EVENTS
Architecturally sound
Innovation and design excellence recognised at
Corobrik SAIA Architectural Awards.
By Candace Sofianos King
Paragon Architects won an Award of Excellence for its masterpiece SASOL Place.
T
he cream of the architectural crop
celebrated the built industry’s latest
groundbreaking architectural
projects at the prestigious Corobrik South
African Institute of Architects (SAIA)
Architectural Awards in early May.
180 architects and built environment
professionals gathered in Pretoria for the
awards, which experienced a unique roster
of varying projects this year. “We are
delighted to have received a more varied
cross-section of projects than in previous
years. This is also a tribute the impressively
high standard of entries at regional level,”
says Maryke Cronje, SAIA president.
She continues, “The Corobrik SAIA
Awards programme is run nationally every
two years and this year, as president of SAIA
and convenor of the awards programme, I
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RESIDENTIAL // COMMERCIAL // INDUSTRIAL
had the privilege of being part of this
prestigious awards programme.
“SAIA’s mission is to pursue excellence
and responsible design. It is also to uphold
the dignity of the Architectural profession
and contribute meaningfully to the
enhancement of society and the
environment. These awards ratify SAIA’s
mission by recognising and promoting
excellence in architecture.”
Bryan Wallis, acting CEO of SAIA, says,
“The standard of projects submitted seems
to improve exponentially at each of the
national awards, and this year is no
exception with the quality higher than
ever before.
“We are delighted that the members of
SAIA are constantly advancing in
technicality and design and this year’s
entries can be benchmarked against global
standards. Awarded projects are
manifestations of how architects
successfully interpret their clients’
aspirations in the buildings produced.”
This year, a whopping 61 regional
winners were entered. Each region submits
their winning projects to go through to the
national Corobrik SAIA Awards. The judges
assessed all 61 entries and prepared a
shortlist. These shortlisted projects were
visited, and winners were selected.
Convened by Cronje, the highly
esteemed panel of architectural
personalities included Professor Paul
Kotze, academic; Musa Shangase, sponsor
representative; Sumien Brink, eminent
layperson; and Luyanda Mpahlwa,
eminent architect.