations.

Behind the scenes at Biennale Venezia 2016.

persistence of the questions they ask

unbuilt. And on the tools that assess

and the relevance they hold across

that quality.

different contexts and generations. By Pritzker Prize-winning architect Oscar Niemeyer. Museu Nacional da República, Brasília, Brazil.

Many biennale installations disappear within months, while Pritzker recognises that buildings may influence cities for generations. What qualities allow an architectural idea to endure beyond its physical lifespan?

They invite reinterpretation,

This leads me to broaden the

adaptation, and continuous dialogue,

discussion beyond the profession

and can respond to new technologies,

and into the collective sphere,

changing environmental conditions,

considering the entire process in

and evolving cultural values without

reverse. Architects have the privilege

losing their conceptual integrity.

— but also the responsibility — of

Their strength lies in their ability to

interpreting society and translating

generate further thinking rather than

its needs, aspirations, and values into

to provide definitive answers.

buildings, public spaces, and cities, while respecting the planet and its

Do you think the profession places

finite resources. Yet, an architect

too much emphasis on what gets

cannot work without a client.

built, as opposed to the ideas, research, and experimentation that

Who, then, has the privilege — and

precede it?

the responsibility — to demand

Enduring architectural ideas possess

architecture? Certainly public

a degree of openness. They are

I believe that far greater emphasis

institutions, patrons, and investors

rarely defined by the longevity of

should be placed on quality, whether

do. But the truest answer is society as

their materials, but rather by the

in architecture that is realised or stays

a whole. Ultimately, the client is each one of us.

interview

25 By Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Biscay, Spain.

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Pictured here: Jelena Trkulja, Manuela Lucà-Dazio, and Azu Nwagbogu.

"The unbuilt is never truly unfinished. It remains an invitation to imagine different ways of inhabiting the world."

Pictured here: Manuela Lucà-Dazio, Jean-Philippe Vassal & Anne Lacaton (2021 Laureates), Sir David Alan Chipperfield (2023 Laureate), Alejandro Aravena (2016 Laureate), and Diébédo Francis Kéré (2022 Laureate).

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Hence, the increasingly important

essential points of reference from the

challenge conventions, test new

role of cultural institutions — whether

Venice Architecture Biennale: Aldo

relationships among people, space,

public or private, whether museums,

Rossi’s Teatro del Mondo and Paolo

technology, and the environment, and

exhibitions or awards — is to broaden

Portoghesi’s Strada Novissima.

propose alternative futures without the obligation to execute immediately.

and deepen the means through which we understand, seek, and

A fully realised, although temporary,

They influence discourse through the

ultimately desire architecture. This

floating theatre, Rossi’s Teatro del

ideas they release into the world.

is achieved by fostering research

Mondo embodies the central themes

and experimentation, not only in

of the architectural discourse of the

In this sense, the unbuilt is never truly

the practice of architecture but

period: archetypes, ephemerality,

unfinished. It remains an invitation to

also in how it is communicated,

the timelessness of forms, and

imagine different ways of inhabiting

presented, and disseminated. Cultural

— borrowing the title of the 1st

the world.

institutions should serve as a meeting

International Architecture Exhibition —

ground between those who create

the presence of the past.

architecture and those who inhabit, experience, and use it.

Can the unbuilt act as a testing ground for the built?

The centrepiece of the 1980 Architecture Biennale, Portoghesi’s

I see built and unbuilt architecture as

Looking back at your Biennale experience, were there projects that never became buildings but changed architectural discourse?

seventy-metre-long Strada Novissima

two interdependent forms of inquiry.

was conceived as a manifesto for

Each serves as a testing ground for the

Post-Modern architecture. It remains

other. The built reveals the unforeseen

one of the most iconic and influential

consequences of design. The unbuilt,

exhibition devices ever created,

by contrast, tests the boundaries of

demonstrating how architecture can

what architecture could become.

debate through spectacle, immersion,

Between them exists a continuous

Exhibiting architecture is a paradox.

and physical experience.

exchange. Unbuilt projects often

Unlike the visual arts, where the

The enduring significance of these

become technically, culturally, or

projects lies in how they reveal

environmentally viable. Likewise,

the exhibition itself as a medium

the lessons learned from built work

of architectural production.

generate new questions that can only

The Architecture Biennale has

be pursued through speculation.

be transformed into a theme of public

anticipate possibilities that later finished work is physically present within the exhibition space, architecture faces a fundamental challenge: its true subject, the building in its own context, is almost

consistently operated as a space for

always absent.

experimentation, speculation, and

This reciprocal relationship is

debate, where temporary installations

essential in a period of rapid

From its inception in the late 1970s,

acquire a lasting influence on

ecological, technological, and social

architectural culture.

transformation. As the conditions of

the history of the Architecture Biennale has demonstrated how this inevitable incompleteness provides the most fertile ground for curatorial research, while offering architects a unique platform to present ideas, positions, and projects.

How important is speculative thinking to the evolution of architecture as a discipline? Unbuilt projects represent architecture

I can mention two examples from

in its most speculative form. They

1979-1980 that, to date, remain

the world evolve, architecture must be able both to test itself through practice and to imagine alternatives beyond existing paradigms. Together, built and unbuilt projects continuously redefine the discipline’s purpose and expand its horizons.

interview

I see exhibitions and installations as extraordinary opportunities to expand this conversation beyond specialist circles and into the public realm. They can make complex issues tangible, transforming abstract concepts into experiences that can be felt, questioned, and remembered. More than spaces for representation, exhibitions become platforms for critical inquiry, collective imagination, and civic engagement. They encourage individuals to deepen awareness and recognise the role each of us plays within larger ecological, social, and cultural systems. In doing so, they can inspire a greater sense of responsibility — through curiosity, empathy, and shared reflection. This is also why I believe unbuilt architecture deserves to be

Pictured here: Riken Yamamoto (2024 Laureate), Liu Jiakun (2025 Laureate), Manuela Lucà-Dazio, and Sir David Alan Chipperfield (2023 Laureate).

Architecture is increasingly expected to respond to climate change, migration, social inequality, and technological transformation. Are exhibitions and installations uniquely positioned to explore these challenges before architecture can respond at building scale?

Pictured here: Vicky Richardson, Manuela Lucà-Dazio, and Paolo Baratta at Biennale Venezia 2016.

Building, research, experimentation, debate, and even provocation are all essential parts of the same ongoing process: the search for meaningful and adequate responses to the profound, rapidly evolving social and environmental challenges that define our time.

Pictured here: Manuela Lucà-Dazio with the late Okwui Enwezor at Biennale Venezia 2015.

interview

"BUILDING, RESEARCH, EXPERIMENTATION, DEBATE, AND EVEN PROVOCATION ARE ALL ESSENTIAL PARTS OF THE SAME ONGOING PROCESS."

inevitable.

Every architectural project is conceived within a specific context, and I believe that those which truly reshape the built environment emerge from attentive and generous listening to that context.

The Pritzker Prize celebrates realised

This happens when, beyond

speculation and the world of legacy,

work, yet every building began as an

knowledge and technical expertise,

do you believe architecture's greatest

uncertain proposition. What separates

architects bring common sense and

contribution lies in the buildings it

an idea that remains speculative from

wisdom to understand and interpret

leaves behind or in the ideas it sets in

one that ultimately reshapes the built

the urban and social environment

motion?

environment?

that a new building will transform.

exhibited alongside realised work. An exhibition can reactivate these dormant proposals, allowing them to enter new conversations and acquire new meanings in response to changing cultural, technological, and environmental contexts. What was once considered impossible, premature, or utopian may later become necessary, achievable, or even

For me, this is the dividing line between speculative ideas and architecture in its fullest sense — the point beyond which a building becomes more than either an abstract proposition or mere construction. It is where architecture enables life to unfold naturally, enriched by the imperfections of people, nature, and time. After working within the world of

Identity is as much about the

Both. The value of either a built or

individual as it is about the collective

unbuilt project lies not just in what it

sense of belonging to a place.

is or could be, but in what it makes us think about.

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IDEAS BEFORE OBJECTS Where Design Begins

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The unbuilt exists, or rather, doesn’t yet exist, in many ways. While we readily grasp that an enormous building must have gone through a design and ideation phase, it can slip from our minds that our favourite chair, lamp, or carpet went through a parallel process. This realisation prompted us to introduce a new category in the 2026 Scape Awards of Excellence, Concept Product Design of the Year, which will honour the vision that precedes production and the unrestrained, uninhibited creativity driving new directions in design. The ideas, sketches, renders, and models represent possibility as much as the objects themselves: the possibility to suggest absence and wind in a form, or to evoke memory and the vibrant present simultaneously; the possibility to create functionality through sculptural form, or to challenge permanence. Before contending with the limitations of manufacturing, designers probe the potential viability and meaning of materials — how wool, timber, steel, copper, or ceramic might further shape an idea in the making.

Here are some of the artisanal products to look forward to, the pieces that will make our spaces more inspiring.

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The Bound Vessel by Driaan Materials: Ceramic, Black Waxed Cord The vessel is not merely a functional urn but a living presence, designed to inhabit the spaces where life continues. It stands as a memorial object, not confined to the hidden recesses of mourning, but living alongside us, in the vibrant pulse of daily life.

The De Ponti Touch Light by Hoi P’loy Materials: Polylactic Acid (PLA), Brass The light pays homage to Luigi De

Semoya Bench by Meetlo Studio

Ponti’s work, drawing on the Moka Pot’s

Materials: Solid Oak, Premium Fabric

faceted geometry. The lamp reframes 3D-printed components, shedding their

Inspired by the movement of wind through the landscape, the

'amateur' reputation and presenting

bench explores the relationship between presence and absence,

additive manufacturing as a deliberate

solidity and lightness, permanence and change. The sculptural

expression of craftsmanship — not a

frame embraces fluidity over rigid geometry, expressing the

substitute, but a purposeful choice.

organic and often unpredictable nature of spiritual journeys.

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The Genki Unit by The Ayris Collection Materials: MDF, Solid Wood Genki explores the relationship between emotion and utility through deliberately optimistic furniture. The cabinet celebrates colour, proportion, and tactility, creating a piece that invites interaction while remaining highly functional across residential, hospitality, and commercial environments.

The HAO Dining Chair by Vitalli Materials: Carbon-Stained Ash Timber, Tibetan Sheepskin The HAO Dining Chair is an exploration of balance, symmetry, and stillness. Drawing from the mirrored reflections of trees and the grassy bank along the water's edge, the design abstracts this natural phenomenon into a sculptural object that balances strength with softness.

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The Embrace Chair by Arcpop Materials: Charred Timber, Velvet, Brass The Embrace Chair is an investigation into how furniture can move beyond function to become an emotional experience. Like the quiet balance found in nature, it explores the space where architecture, sculpture, and comfort intersect.

SHELLter by Shellegance and Wunders Materials: Wood, Handcrafted Textile The concept of SHELLter extends beyond wordplay, representing the idea of creating a protective, nurturing environment — like a shell provides both beauty and protection.

Blowing Bubbles by Ronel Jordaan Materials: South African Merino Wool, Metal Each bubble on the chair is handmade by a different person, creating unique bubbles of speech through the process of generating, discussing, and sharing ideas.

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The Touch of Bronze The Vula Collection Honours This Material Where Ancient Craft Meets Contemporary Design

Warm, weighty, and unmistakably handmade, each piece in The Vula Collection graces doorways and dwellings, uniting ancient craftsmanship, natural beauty, and contemporary design. The sculptural shapes borrow from forest, river, and sea and reference forms shaped by growth, erosion, and time. These organic shapes are reimagined through the human hand, for the human hand. There is something deeply compelling about an object that still bears the marks of the human hand. It is this quality that gives cast bronze its enduring appeal. While contemporary interiors often favour clean lines and perfect forms, they also ask for moments of story and connection. More than simply functional hardware, The Vula Collection celebrates the beauty of bronze, a material that bridges art, craft, and architecture. Each handle begins as a sculpted original, shaped by hand before being transformed through ancient casting processes. The result is a surface that feels alive — softly textured, subtly imperfect, and rich with character. A hand-thrown ceramic vessel carries slight variations that speak to its maker. A carved timber object reveals the movement of the tools that shaped it. Cast bronze possesses the same authenticity. It invites touch and

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rewards close inspection, revealing

Vula Collection’s bespoke handles

The Vula Collection celebrates the

nuances that industrial fabrication

seem to emerge naturally from

imperfections, textures, and timeless

cannot replicate.

the places themselves. Set within

qualities that make handcrafted

landscapes defined by ancient

objects so enduringly desirable. It is

There is also a deeper resonance to

ecosystems, wildlife migrations, and

a reminder that the most memorable

bronze itself. As one of humanity's

vast natural horizons, the cast bronze

details in a space are often those that

oldest artistic materials, bronze has

forms a tactile connection between

feel most human.

been used for thousands of years to

architecture and environment.

create objects of beauty, ritual, and permanence. It carries an innate sense

In a world increasingly dominated

of rootedness and longevity.

by uniformity and mass production, cast bronze offers something

In recent collaborations with luxury

rare: individuality. Crafted by the

lodges in Botswana and Uganda, The

sculptors at Falconer Art Studios,

The Affordances of Technology, the Pursuit of Clarity, and the Ultimate Delight of Architecture, as Discussed by Stefan, Greg, Phillippe, and Mark of SAOTA

@_saota www.saota.com

39 Image courtesy of SAOTA.

Over the years, Scape has had many conversations with SAOTA, a giant in our industry. This Unbuilt issue presented an opportunity to learn from Founding Principals Stefan Antoni and Greg Truen about the essence of architectural design, how the value of an idea can be measured by its sense of inevitability, and how drawing endures as a way of thinking and a means of discovery. They also stress the importance of documenting unbuilt work, so that thinking can be preserved and inform projects years later. We were also joined by Phillippe Fouché, lead Principal on Meru, which won an award at the 2024 World Architecture Festival (WAF). He tells us how the project reimagines Kenyan living, and how it opened a dialogue about tradition long before a single brick was laid. More recently, SAOTA’s 9Miles Learning Centre in Strandfontein, led by Principal Mark Bullivant, was honoured with a WAFX Award in the Power and Justice category — another reminder of how much this work matters. 40

Greg: High-resolution satellite imagery, drone surveys, environmental modelling, and AIassisted visualisation have transformed how we understand a place remotely. We can analyse topography, climate, orientation, daylight conditions, and broader contextual relationships with a depth and speed that was unimaginable a decade ago. But architecture is not data; it is experience. No technology can fully replicate the atmosphere of a place, the quality of light, the scale of a landscape or the cultural cues that shape how people experience it. Digital tools can bring us incredibly close, but they cannot replace being there. The most important insights are often the ones that cannot be measured.

SAOTA's work spans six continents and an extraordinary range of

landscapes, climates, and cultures — from Africa and Europe to the Middle East, North America, and Asia — often requiring the design team to engage deeply with a site long before spending time on the ground. Greg, you’ve spoken about the growing sophistication of view analysis and site visualisation tools. What technological advancements have most transformed your ability to understand a place remotely, and can digital understanding rival a physical site visit? 41

One of the most remarkable aspects of SAOTA's work is that it feels

simultaneously global and deeply rooted in place. How do you ensure a project responds authentically to its context while maintaining the design language and standards now synonymous with SAOTA? Stefan: Every project is shaped by its climate, landscape, culture, and patterns of inhabitation. The goal is not to impose a SAOTA aesthetic on a place, but to understand it so thoroughly that the architecture feels inevitable. While the architecture may change, our approach remains consistent: observation, curiosity, and a relentless pursuit of clarity.

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What makes a concept compelling enough for you to pursue? Greg: Often it is several ideas that jostle and challenge each other. Through elimination, one discovers the strongest and clearest idea. The best concepts provide clarity amidst complexity. They are robust enough to guide every decision, yet simple enough to be understood intuitively. Sometimes that idea is evident from the outset; more often, it emerges through a rigorous process of testing, questioning, and refinement. When a concept is right, it has a sense of inevitability.

9Miles Learning Centre. Image courtesy of SAOTA.

Beyond solving a brief, what should a great architectural concept do? Mark: Elevate a design above its mere functional requirements. Create something memorable and engaging, a dialogue with the user. Explore new ways of experiencing place and space. At its core, architecture is about emotional experience, and, of course, delight.

9Miles Learning Centre. Image courtesy of SAOTA.

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9Miles Learning Centre. Image courtesy of SAOTA.

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SAOTA's work is often recognised for its visual clarity, but beneath that elegance there is usually a strong conceptual framework. How do you balance intellectual ambition with the need to create spaces that feel effortless and intuitive? Mark: A building must address all its functional requirements. That is not negotiable. Yet architecture must do far more than solve practical problems. It should take the ordinary

Meru was about proposing an alternative model

explorations, unbuilt projects, and incomplete

for contemporary Kenyan living. The value of the

schemes go undocumented. Ideas often

idea existed long before construction, because

resurface years later, informing new projects

it opened a dialogue about how tradition can

and new lines of enquiry. By documenting

evolve.

these explorations, we create a repository of thinking that can be revisited, refined, and

Awards programmes often require architects to distil a project into a compelling narrative... Stefan: Absolutely. Designing is more

built upon over time. This is something we are actively addressing, as we increasingly recognise the value of preserving the broader design conversation, not only the finished work.

than just creating buildings. A competition entry

“Beautiful drawings can reflect the process and evocatively convey a design, its story, and its qualities." and make it extraordinary. It should make an

needs a strong idea or hook; something that

impact, challenge perception, and open people

distinguishes it from the other entries. It's not

to a richer experience of place.

just telling a story; it is how simple but layered

Meru's success at World Architecture Festival (WAF) demonstrated that an unbuilt project can stand alongside completed architecture on the world stage. What did the submission process teach you about communicating the power of an idea? Phillippe: The submission process reinforced that architecture is ultimately judged by the strength and clarity of its ideas. Without photographs or post-occupancy performance

and engaging the story is. There needs to be a complexity in the simplicity.

Some of architecture's most influential ideas were never built. Do you see unbuilt work as a laboratory for the profession, a space where architects can test new ways of thinking, challenge conventions, and explore possibilities that may later find their way into built work? Greg: Every project is an opportunity

to rely on, the project had to communicate a

to explore and continue the dialogue. Some

compelling narrative, a clear concept, and a

ideas carry from one project to the next, while

coherent response to place.

others fall away. Occasionally, an idea re-

Meru challenged the conventional

emerges years later, often in unexpected ways.

relationship between the Kenyan house and its

Through this process of retention, refinement,

environment. Traditionally, Swahili courtyard

and reflection, ideas evolve over time and

houses are inward-looking, while rural

eventually find their way into built work.

homesteads are connected to the landscape and far more open. The project explored whether these seemingly opposing typologies could coexist within a contemporary architectural language.

When a project remains unbuilt, how can an architectural idea have value and influence on its own? Stefan: We have come to realise how many valuable ideas are lost when design

Before a project becomes a rendering, a model or a building, it often begins as a sketch. What role does drawing still play in the way you think through ideas, and can a handdrawn line reveal something that a computer can’t? Stefan: I come from a pre-CAD generation and still value drawing as a way of thinking. We don't spend enough time exploring ideas anymore. Often a simple diagram or sketch contains an extraordinary amount of potential, much of which can be lost as we navigate the practical challenges of the site, budget, and broader constraints.

Architecture has always sat somewhere between imagination and construction. In an age of increasingly sophisticated visualisation tools, does drawing remain a powerful way to explore a concept? Greg: Visualisation tools have made it much easier to render and experience ideas visually. They assist the iterative process, testing ideas and alternatives, but essentially the idea and the literacy still need to be in you.

Villa Meru. Image courtesy of SAOTA.

interview

Many architects speak about drawing as a way of discovering ideas. Do you still find that drawing can lead you somewhere unexpected? Stefan: Most people cannot draw, which often means leapfrogging too quickly into

If architecture begins with an idea, and that idea often begins with a line on a page, what do you hope young architects never lose as technology further transforms the profession? Stefan: Thinking. Grappling with

Looking ahead, what excites you most about the next generation of architectural practice? Stefan: We are far more empowered today to create, test, and immerse ourselves in our designs than ever before. What excites me

developing an unresolved idea. But there are

uncertainty and working through the struggle of

most is the opportunity to explore ideas with

many more ways of drawing and testing ideas

an idea. My concern is that AI becomes a crutch

greater depth and speed, while continuing to

today, so there are no excuses in the process

rather than a valuable tool. Technology should

develop the critical thinking, judgement, and

of discovery. Beautiful drawings can reflect the

expand our capacity to think, not diminish it. The

curiosity that remain at the heart of architecture.

process and evocatively convey a design, its

creative, questioning mind must never atrophy.

story, and its qualities.

"Often a simple diagram or sketch contains an extraordinary amount of potential, much of which can be lost as we navigate the practical challenges of the site, budget, and broader constraints."

Villa Meru. Image courtesy of SAOTA.

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architecture as dreamwork

Anthony Orelowitz from Paragon Architects Shares Projects, Memories, and Methodologies That Live on Without Brick and Mortar

Image courtesy of Paragon Architects.

interview

Next year, Paragon Architects will mark three decades of practice. With major projects such as Amazon’s African headquarters in Cape Town and Deloitte’s in Waterfall, Sasol Place and the Alice Lane precinct in Sandton, and their design contribution to the Cape Town Stadium, now a landmark in Green Point, Paragon’s influence on the built environment is so self-evident that it is almost impossible to imagine the practice in terms of what it didn’t build. Founding Director Anthony tells a different story, reflecting on his imagined first office, describing projects that never came to fruition, and revealing that the unbuilt project is entirely central to Paragon’s way of working.

At our Design Emporium last

making decisions as if it already exists.

year, you told the story of the

A building begins as pure invention

client meeting that launched your

in the mind before it exists in the

architectural career — borrowing

world. That office was simply the

furniture from your father's business

most literal version of what architects

and asking friends to sit behind PC

do constantly: give shape to a dream

screens and pretend to be working,

ahead of its realisation.

creating the impression of an established office. In a sense, your

It’s why I’ve always said we don’t sell

office set-up was an unbuilt project.

buildings, we sell the life that unfolds

Could you expand on this idea?

inside them. The office was temporary, and yet it wasn’t — it was the gateway

I think of it as the earliest possible act

to a practice. Architecture is dreaming

@paragongroupza

of architecture — imagining a finished

a thing into being, then having the

www.paragongroup.design

thing so completely you can start

discipline to see it through.

Mmabana. Image courtesy of Paragon Architects.

Switching Station. Image courtesy of Paragon Architects.

interview

You also spoke about losing your sight for a few months during your thesis year, and designing your thesis in your head — an extreme form of the unbuilt. Did this experience inform your approach to design later in your career? I lost my sight going into my final year, over the December/January holiday. It was frightening, but it also gave me time with nothing to do but think. By March, the thesis was fully conceptualised in my mind; by June, it was drawn. I spent the rest of the year in the workshop building the model. That sequence has stayed with me: think first, thoroughly, before drawing. I still spend far more time conceptualising in my head than iterating on paper — and once a conceptual response is mostly resolved, the rest comes quickly and completely. That was true of a thesis designed in my mind’s eye, and it’s true of the way I practise at Paragon today.

interview

Your banking background gave you

Economic exposure is the most

skills in financial modelling and risk

familiar. Cape Town illustrates it well

analysis. Has that influenced your

at the moment: residential property

approach to projects — perhaps by

prices there have risen faster over the

reducing the number of proposals

past two years than almost anywhere

that remain unbuilt, because

else in the world, but booms cool

feasibility is central to your work

eventually.

from the outset? Political exposure tends to operate

"Unbuilt work is

Enormously — though it came about

faster and is often harder to predict.

almost by accident. After studying

Dubai is our clearest recent example:

architecture, I did an MBA in property

work there was booming, then almost

finance and worked at Standard Bank’s

overnight regional conflict made

property division, primarily on client

clients cautious about new starts.

where ideas

and project risk analysis. At the time it was simply a precaution, a second

Then there’s the unforeseen.

are tested

competency in case my eyesight

Johannesburg carries the clearest

failed.

scar of this for us: long the centre

and refined

I realised that financial understanding

this country, it was halted almost

protects design, rather than

overnight by Covid, with real recovery

before

compromising it. Design is usually

happening only now, seven years

the casualty of financial pressure — a

on. That shock landed everywhere

scheme gets value-engineered late,

at once; it simply hit Johannesburg’s

under duress, and what survives is

commercial cycle hardest.

they’re

of commercial development in

a diminished version of the original

ready —

idea. When you understand a client’s

A market can be economically

financial constraints from the outset,

sound and politically fragile, or hit

a process

those pressures are taken into account

by something no one saw coming.

from the first sketch and not imposed

Working across several cities and

on the design afterwards. The result

countries means one is rarely failing

is buildings that hold their design

for the same reason at once, which

integrity, and it raises our build rate.

keeps work moving.

that drives us towards excellence."

Across the different markets you work in, what most often prevents a project from coming to fruition? Is there a city where unbuilt work has been more common, and what drives it? The barriers to completion tend to fall into three categories: economic exposure, political exposure, and the unforeseen. None belongs to any one country or city — each can surface anywhere, and often does.

interview

Switching Station. Image courtesy of Paragon Architects.

interview

Has an idea from an unbuilt project ever resurfaced in one that did get constructed? Or has unbuilt work

city, turning a dead node into a public

silence, and stayed with me when

one.

the invitation to design at the Cradle arrived.

created value in other ways?

Is there one unbuilt project that has stayed with you? What made it

We spent a long time walking the

Yes, constantly. No work is ever really

significant, and what do you think it

land before drawing anything —

could have contributed if it had been

understanding its fall, its light, where

built?

the water wanted to flow. The brief

lost. A project that doesn’t get built still completes its thinking, and that

grew into a small settlement: a hotel,

carries forward into whatever comes

a short-stay component, a restaurant,

next.

a coffee shop, a meditation space, and a series of villas set into different

Unbuilt work is really an experiment

pockets of landscape. I loved the

of thought — an incubator of ideas

spa most — five pavilions scattered

rather than a dead end. What survives

through the veld around a still pond,

is the underlying logic, which sits

each one built to isolate a single sense

within the practice until a new project

through water. It was conceived as

asks the same question in a different

a slow procession toward stillness,

context. Sometimes the relevance is

carrying something of what Zumthor

immediate; sometimes it takes years,

had shown me, reimagined for that

until the world catches up to it.

South African landscape.

This is what it means to be a learning practice. Unbuilt work is where ideas

Then Covid arrived, and the project

are tested and refined before they’re

stalled. It resurfaced once in a

ready — a process that drives us

different form, but by then the

towards excellence. The built work is

moment and the people involved

just the visible part of a much larger,

had moved on. What stays with me

continuous body of thought.

isn’t the loss of a building so much as the loss of that particular alignment

Constraints aside, if you could bring

between a landscape, a brief, and an

any shelved project to life tomorrow,

idea about water and silence that will

which would it be?

probably never be recreated.

The Switching Station is

What is the value of

the one I’d choose first. It’s the conversion of the old Telkom Exchange at the bottom of Lower Long — a seven-storey, windowless building — into a market at ground level, a co-working space on the first floor, storage and a data centre for the balance, and an office space on the roof. Of everything we’ve proposed recently but not built, this one would have the most positive effect on the city: it would activate one of the most sanitised areas of the

competitions for your There’s always one — usually not the

team? Could you tell us

biggest, but the one where the idea

about Paragon's internal design

was purest or the timing was cruel.

competition, 'The Build Within'?

For me it’s a retreat we designed on land known as Parcel 58, in the

At Paragon, roughly 60 percent of our

Cradle of Humankind, for the same

work comes through competitions,

landowners behind Nirox. The brief

and we win close to three in four we

followed a trip to Vals, in Switzerland,

enter. Those figures say less about our

where I’d gone to experience Peter

win rate than about how the practice

Zumthor’s Therme. It shifted how

thinks. Competition work demands

I thought about space, water, and

continuous innovation and a rigour

The Lighthouse. Image courtesy of Paragon Architects.

"Unbuilt work is where ideas are tested and refined before they’re ready — a process that drives us towards excellence."

interview

in both design and delivery that isn’t

studio ‘culture houses’. Each team

lead, budget controller, and presenter

optional but structural.

works from an identical fixed floor

defending the work. A team builds

plan for a single residence, and each

cost literacy and supplier relationships

Competitions built this practice quite

month we release a new room or zone

in tandem with design ability, and the

literally: our current structure, and

— garage, kitchen, bathroom, main

process places our Johannesburg and

much of our confidence in design,

suite, landscaping — to design, cost

Cape Town studios in conversation.

grew out of early wins that formalised

and defend. The envelope is fixed; all

how we work. The losses matter

invention has to happen within that

For an Unbuilt issue, The Build Within

equally. Each one requires an honest

constraint, which is where the name

is almost the perfect subject: it’s

assessment that feeds directly into

comes from.

an entire house, designed to a real

how we approach the next brief.

budget with real products, that will Discipline is built into the format.

never be built. Nobody will ever live

Paragon's internal competition, 'The

Every submission requires a

in it, and yet the value is completely

Build Within' grew from the conviction

concept narrative, a mood board,

real — it lives on in the sharper, more

that a practice sharpens itself by

a dimensioned plan, rendered or

commercially fluent and confident

designing under pressure, together,

sketched imagery, and a detailed

designers who emerge from it. It’s

whether or not the result is ever seen

budget based on genuine QS and

the practice building within: within

beyond the studio. It’s a year-long

supplier pricing. Roles rotate, so every

constraints, within the studio, and

internal competition between our four

participant takes a turn as design

within the imagination.

CMY

Mmabana. Image courtesy of Paragon Architects.

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DREAMS, SHADOWS, AND LEFTOVER SPACE

Kate Otten on the Expanded Idea of the Unbuilt, Explored Through Constructions for Self, Landscape, and Unbuilding as the Future Words by: Jean-Marié Malan

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@kateottenarchitects www.kateottenarchitects.com

MANY ARC HITECTS, AT SOME POINT IN THEIR LIVES, DESIGN BUILDINGS FOR THEIR PERSONAL USE, BUT THIS PRACTICE IS SO CRITICAL TO KATE’S LIFE AND WORK THAT SHE HAS TERMED IT ‘CONSTRUCTIONS FOR SELF’. It allows her to experiment in ways that are difficult to do at a client’s cost, but then, she says, ‘I need to make it fantastic because otherwise there’s the indictment of not doing “decent” architecture.’

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By creating berms and manipulating the roof, land and built form are scuplted to integrate and merge with the landscape

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On a Monday in the middle of July, Kate gave Scape a virtual tour of her architectural studio in Johannesburg. Alongside other colour- and patternfilled objects, it contains an acid-green cupboard to contrast with the warm tones of earth-finished walls and clay pots that she made as light fittings. Modest white kitchen chairs surround a large table, and upcycled armchairs are reupholstered in terracotta floralprint fabric. Whether newly built or modified, none of Kate’s studios has been a neutral space. They serve as constant inspiration for the architect and as prompts to her clients, allowing her to ‘open their eyes and imagination’. I asked Kate about her constructions for self with the idea of the unbuilt in mind. Although these spaces are built, and indeed beautifully finished, they share with unrealised projects a freedom from the constraints of a conventional commission and become testing grounds for ideas. Kate echoed the liberties I took with the notion of the unbuilt in her responses to questions, recalling a completed building when asked to speak about one that was never built but has stayed with her. The Pineapple Republic, her very first studio, came to her mind. Kate’s mother and granny each lived on one side of a semiEanoka Lodge – conceptual design for

detached house, while she occupied

a new lodge in Limpopo province

the cottage on the plot. When her granny died, she moved into the semi and used the cottage as her studio. It was there that she completed her thesis and started her practice ‘at the end of the bad 80s’. The family eventually sold the property, but she dreams of it often, and it returns to her in different guises. Its physical 64

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form shaped her practice and her

built, which appears as prominently

sense of self; now it lives on in her

as brick and mortar in her designs.

subconscious. ‘That place was also

‘My projects often take up negative or

very much about the leftover negative

leftover space’, she says, adding in the

spaces’, Kate notes.

same breath, ‘and I have long been a gardener, like my granny’. To illustrate

Every site has its own story and

this inclination, she refers to the Wits

requires careful reading. This is

University Rural Campus where you’re

especially true of additions and

‘never quite sure if you are inside or

alterations, where scraping back the

outside’, emphasising that ‘that’s also

built layers reveals the palimpsest,

the lesson’.

the traces it still bears of former lives. When she worked on the Women’s

‘I’m fascinated to know and I still don't

Jail in Braamfontein, where women

have an answer, why, if you look at a

anti-apartheid activists were unjustly

shadow of a tree on a wall, say a white wall, it isn’t black;

"She is led by a type of curatorial sensitivity seen also in her studio and everyday arrangements."

there are shades of grey. How is that possible?’ Kate is interested in how intangible things, such as sculptural shafts

imprisoned, she had to contend with the building’s varied history and its

of light and dappled light created

use by different parties over time. Part

by shadow, can make a space feel a

of the difficulty of excavating a past

certain way. She is equally interested

that would live on in the building’s

in how arranging simple structures

next life as a museum was deciding

on a farm or chairs at a party

The entrance of House Altman-Maasdorp

at which point to leave the existing

creates or doesn’t create spaces and

is conceptualised as a forest – structural

fabric. Former inmates’ memories

opportunities for unusual interactions,

revealed things that had once been

without building in the strictest sense

there but were since removed, while

of the word. She is led by a type of

peeling back the building’s layers

curatorial sensitivity seen also in her

uncovered, for example, a grille that

studio and everyday arrangements: a

would have divided the main entrance

table setting, a grouping of objects,

from the cells. Kate added that this

or how furniture sits in a room. She

kind of reading, and the decisions

might shift something slightly, add a

about what to preserve or record,

colour, and later take an object away.

gumpoles are seemingly randomly placed to imitate a forest of trees; angled rafters and shafts of light emulate the canopy

happen regardless of a site’s historical significance, as there’s innate value and a story to be found in the most ordinary of buildings. Her work’s close relationship with landscape prompted another way of thinking about the unbuilt: as the non-

Kate extolled the value of competitions, noting how generative they are for discovering new ideas and how important they can be for a young practice, often leading to great commissions.

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She views the opportunity to see

hoping the design — inspired by

architecture’, says Kate, who was initially

various responses to the same brief

Islamic architecture and paradise

hesitant to answer a question about

as, in itself, a form of exhibiting and

gardens — would raise funds to build

South Africa's future. Posed in a time

communicating architectural ideas.

the home. The design consists of

of change, it recalled similar questions

‘I think there’s astonishing work that

three parts: a productive landscape,

about the nature of South African

goes on in unbuilt ways that must be

a public space for communal activity

architecture in the wake of 1994.

acknowledged’, she says.

and prayer, and a much more private sleeping space, all laid out in relation

She shared one of the projects she

to the landscape.

wishes had been built: the Give Light Children’s Home in Cape Town for

The unbuilt can also be understood

a charity organisation dedicated

as an orientation towards the future:

to improving the lives of children

for architects, it’s a way of imagining

orphaned by natural disasters, war,

the years and decades to come.

and poverty. Kate worked pro bono,

‘I think unbuilding is the future of

‘When working with what’s already built, how would you undo it in a way that is sustainable and that offers greater amenity? How do you unbuild in a way that creates anew?’ Kate asks.

The Pineapple Republic – drawing by Kate Otten. My first studio and home, long ago sold but a place I regularly return to in my dreams

www.home.liebherr.com

SANDTON An Architectural Apophenia

Gautrain

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Words by: Pierre Swanepoel

Some ideas arrive ahead of their moment. Turning the Gautrain's Sandton Station into a ‘world-class’ integrated TransportOriented Development (TOD) is one of them — a vision we have carried since 2008.

Pierre Swanepoel Director, StudioMAS www.studiomas.co.za

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That year, we began a process to

Working with the City, we developed

persuade the City of Johannesburg to

a series of schemes. In time, the

declare Sandton station an integrated

City invited developers to bid for the

Transport-Oriented Development,

site, guided by a high-level design

not merely a stop on the line. The

framework agreed with the Gautrain

rest of the network operated on

Management Agency (GMA). By then

park-and-ride logic — stations built

the railway was real: the Gautrain

for commuters who drove in, parked,

came into service around the 2010

and then rode onward. A feeder

FIFA World Cup, and Sandton's

bus service helped, but the system

underground station opened.

Images courtesy of StudioMAS.

remained, in essence, a regional railway. The ‘last mile’, the connective

When the bid was awarded, the

tissue that turns a station into a

winning consortium — led by

destination, was never in the brief.

Regiments Capital — invited us to help shape the detailed proposal and

Sandton, we argued, deserved

design.

better. At the commercial heart of Johannesburg, it was the one node

We worked toward a mixed-use

where a station could become a place

vision: an extension of greater

— where retail, offices, public space,

Sandton's retail, the completion of

and transport weave together, so that

street-level shops, and the knitting

arriving by train delivers you into the

of the station and taxi rank into the

city, not near it.

urban fabric above it. The vision carried a civic obligation, too.

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"I call this architectural apophenia: the impulse to see a coherent, buildable, meaningful project in what is often only speculative noise." The Sandton Art Gallery had been

the case is stronger now than in 2008.

demolished to make way for the

As talk of extending the Gautrain

development, so a replacement

continues, the logic of a genuinely

gallery would have to be written back

integrated hub — where trains, buses,

in — one that, alongside the precinct’s

taxis, pedestrians, and the city meet

existing library, would give the hub

as one system — only grows. The

a cultural and civic dimension rather

last mile is still missing. One day, we

than a purely commercial one.

believe, it will be built.

Part of that vision was built. The first

The sharp end

phase was delivered by the GMA and

Here is the harder question the

its operator, Bombela — a bus and

Sandton story asks of my profession:

taxi rank, some shops, parking, and

do we as architects want our work

the station itself: proof the platforms

built so badly that our eagerness

could open onto more than a car park.

becomes the lever used against us? I

Then the story turned. During 2017

call this architectural apophenia: the

and 2018, Regiments’ association

impulse to see a coherent, buildable,

with the controversial Gupta family

meaningful project in what is often

might return the one thing speculation

drew the project into an unwelcome

only speculative noise. It is a beautiful

always steals: time — the raw material

spotlight, and work on it was halted

failing — one developers and the city

of imagination. Freed from feeding

— a decade of effort stalled almost

have learned to exploit, drawing years

a system that mostly makes the

overnight. We did not let it go, taking

of design thinking from us on the

rich richer and only maybe fills our

it to a succession of interested

promise of eventual realisation. Is

fridges, we could apply our talents to

parties, none yet able to carry it over

this why we pour ourselves into ‘risk’

what matters: projects that serve our

the line. The obstacles are no longer

projects, carried on hope and unbilled

communities and the environment,

conceptual but structural: the tangled

hours, that never leave the page?

and help society envisage and build a

relationships between the City's

better future. And even unrealised, the

property company (the JPC), the site’s

Perhaps this is where AI changes

work might still help our communities

bondholders, and any willing investor

the equation. If it can absorb the

to dream — and to demand of us, their

have proved hard to unwind. And yet

industry's easy, repetitive work, it

placemakers, a better urban future.

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Photography by Paris Brummer.

WHAT SURVIVES

THE UNBUILT?

How ‘The Spectrum’ Became ‘17 on Shelley’: A Two Five Five Architects Story Words by: André Krige

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Photography by Paris Brummer.

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titi

tall

ntries.

Others s

on e

du rin

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“We wanted the building to contribute something memorable to the neighbourhood, creating a pedestrian experience that reflected the optimism of the project's transformation.”

, lo

fun

ding, or disappear i

n to

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Photography by Paris Brummer.

ro va ls

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Every ar c

came a buildin

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Photography by Paris Brummer.

Architects tend to view these as

cards to cover the auction deposit,

failures, but looking back on one

and rushed to Sandton hoping our

of ours, I’ve come to realise that an

instincts were right.

unbuilt project can be the first draft of something much better.

With the site secured, the real work began. The project quickly grew

The story began long before the

beyond what we’d first imagined: a

project itself. In 2016 we completed

306-unit apartment development

Ateliers on Park, a 16-unit residential

called The Spectrum, bringing new

development in Salt River. Five years

apartments to the Cape Town market

later, the warehouse next door

below R600 000 at a time when

appeared on a B-roll auction, listed

prices were climbing rapidly. It was

only the day or so before I saw it. No

the largest residential scheme we had

one had enough time for proper due

attempted at that stage.

diligence. Neither did we, but we already knew the site intimately.

Within hours of the project launching

Late the previous evening, my

to market in November 2022, 113

business partner Theo called to

apartments had been reserved. By

ask whether I’d seen the listing.

the end of the first week, almost

By morning, we’d called one of our

80 percent of the project appeared

clients, whom we convinced this

spoken for. From the outside, it looked

was worth pursuing. There was no

like a huge success. But reservations

time for formalities, and I thought

are not buildings.

the adrenaline rush might cause a heart attack. We emptied our practice account, added our personal credit

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The Spectrum. Image courtesy of Two Five Five Architects.

THE Spectrum

The Spectrum. Image courtesy of Two Five Five Architects.

The conversion to bankable sales

as much of the existing warehouse

To welcome students for the 2025

slowed dramatically. By March 2023,

as possible, deliver the return the

academic year, construction needed to

only 17 sales had concluded; by May,

client originally sought, and recover

start in early March 2024, leaving only

only 23. By August, it was clear The

the capital already invested. Equally

weeks to redesign, coordinate, and

Spectrum would probably never be

important was rekindling the

document a new project. Architects,

built. Our team had invested well

excitement of designing. Once we

engineers, quantity surveyors,

over a year into it, pouring enormous

stopped trying to rescue the original

contractors, consultants, the client,

energy, creativity, and belief into a

scheme, the constraints became

and the future operator all worked to

project that now looked as though it

liberating.

a common purpose, making decisions

would never exist. Walking away from

quickly and developing details on site.

that much work is one of the hardest

We proposed something entirely

decisions an architect can make.

different: a rental model centred

The first principle was to treat

I remembered something an art

on luxury student accommodation,

students like adults. The building

teacher told me: ‘A mistake is not

redesigning the project into a 98-unit

needed to feel generous and dignified,

a mistake. It’s an opportunity.’ So

residence, developing a new financial

trusting residents with beautifully

the question changed to: What

model, and engaging Proper Living to

crafted spaces and communal areas

opportunity is this project presenting

verify the operational assumptions.

that encouraged a sense of ownership.

us with?

The returns were stronger than

We established four simple guardrails.

anticipated. The new challenge was

The second principle centred on

time.

sustainability. Adaptive reuse

Stay within the available capital, retain 80

Photography by Paris Brummer.

17 on Shelley

feature

preserved much of the existing warehouse. Labour-intensive construction methods, particularly face brick, reduced reliance on high-embodied-carbon materials while supporting local employment and craftsmanship. Passive design was integrated wherever possible, supported by solar power, water storage and filtration systems, and energy-efficient hot water solutions.

Agora means ‘now’ in Portuguese, a name that captures the lesson this project left us with. Good architecture is not about staying faithful to an idea conceived years before, but about responding to the opportunities, constraints, and realities of the present. That is what survives the unbuilt: the ideas that find their way into the building the moment truly needs.

The third principle looked beyond the site itself: the building engages the street through an active retail café and an unapologetically expressive façade. We wanted the building to contribute something memorable to the neighbourhood, creating a pedestrian experience that reflected the optimism of the project’s transformation. In many ways, the building that emerged was better than the one we’d originally imagined, because it solved the right problem. On 30 January 2024, we sent letters to buyers confirming The Spectrum would not proceed. Almost simultaneously, 17 on Shelley moved towards construction. It opened fully occupied and has remained so since, performing beyond the original investment expectations. I no longer see The Spectrum as an unbuilt project. Its drawings may never have become a building, but its thinking did. Without it, there would have been no 17 on Shelley, an AGORA building.

André Krige @255architects www.twofivefive.co.za

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ABOVE AND BEYOND Where Structural Engineering Becomes an Architectural Statement

ome of the

The redevelopment introduced a

must have a balance between rigidity

most powerful

1470 m² rooftop entertainment deck

and flexibility, ensuring long-term

architectural

spanning two substantial structural

performance without compromising

moments arise

voids between the shopping centre's

aesthetic quality.

when engineering

dual entrances. Extending through

and design

to the basement parking below,

extruded bamboo composite boards

intersect.

these openings required a carefully

provide the dimensional stability

At Johannesburg's Mall of the

engineered steel substructure capable

required for demanding commercial

South, a rooftop dining precinct

of carrying significant loads while

applications, while the protective

became an opportunity to

maintaining a refined visual presence.

polymer cap enhances resistance

demonstrate how structural

Rather than concealing the

Eva-Last Infinity's co-

to moisture, stains, and everyday

necessity can be transformed into

supporting framework, the design

wear. Hidden fastening systems

architectural expression, with Eva-

team embraced it. Eva-Last Infinity

and colour-matched fixings uphold

Last Infinity composite decking

I-Series composite decking in Swiss

clean architectural lines, and the

playing a central role in shaping

Oak was specified not only for the

material's versatility allows installers

both function and aesthetic.

walking surface above, but also

to accurately detail around lighting

for the architectural effect created

columns, curved edges, and intricate

beneath. Its engineered I-beam profile

junctions with little visual disruption.

transformed what could have been an

As Gerhard de Beer of

exposed structural underside into a

Hlaziya Projects observed during

warm, timber-inspired ceiling, adding

construction, 'With Eva-Last

depth and texture to the space below.

composites, you have the flexibility to

Constructing the deck more than 20 metres above ground introduced its own set of

adapt to changes beyond the original scope of work.' The Mall of the South

complexities. Strict safety measures

project demonstrates that high-

guided every stage of the installation,

performance materials are no longer

while the steel framework had to

merely specified for endurance.

be precisely fabricated before the

They are shaping the architectural

decking could be laid. Across the

profile of commercial developments,

expansive rooftop, careful board

allowing structural requirements to

placement ensured a seamless finish

become part of the design language

that reinforces the natural warmth of

rather than something to conceal. In

timber without sacrificing durability.

environments where performance,

Material selection was equally

longevity, and visual impact must

crucial. Commercial environments

coexist, innovative composite

are affected by constant movement

solutions such as Eva-Last Infinity

caused by thermal expansion,

show how engineering can elevate

structural deviation and changing

architecture above expectations.

weather conditions. Every component

Drawing Together

Ōshen Residences and the Dialogue Between Architecture and Interior Design, as Told by Jaun van Wyk and Tristan du Plessis

Images courtesy of Studio JVW and Tristan du Plessis Studio.

Architecture does not begin with concrete or construction. It begins with dialogue.

Fig. 01— Elevation study, Ōshen Residences. Pen on paper. 88

project

Location: Camps Bay, Cape Town

Architect Jaun van Wyk of Studio JVW and interior architect Tristan du Plessis of Tristan du Plessis Studio have collaborated for more than five years — across luxury hospitality, food and beverage, residential and retail projects, much of it still awaiting public debut. Ōshen Residences offers a rare glimpse into the conversations, sketches, and shared thinking that have shaped their design process from the very beginning.

Jaun Van Wyk Studio JVW @studio_jvw

Tristan Du Plessis Tristian du Plessis Studio @tristanduplessis_studio

project

Rather than treating architecture

The result is grounded in restraint,

strengthened through dialogue, and

and interior design as consecutive

honesty of materials, and enduring

that is what ultimately gives the work

disciplines, Jaun and Tristan are

architectural principles rather than

its sense of cohesion.’ — Tristan

involved in every project from

spectacle. Depth emerges through

inception. Long before plans are

light, proportion and materiality,

What began as a mutual appreciation

finalised or materials selected,

while detailing grows naturally from

of one another’s work has grown into

the design begins through

the architecture itself rather than

a fully integrated design process.

dialogue, testing ideas, challenging

being applied as decoration. Bold

Working between Amsterdam and

assumptions, and building a shared

monolithic forms establish a strong

Cape Town, Jaun and Tristan develop

narrative that informs everything that

yet understated presence within

ideas through continual dialogue,

follows.

the landscape. Deeply integrated

references, sketches, and critique.

planted terraces create suspended

The architectural shell typically takes

‘Architecture is often defined by what

gardens, where indigenous vegetation

shape first, but never in isolation.

is ultimately built, photographed and

spills over and cascades beyond the

Interior experience informs the

“Their collaboration is strengthened by contrast. Tristan’s international hospitality experience has cultivated an instinct for storytelling, atmosphere, and layered experiences, while Jaun’s background in luxury residential architecture is rooted in how people inhabit personal spaces over time.” inhabited. Yet every project begins as

architecture, softening the sculptural

earliest architectural decisions, while

a conversation — a space where ideas

forms and dissolving the boundary

the architecture anticipates the ideas

are tested, challenged and refined

between building and landscape.

that will later define the interior. The

before they take physical form. For

Raw concrete, articulated brickwork,

result isn’t architecture followed by

me, that is where architecture truly

natural timber and locally sourced

interiors, but a single design process

begins.’ — Jaun

stone respond to the textures and

in which both disciplines continuously

colours of the Cape coastline — the

influence one another.

Set on a narrow site in Fresnaye, Cape

upper residence intentionally lighter,

Town, and conceived as the first in

echoing the changing qualities of

Their collaboration is strengthened

a new series of Tristan du Plessis

the sky and ocean. In comparison,

by contrast. Tristan’s international

Residences, Ōshen Residences

the lower residence is grounded,

hospitality experience has cultivated

comprises two luxury homes, each

emerging from the site and its natural

an instinct for storytelling,

with its own identity, yet part of one

rock formations.

atmosphere, and layered experiences,

cohesive architectural narrative. The

while Jaun’s background in luxury

site posed significant constraints:

‘What makes our collaboration

residential architecture is rooted in

an exceptionally slender plot, close

successful is that neither of us sees

how people inhabit personal spaces

neighbouring properties, and the

architecture and interior design

over time. Tristan naturally gravitates

commercial realities of designing

as separate conversations. From

towards richness and unexpected

for the open market. Rather than

the outset, we are designing one

combinations; Jaun instinctively

letting those constraints dictate

project together. We establish a

distils ideas, refining and simplifying

the outcome, the project became

shared narrative first, then allow

them until only the essential remains.

an opportunity to question what

the architecture and interiors to

Together, they arrive at a balance

contemporary luxury architecture in

evolve alongside one another. Every

neither would likely have reached

Cape Town might aspire to.

decision is questioned, refined and

alone.

project

Fig. 02 — Elevation study, Ōshen Residences. Pen on paper. 91

project

It is within those conversations, sketches, and moments of collaboration that a project’s identity is discovered. Ōshen Residences represents more than a single residential project. It reflects a shared ambition to contribute to a broader conversation about contemporary South African design, one rooted in originality, sensitivity, and a deep understanding of place. It’s also a case study in the value of the unbuilt phase: the foundations of a project are established in these early conversations, as ideas are shared, challenged, refined, and sometimes discarded in pursuit of something stronger. By the time construction begins, this collective thinking has already shaped every meaningful decision. The project will continue to evolve in response to consultants, budgets, and the realities of construction, but its essence is already set. For Jaun and Tristan, the value of the unbuilt lies not in remaining unbuilt, but in recognising the work that happens before construction begins. It is within those conversations, sketches, and moments of collaboration that a project’s identity is discovered. Architecture does not begin with concrete or construction. It begins with dialogue. 92

Midamite Medium with Midafelt 225 in Peppercorn; Midalux 230, sponge rolled in a lighter Arniston White; feature walls in Paintsmiths Natureplast.

THE DAILY Green Point Paintsmiths celebrates this architectural masterpiece with perfect colours, textures and finishes. Paintsmiths’ Midas Range assists in defining the exterior and interior character character and vision of Darryl Croome Architects, with finishes that provide durability, depth and a contemporary aesthetic that complements granite, facebrick, aluminium, glass and timber — creating a living urban oasis.

info@paintsmiths.co.za +27 (0)21 447 0217 www.paintsmiths.co.za

Image courtesy of Darryl Croome Architects

Wal k i n g i n t h e C l o u ds Boogertman + Partners’ Vision for the God’s Window Skywalk Stretches to the Horizon, Anchored in Culture and Ecology

Perched on the edge of a cliff in the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve along Mpumalanga’s Panoramic Route, the God’s Window Skywalk is a transformative tourism destination designed to celebrate one of South Africa’s most breathtaking natural viewpoints. The gorge plunges more than 900 metres below, and the site is being reimagined as both a landmark and a bridge between ancestral heritage and sustainable modern development. Led by Boogertman + Partners, which won the project tender in 2019, the development is a collaboration between the Mapulana Tribe (the owners of the land), the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA), and the Mapulana Canyon Group.

Location: Mpumalanga, South Africa Size: 15 000 m²

Images courtesy of Boogertman + Partners.

900m Drop

Restoring proper custodianship Historically known as Leboga Modimo (Give Thanks to God), this site holds deep spiritual significance for the Mapulana Tribe and the Maorabjang community that came before them, who used the area for meditation and gathering. Currently, the site offers limited facilities and lacks formal management to regulate foot traffic and ensure long-term ecological protection. ‘God’s Window Skywalk will restore proper custodianship of the site to the community who owns it,’ explains André Wright, director at Boogertman + Partners, noting that the project was conceptualised to deliver long-term socio-economic benefits, community growth, and sustainability.

35 metres

Leboga Modimo (Give Thanks to God)

project

Architecture in balance

across the site. By ‘lifting the landscape and tucking the

The architectural centrepiece of the new development will

accommodation schedule beneath it,’ as Wright describes it,

be a dramatic 35-metre cantilevered skywalk projecting

the structure visually dissolves into the surrounding terrain

from the cliff edge, paired with a suspended sky bridge, a

while actively restoring biodiversity degraded by years of

dropped walkway running along the cliff face 15–20 metres

informal use.

below the ridge. This design allows visitors to experience the ‘vertical rainforest’ ecosystem of the cliff face for the

A design for the future

first time. The faceted form of the structure takes inspiration

Scheduled for completion in 2028, the project is rooted in

from the praying mantis, abstracted to convey poise and

the principles of respect for sightlines, sacred landscapes,

tension through a contemporary architectural language of

and inclusive access. Universal accessibility was a primary

folded surfaces, planes, and ridges. In local mythology, the

design driver, ensuring the experience is accessible to all.

praying mantis is a symbol of good fortune, calm, balance, and awareness.

Asked what they hope visitors will

Dissolving into the terrain To ensure the building does not overpower the majestic

remember twenty years from

landscape, the architects have deferred to the environment,

now, the architects at Boogertman

explaining that ‘You design so that the architectural intervention restores natural biodiversity, and you design

+ Partners point to a sense of

so that the spatial experience enhances the sense of place.’

community, culture, ecology, and

The visitors’ centre, which will house educational facilities,

economy harmoniously brought

a market, and hospitality offerings, features a gently sloping green roof that rises from the ground to mimic a natural

together by a thoughtful yet

ridge. Developed with an ecologist, this roof will be planted

daring design intervention.

with indigenous sub-escarpment savanna vegetation, allowing mammals, reptiles, and insects to move safely

project

Mantis inspiration poise, tension, balance, and Awareness, Thoughtfulness, and Submission

Ro o te d In D i s cover y

Konsep Architecture Studio’s Vision for Education Shaped by the Forest, the River, and the Spirit of the Yellowwood

101

project

Kalander Forest School in Knysna, set to be completed in 2028, began with a fundamental question: what kind of school would we want our own children to remember? The answer lies in a design that moves beyond the confines of traditional classrooms, offering a place reached through adventure and opened to the surrounding river and forest. Named after the kalander (the Outeniqua yellowwood) and James Callander, who first surveyed these forests in 1798, the project uses the tree as both a symbol and a design generator.

@konsep.architecture.studio

Location: Knysna, Western Cape Size: 5060 m2

www.konsep.studio

102

project

Images courtesy of Konsep Architecture Studio.

intentionally preserves existing trees, allowing the natural environment to determine where building can and cannot occur. A living ecological system Situated on the Garden Route, the school occupies a landscape of The architecture of the leaf

thresholds between forest, fynbos,

The school’s layout is governed by

and estuary. The project is placed

the anatomy of a yellowwood leaf,

on land previously disturbed by

where individual leaflets are held

agriculture and invasive species,

along a shared stem. In architectural

strategically avoiding more intact

terms, this translates into a shared

ecological systems. Beyond the

circulation spine acting as the ‘stem’,

built footprint, 40 hectares have

with smaller programme clusters —

been set aside for rehabilitation. In a

pre-primary, primary, high school,

departure from traditional education,

culture, and sport — branching off as

this restoration is woven into the

distinct ‘leaflets’. This ordering system

curriculum; through a ‘Young Rangers’

allows the school to function as a

programme, learners participate

small village that is human in scale

directly in the long-term stewardship

and porous at its edges. The design

and monitoring of the land.

103

project

The pedagogy of the journey The school redefines the concept of arrival through a deliberately dispersed system. By utilising drop-off points at the N2 junction, the historic Red Bridge, and Simola, the project reduces traffic on Phantom Pass Road. Children complete their commute via foot, bicycle, suspension bridge, or shuttle, turning the daily journey into a lesson in reading the weather and moving through the landscape. This ensures that the transition from the town to the school is an active experience of discovery. Topography and tactile materiality The civic heart of the school is defined by its relationship to the earth. An amphitheatre is carved directly into the natural fall of the land, transforming the topography into a space for gathering and performance. The adjacent cafeteria features rammed-earth walls that provide weight and warmth, while timber screens and columns introduce a finer

104

project

“In a departure from traditional education, this restoration is woven into the curriculum; through a ‘Young Rangers’ programme, learners participate directly in the long-term stewardship and monitoring of the land.”

rhythm at the human scale. Rooflines

space. Similarly, the sports centre

Spaces between

are designed to flow rather than

is conceived as a pavilion beneath

At Kalander, the spaces between

terminate, carrying gardens and paths

the tree canopy rather than a sealed

buildings are as deliberate as the

across the building to ensure the

shed. Its structure remains visible

structures themselves. The shifts

landscape remains continuous.

and understandable, using curved

and overlaps of the ‘leaflets’ create

This tactile approach extends to

laminated-timber beams to create

courtyards, thresholds, and pockets of

the theatre and sports centre. The

a generous volume that remains

shade that encourage movement and

theatre features a curved timber

connected to the forest through

unplanned connection. By dissolving

structure that spans the room like a

high-level glazing and transparent

the boundary between the interior and

protective canopy, creating a sense

perimeters.

the landscape, the school becomes a living system where the environment

of intimacy within a large civic

is the primary teacher.

105

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FINOak Atelier:

Where Authentic Oak Meets Modern Engineering Available in a Curated Palette of Colours and Finishes, FINOak Flooring Highlights the Authentic Grain and Texture of Genuine Oak system allows FINOak Atelier to be installed as a floating floor for speed and ease, or fully bonded for a more solid underfoot feel and enhanced acoustic performance. The range is also compatible with underfloor heating systems, extending its suitability across residential, hospitality and contemporary commercial applications. Curated oak finishes for every space Available in a curated palette of colours and finishes, each plank The distinction between sawn oak

grain and texture creates depth and

and sliced oak is rarely explained

visual interest across the installed

at the specification stage, but it

floor, with no two planks reading

matters in the long run.

the same — a character that flooring built from sliced veneers can rarely

Sawn-cut veneers preserve the

replicate.

highlights the authentic grain and texture of genuine oak. Surface durability and easy maintenance across all finishes make the range equally suited to residential and commercial environments, where appearance and practicality must

timber's natural cell structure, delivering greater dimensional

Beneath the wear layer sits a three-

stability and a more authentic grain

ply engineered system: a European

pattern than sliced or rotary-cut

oak wear layer bonded to a stable

alternatives. For architects and

poplar core and backing layer. This

designers specifying timber flooring

configuration is designed to minimise

on projects where both appearance

movement caused by fluctuations in

and longevity must be justified, this

temperature and humidity. In South

is a difference worth understanding

Africa, where ambient conditions

before finalising a selection.

vary considerably across regions and seasons, dimensional stability is a

Three-ply construction for lasting

meaningful performance criterion

stability

rather than a specification footnote.

FINOak Atelier is crafted from European sawn oak, chosen

Speed, stability and acoustic comfort

specifically for its structural

Installation flexibility is built into

properties. The natural variation in

the offering. The Välinge 5G locking

106

coexist. The result is a floor that delivers the appearance of solid hardwood with the dimensional reliability of an engineered system built for realworld conditions.

FINOak Atelier Engineered Hardwood- 190 Unfinished -Jax Oleum Stained - Sand