Ruan Jansen van Rensburg named regional winner in Corobrik architecture awards

Ruan Jansen van Rensburg from the Tshwane University of Technology

Kyle Coulson, who collected a cheque worth R8,000, was placed second. Carla Schmidt, collected a third prize of R6,000, while Siyanda Nkosi received R6,000 for the best use of clay masonry.

Jansen van Rensburg's dissertation is entitled ‘The design of an innovation farm’ – an experiential facility for cannabis plants as an alternative resource in Eerste Fabrieke, Mamelodi. He says the project proposes an innovation farm adjacent to the Eerste Fabrieke train station in Mamelodi. This farm is an attempt to contribute responsibly to the dilapidated socio-economic structures and provide the community with educational platforms to strengthen self-sufficiency while contributing to micro-economies in the area.

The investigation deals with two core ideas and the innovation farm mediates between them. On the one side, the project investigates Mamelodi, specifically Eerste fabrieke station and its surrounding neighbourhoods as experimental ground for this study, and on the other side, the positive attributes of cannabis plants specifically cannabis sativa (industrial hemp), as an accessible and affordable alternative resource, predominantly as a construction material in an underdeveloped context.