September 19, 2007
By Lesego Madumo
PALACE ARCHITECTS' J'Town has won the Jozi Style housing design competition run by the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC).
The company, which manages the City's property, launched the competition at the Design Indaba in Cape Town in February. It was devised to find a residential design that could match the style and new identity of Jozi, and reflect on its unique character and flamboyance.
Architects were required to submit designs for housing estates that would appeal to a wider Jozi market. More than 200 applications were received, including from countries as far afield as the United States, Canada and Russia.
Innovative solutions
Speaking about the impetus behind the competition, Alan Dinnie, a project manager at the JPC, said: "The [company] aims to establish itself as a promoter of innovative solutions to the development challenges of contemporary Johannesburg … it is very satisfying that so many people are eager to engage with the idea of a Jozi identity."
He believes that the competition, which may be run annually, will bring about an identity and a style appropriate to African cities. "Not only will this help to stimulate a pride in local design, but it also will help to promote Johannesburg's role as a world-class African city."
Palace Architects, Thinus Venter and Werner Lotz, and Caron Schnaid were the only three entrants invited to continue into the second round. Dinnie explained that it entailed detailed architectural proposals for a site on which the designs would be implemented.
J'Town won "because of its potential to create a vibrant [and] integrated community". It used open architecture as a key design strategy. Open architecture aims to include the end user, or home owner, in the design.
Dinnie noted that the competition came at a time when South African architectural trends were still highly reliant on imported designs and influences. "The competition required entrants to identify a distinct brand of architecture and style which would best capture the spirit of Johannesburg and reflect a growing cultural confidence that will see the city counted among the best with other global cities."
Indigenous design
The JPC ran the competition out of a sense of responsibility as the council's developer to champion appropriate models of indigenous design. "It is the JPC's hope that the competition will contribute to the emerging appropriate architecture debate, and form part of a watershed from which will flow a new understanding of appropriate local design processes."
It was composed of two phases; the first looked at ideas for a Jozi style. It was chaired by an independent jury of prominent architects.
"Style may wrongly be interpreted as a shallow concern for façade-ism rather than a deeper consideration for spatial organisation and process," Dinnie said. The jurors looked for an interpretation of the complex character of the city, its various cultural layers and the multiple interpretations of its scenery, and the highly urbanised nature of its population.
Open architecture
"In an open architecture project people will be able to choose the finishing of the façades and even roof designs," Dinnie said, explaining the way the concept works.
It was a key feature of Jozi Style, and explained a lot about the nature of Jozi. "[Joburgers] are passionate about engaging with and forming their environment, and this new style of architecture … will encourage a vibrancy that is authentically Johannesburg."
Entrants had to focus on the role of public space in their plans. "Jozi Style seeks to advance the status of public and semi-public space in developments to the point at which open space is considered the starting point of the design process. Careful attention is given to the ways in which private living areas interact with these public areas."
Construction
J'Town will be built in the final stage of the competition at a six hectare site in Bryanston. There will be 100 to 150 houses and the tender for construction will be advertised on 28 September.
Dinnie said that the successful developer would have to build the estate according to its original pattern. "Of course, we want the developer to become part of the process of finalising the design. Their input into the process is critical."
Construction is expected to be completed by early 2009 and the City and the JPC will open the estate.
The JPC will give a presentation on Jozi Style at the Parktonian Hotel in Braamfontein on Tuesday, 9 October from 8.30am to 10am. There will also be a briefing session on the development tender and a talk on open architecture by Amira Osman, a lecturer in the department of architecture at the University of Pretoria.
For more information about Palace Architect's winning entry, as well as the runners up, visit the Jozi Style website or contact Alan Dinnie at the Johannesburg Property Company on 011 339 2700 or 083 631 4409.
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