Corobrik's Christie van Niekerk said that Corobrik had for many years considered the architectural community crucial in the process of providing sustainable development and this was one of the important reasons why the company was supporting the Architectural Student of the Year Awards for the 27th year running.
He was presenting prizes to the winning students from the Western Cape region at the University of Cape Town. "These annual awards aim to promote and reward design excellence amongst students whilst encouraging a broadening in understanding of the environmental issues and their resolution. Through discourse around thesis projects design paradigms are inevitably challenged and new design ideas evolve giving depth to architectural resolution while building technical skills sets required by architects of the future."
Talia Orli Gild was the regional winner of R8,000, Christo van der Hoven was awarded second prize of R6,000, while Simon Tollman won third prize of R4,000. A R4,000 prize for the best use of clay masonry was also presented to Robert Bowen.
Gild's entry entitled 'Architecture of the Machine' is a desalination and salt harvesting plant situated in Hout Bay, Cape Town. "I chose to explore the machine of our future water supply, that of a desalination plant. 2013 marks the year that we, are no longer water secure; in other words, the population of the country is going to exceed the amount of water available to us."
A desalination plant in Hout Bay, able to produce 30,000Ml/day of potable water, is situated on the edge of the industrial sector, harbour, the informal settlement of Hangberg and the beginning the mountainous terrain of The Sentinel. Incorporated are sustainable energy devices to help supplement this extensive energy consuming process.
Second placed Christo van der Hoven's thesis is entitled, 'Tunnel Vision' in which he investigates infrastructural opportunism through an architectural lens. He investigates the anthropology, architecture and engineering associations of a four kilometre Huguenot tunnel between Paarl and Worcester in the Western Cape was selected in which a mushroom farm can engage with its subterranean context.
Simon Tollman's thesis 'Life in the Cracks: Architecture in the space left over between adjacent city buildings'. Tollman states that regulations govern forms cities take and their indiscriminate application cause 'leftover' spaces between buildings. Separate buildings accessed from a public thoroughfare were inserted, attached parasitically to buildings that flank the site. Behaviours characteristic of city life were accommodated - living, working, eating, outdoor recreation, civic socialisation, and parking - and explored within the constraints of the site.
Robert Bown received a special award for the best use of clay brick in his thesis entitled 'The world according to Graaff' in which a ruined and forgotten building is rediscovered by energy company G.I.E.C. They see the similarities between their intentions and those held by David Graaff and realise the marketing potential of his legacy. A cooling plant and public bathing facility is built within the ruins on the foreshore.
The national winner, to be chosen from the eight institutional winners participating, will be announced and presented with a cheque for R50,000 at the 27th National Student Architect awards function in Johannesburg in April 2014.
