GERHARD BOSMAN

Orcid ID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2146-1482

bosmang@ufs.ac.za

In 2000, Gerhard completed a Diplôme Propre aux Ecole d’Architecture (DPEA-Terre) at CRAterre-ENSAG in Grenoble, France. In 2001, he started Terre Firme Architects, focusing on the built environment`s environmental issues. In 2015, he completed a PhD (Architecture) thesis: The acceptability of earth-constructed houses in central parts of South Africa. In 2018, he was appointed associate professor. He now spends equal amounts of time on service-learning, collaborative online international learning (COIL) exchanges and post-graduate theory application in the design studio. Gerhard recently conducted service-leaning workshops between students and rural Basotho (litema) artists as part of the Architecture of Care and Engagement research project. Gerhard enjoys travelling, music festivals, and developing architectural talent.

CONTRIBUTION IN BOOKS

 Bosman, G, & Riep, D. (2023). International Student Collaboration: Transformation for Vernacular Art and Architecture Teaching and Learning, Free State Province, South Africa. In: Rubbo, A. et al. (eds.), Sustainable Development Goals Series. Design for Resilient Communities, Proceedings of the UIA World Congress of Architects Copenhagen 2023. Springer Nature: Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36640-6

 Bosman, G. (2014). Willie Meyer, The three pasts to our present. In: Pretorius, H.B. (Ed). 25 Sophia Gray Memorial lectures and exhibitions 1989-2013. The University of the Free State, Department of Architecture: Bloemfontein. 20-23.

 Bosman, G. (2014). Glen Gallagher, The exclusion of conclusion in architecture. In Pretorius, H.B. (Ed). 25 Sophia Gray Memorial lectures and exhibitions 1989-2013. The University of the Free State, Department of Architecture: Bloemfontein. 24-27.

 Bosman, G. & Bruwer, E. (2013) Architective: Building construction standards for South Africa. Chapter 25: 484-502. Architective Publications: Johannesburg.

JOURNAL ARTICLES PEER-REVIEWED

 Bosman. G., Venter A. & Mabe P. (2023). Litema artivism: community-engaged scholarship with international online learning. Acta Structilia. 30(1): 186-212. https://doi.org/10.38140/as.v30i1.7336

 De Santi, C, deBoer, M, Bosman, G. & Citter, C. (2022). International Multidisciplinary Collaboration on Four Continents: An Experiment in Fostering Diverse Cultural Perspectives. The Journal of Language Teaching and Technology. IV (Dec) 1-18.

 Bosman, G. (2022). Art and landscape: a rural letsema celebration. South African Journal of Art History. 37 (1) 31-47.

 Bosman, G. (2021). Change for contemporary earth construction: A second paradigm shift, International Journal of Architecture and Urban Studies. 6 (1) 90-100.

 Bosman, G. & Pittaway, D. (2019). New perspectives towards social acceptability of earth-constructed buildings. International Journal of Architecture and Urban Studies. 4 (2) 77-84.

 Bosman, G. (2017). Ownership and care in culturally significant architecture: Three case studies. Acta Structilia. 24 (1) 100-121.

 Bosman, G. (2015). Situated neighborhood safety and fence decoration. South African Journal of Art History. 30 (3) 74-86.

 Bosman, G. & Van der Westhuizen, D. (2014). The effects of climate conditions on attitudinal change towards earth construction in South Africa. Acta Structilia. 21 (1) 117-141.

 Bosman, G. & Van der Westhuizen, D. (2014). The impact of climate phenomena on attitudes towards traditional earth construction and decoration. South African Journal of Art History. 29 (3) 65-76.

 Steÿn, J.J. & Bosman, G. (2010). The Story of the Great Plans of Mice and Men: Selling Sustainable Earth Construction. Human Settlement Review: 1(1), 193-216.

 Bosman, G. (2009). Teaching earth construction in the Free State: 1995 - 2007. Journal of the South African Institute of Architects, Special Issue: July/August, 34-39.

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, PEER-REVIEWED

 Bosman, G. & Van Vuuren, C. (2018). The influence of urbanism on the acceptability of traditional earth-constructed houses. In Osman & Mbanga (Eds.). 2016 National Human Settlements Conference, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and Department of Human Settlement.

 Bosman, G. (2018). Planning if acceptable contemporary earth construction in South Africa. In Milto, Vegas Lópes--Manzares, García-Soriano & Cristini (Eds). Vernacular and Earthen Architecture: Conservation and Sustainability. Taylor & Francis Group: London.

 Bosman, G. & Steÿn, J.J. (2015). Greening of stabilized brickyard industry for supporting sustainable building in Kuruman in the Northern Cape Province. In Gibbert & Conradie (Eds). Innovative and Sustainable Built Environment (SASBE) Conference Proceedings. University of Pretoria: Pretoria.

 Bosman, G. & K. Salzmann-McDonald. (2015). Contemporary soil-cement and rammed earth in South Africa. In Ciancio & Beckett (Eds) Rammed Earth Construction. Taylor & Francis Group: London.

 Bosman, G. & Whitfield, C. (2015). Perceptions of vernacular architecture. Milto, Vegas Lópes--Manzares, García-Soriano & Cristini (Eds). Vernacular Architecture: Towards a Sustainable Future. Taylor & Francis Group: London.

 Bosman, G. & Steÿn, J.J. (2014). Rethinking Contemporary Earth Construction for Housing. South African Housing Foundation (SAHF) International Conference. Affordable Housing Opportunities for Southern Africa. Cape Town.

 Nel, J.H. & Bosman, G. (2014). Exposing architecture students to vernacular concepts. In Correia et al., Vernacular heritage and earthen architecture - contributions for sustainable development. CRC Press: London.

 Wessels, Z.G. & Bosman, G. (2014). The city vernacular in South Africa. In Correia et al., Vernacular heritage and earthen architecture - contributions for sustainable development. CRC Press: London.

 Bosman, G. Smit, P. & Steÿn, J.J. (2010). Changing Attitudes on Sustainable Earth Architecture: A Case Study in the Central Parts of South Africa. In Lehmann, S. et al. Sustainable Architecture and Urban Development, Jordan, Amman: CSAAR Press, Volume IV: 325 - 340.

 Bosman, G. (2009). Teaching earth construction in the Free State: 1995 - 2007. Journal of the South African Institute of Architects, Special Issue: July/August, 34-39.

 Bosman, G. (2006). Promoting sustainability of earth constructed private and public buildings in South Africa, In Broadbent, G. & Brebbia, C. A. Eco-Architecture – Harmonisation between Architecture and Nature. WIT press: the U.K., 297-306.

 PUBLICATIONS, NON-PEER-REVIEWED

 Bosman, G. (2020). A Travel Diary: Social cohesion and earth-constructed education spaces in South Africa. Journal of the KwaZulu-Natal Region of the South African Institute of Architects, Vol 45, 2/2020: 16-17.

 Bosman, G. (2012). Local Building Cultures and Perceptions of Wall Building Materials: Influences on Vernacular Architecture in Rural Areas of Central South Africa. In Cardoso et al. Surveys on Vernacular Architecture – Their significance in 20^th-century architectural culture. Centro de Estudo Arnaldo Araújo, Escola Superior Artistica do Porto: 139 -153.

 Bosman, G. (2003). Sustainability involved ability, and the struggle for survival. Leading Architecture and Design, Sept./Oct. 22-23.

 Bosman, G. (2003). Unit for Earth Construction and Community Development. In Oorsig /Review 2002, Architecture, Bloemfontein: The University of the Free State, 35-36.

 CONFERENCE PAPERS AND POSTERS

 Bosman, G, & Riep, D. (2023). International Student Collaboration: Transformation for Vernacular Art and Architecture Teaching and Learning, Free State Province, South Africa. Copenhagen 2-6 July 2023.

 Bosman, G., Mabe, P. & Venter, A. (2023). Litema rural art and architecture: global acts of care. 5^th National Global Change Conference, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 13-15 Sept.30 Jan. – 2 Feb.

 Bosman, G. (2022). Basotho litema home decoration: a rural celebration for culturally significant architecture in the Free State. National Congress of the South African Society for Cultural History, Riebeek -Kasteel, South Africa, 16-17 Sept.

 Bosman, G. (2022). Art and landscape: a rural letsema celebration. Sixteenth annual conference of the South African Journal of Art History - Landscape, Cityscape, Seascape. Bloemfontein. 10-11June.

 Bosman, G. (2022). Relevant service-learning for transformation in architecture learning and teaching.Conference on Sustainable Built Environments (SBE2022), Grabouw, South Africa, 28-30 March.

 Bosman, G. (2021). A new approach to Architecture of care and engagement. UFS Teaching and Learning Conference 2021(online), Bloemfontein, South Africa, 13-15 Sept.

 Bosman, G. (2021). Service-learning and COIL for Architecture. UFS Teaching and Learning Conference 2021(online), Bloemfontein, South Africa, 13-15 Sept.

 Bosman, G. (2020). Change for contemporary earth construction: A second paradigm shift, XIV International Conference on Theory and History of Architecture (Online: ARCHTHEO’20), DAKAM (Eastern Mediterranean Academic Research Centre) Istanbul, Turkey, 6 Nov.

 Bosman, G. & Pittaway, D. (2019). New perspective towards social acceptability of earth-constructed buildings, IV International City Planning and Urban Design Conference (CPUD’19). DAKAM (Eastern Mediterranean Academic Research Centre) Istanbul, Turkey, 14 June.

 Bosman, G. & Van Vuuren, C. (2016). The influence of urbanism on the acceptability of traditional earth-constructed houses. 2016 National Human Settlements Conference, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 4–8 Oct.

 Bosman, G. & Steÿn, J.J. (2015). Greening of stabilised brickyard industry for supporting sustainable building in Kuruman in the Northern Cape Province. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment (SASBE) Conference 2015 University of Pretoria. Pretoria, South Africa, 9–11 Dec.

 Bosman, G. (2015). Situated neighborhood safety and fence decoration. Ninth National Conference of the South African Journal of Art History: Situated Experience. Bloemfontein. 28 – 29 Aug.

 Bosman, G. & K. Salzmann-McDonald. (2015). Contemporary soil-cement and rammed earth in South Africa. In Ciancio & Beckett (Eds) Rammed Earth Construction. Perth, Australia, 10-13 Feb.

 Bosman, G. & Steÿn, J.J. (2014). Rethinking Contemporary Earth Construction for Housing. South African Housing Foundation (SAHF) International Conference. Affordable Housing Opportunities for Southern Africa. Cape Town, South Africa, 28 Sept. -1 Oct.

 Nel, J.H. & Bosman, G. (2013). Exposing architecture students to vernacular concepts. In Correia et al. Vernacular heritage and earthen architecture - contributions for sustainable development. Paper presented at the CIAV 2013 Vernacular Heritage and earthen architecture - contributors for sustainable architecture. Vila Nova De Cerveira, Portugal, 16-20 Oct.

 Wessels, Z.G. & Bosman, G. (2013). The city vernacular in South Africa. In Correia et al. Vernacular heritage and earthen architecture - contributions for sustainable development. Paper presented at the CIAV 2013 Vernacular Heritage and earthen architecture - contributors for sustainable architecture. Vila Nova De Cerveira, Portugal, Portugal, 16-20 Oct

 Bosman, G. (2012). Local Building Cultures and Perceptions of Wall Building Materials: Influences on Vernacular Architecture in Rural Areas of Central South Africa. Paper presented at the CEAA/ Centro de Estudos Arnaldo Araujo, Escola Superior Artistica do Porto (ESAP), Oporto, Portugal, 17-19 May.

 Bosman, G. & Van der Westhuizen, D. (2012). An investigation of the impact of natural climate events on changes in attitudes toward traditional earth construction Paper presented at the Terra2012 11^th International conference on the study and conservation of earthen architectural heritage, Lima, Peru, 22-27 Apr.

 Steÿn, J.J.& Bosman, G. (2010). The Story of the Great Plans of Mice and Men: Selling Sustainable Earth Construction. Paper presented at the Department of Human Settlements Indaba, Johannesburg, South Africa, 10-12 Sept.

 Bosman, G. (2010). Sustaining Sustainable Construction in Higher Education Curricula – A Case Study. Paper presented at the Architecture AZA 2010. Event + City Reimaging Joburg Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa, 22-23 Sept.

 Bosman, G., Smit, P. & Steÿn, J.J. (2010). Changing Attitudes on Sustainable Earth Architecture: A Case Study in the Central Parts of South Africa. Paper presented at the SAUD 2010, The Seventh International Conference of The Center for the Study of Architecture in the Arab Region, Amman, Jordan, 12 -14 July.

 Bosman, G. (2010). Sustaining sustainable construction in higher education curricula. Paper presented at the TERRAEducation 2010 seminar in Grenoble, France, 24-29 May.

 Bosman, G. (2008). Promoting earth construction in South Africa – Stimulating health and wealth in poor communities in South Africa. Poster presented at the Terra2008 10^th International conference on the study and conservation of earthen architectural heritage. Bamako, Mali, West Africa, 1-5 Feb.

 Bosman, G. (2006). Promoting sustainability of earth-constructed private and public buildings in South Africa, Paper presented at the Eco-Architecture Conference, Wessex Institute of Technology, United Kingdom, 14-16 June.

 Bosman, G. (2005). Teaching Earth Construction in the Free State: 1995-2005 Paper presented at the Conference for Sustainable Built Environments 2005, Pretoria. 12-13 June

 Bosman, G. (2001) Community involvement in the earth construction project. Paper presented at the “Yizani Sakehe”-Conference on Efficient and Cost-effect Community-based Educational Infrastructure Development and Management. Eastern Cape, 5-8 Oct.

Surname:                                            Bosman

First name:                                          Gerhard

Date of birth:                                       21 May 1969

Marital status:                                     Married

Postal address:                                   25 Van der Stel Street, Dan Pienaar, Bloemfontein, 9301,South Africa

Telephone numbers:                           + 27(0)51 401 2332              + 27(0)83 441 3775

EMPLOYMENT DETAILS

Name of current employer:                            Associate Professor (since Jan 2018) University of the Free State, part-time: Jan.1996 – March 2000, full-time: Apr. 2001 – to date

Department / Division:                                   Department of Architecture / Earth Unit

ACADEMIC RECORD

Institution/s                                        From   To                   Degree

- The University of the Free State      2009–2014                  Ph.D. (Architecture) Title: The acceptability of earth constructed houses in central areas of South Africa

- Grenoble School of Architecture      1998-2000                   DPEA-Architecture de Terre Diplôme Propre aux Ecole d’Architecture” at: CRATerre-EAG (International Centre of Earth Architecture at the Grenoble School of Architecture in France.

Title: Teaching Earth Architecture at the Department of Architecture at the University of the Free State: Current situation, Analysis and Perspective

- The University of the Free State      1990-93                       B Arch Stud

Key Qualifications

Associate professor /Architect/ technical advisor/ senior researcher in earth construction, green building, and the sustainable built environment.

Consulting Architect 

Consultant Architect (International outside Tanzania) from September 2018 until January 2019 for Digby Wells Environmental (Jersey) on compiling parts of the Replacement Housing Report. This report provided the further development of the previous concept design of house typologies and ancillary buildings proposed for replacement houses in the Priority Areas (P.A.) of the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Project in Tanzania and Uganda regarding local building culture, available building materials, and cost estimates.

 Training and lecturing

 Lecturing (part-time: Jan.1996 – March 2000, full-time: Apr. 2001 – to date), Dept. of Architecture, UFS Subjects: Design and Building Science studio – first to fourth-year levels, Programmes: Sustainable Built Solutions – B. Arch to B. Arch. (Hons.) levels.

Scholarships, merit awards, bursaries, appointments, and competitions received.

- Awards: 

 - UFS Teaching and Learning Award 2021- Category: Research Learning and Teaching: Advanced - Second place (Sept 2021).

- UFS Teaching and Learning Award 2021- Category: Innovative Methods Curriculum Enhancement & Transformation First place, (Sept 2021).

- Excellence in Teaching and Learning Innovation Award, UFS, Category: Service Learning - First Place (March 2018).

- Excellent achievement in Teaching and Learning, Faculty Natural and Agricultural Sciences, UFS, Category: Service-Learning Best Lecturer. (Feb. 2018).

- Vice-Rector’s Award for Community Engagement: Category Service Learning and Community-engaged Research, (Sept. 2015).

- Scientific Committees:                      

- HERITAGE2020 Conference, Living & virtual visiting European World Heritage and RISK-Terra – Earthen architecture in the Iberian Peninsula: a study of natural, social and anthropic risks and strategies to improve resilience (RTI2018-095302-B-I00) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, to be held 9-12 Sept. 2020 at the School of Architecture of the Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain.

-The Out of the Box - National Human Settlements Conference 2018. Pretoria, South Africa, 24-25 October 2018.

- Terra Education III International Seminar, The UNESCO Chair “Earthen Architecture, construction cultures and sustainable development”, 4-7 June 2018

- International Conference on Vernacular Earthen Architecture, Conservation and Sustainability (SOStierra 2017) at the Universitat Politècnica de València – Instituto de Restauración del Patrimonio, Valencia. Spain, 14-16 September 2017.

- XIIth World Congress on Earthen Architectures (TERRA 2016) at the Centre de Congrès, Lyon, France, 11-14 July 2016.

- International Conference on Vernacular Heritage, Sustainability and Earthen Architecture (VERSUS 2014) at the Universitat Politècnica de València – Instituto de Restauración del Patrimonio, Valencia. Spain, 11-13 September 2014

- Bursary:       UFS Center for Teaching and Learning, Advance Fellowship (2023- 2025), - NRF – part-time PhD student (2014),- NRF – KIC conference attendance (2013 and 2023).

- Appointment:                         - Member of the Grading and Declaration Committee for the Free State Provincial Resource Authority (Jan 2021 to date).

-  Member of the Aesthetics Advisory Committee of the Directorate of Economic Development & Planning of the Mangaung Local Council (March 2008 to Dec 2020).

- Membership:                         Professional Architect (Jan. 2005 - to date):

- The South African Council for the Architectural Professions [SACAP] Registration Number 7310.

- Partner since 2003 of The UNESCO Chair “Earthen Architecture, Construction Cultures, and Sustainable Development”, created at the initiative of UNESCO’s Division of Higher Education at the School of Architecture in Grenoble. The CRAterre-ENSAG laboratory is a centre of excellence.- Appointment:                         Faculty Member of Community Engagement UFS (Sept. 2002- to date).

- Scholarship:                          - Travel- and study scholarship from the Department of Architecture and the Faculty of Natural Science to attend the DPEA-Architecture de Terre. (1999).

                                                -Travel & Study scholarship from the French Embassy (Pretoria) for an intensive course in Low-Cost Housing, presented by CRATerre-EAG at the School of Architecture in Grenoble, FRANCE (1996).

- Leadership:                           - Chairman of A5-Architectural Student Council (1991/92).

                                - Class representative (1992).

                                 - Serve on the Editorial staff of the architectural journal: Ruber (1992 -1994).

- Validation:                             - Chairperson of the SACAP Validation panel to the University of Johannesburg, Department of Architecture, in April 2018.

                                                - Member of SACAP and CAA Validation panel to Kwa Zulu-Natal University, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, in Nov.2015.

                                                                 - Preparations for SACAP and CAA Validation visits to the Department of Architecture, UFS in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and the Apr. 2017 visit.

STUDENT SUPERVISION

Since 2019, I have been a co-supervisor for twenty-four M Arch Prof students at the UFS.

 I acted as supervisor for the M. Arch (Research) dissertations of Colleen Steenkamp (2012-2013) and Anneke Wolfvaardt (2016-2019). These are two of only five M. Arch (Research) dissertations completed at the UFS since 1990.

 I acted as a co-promotor for a PhD (Urban and Region Planning) thesis for Lindewa Toba at the UFS (Aug 2017 – Submitted Jan 2020). She obtained her Ph.D. degree in 2020.

 I am a promotor for the PhD (Architecture Research) thesis for Trish Emmett at the UFS (2021 – to date).

I teach because I am fascinated by how architecture students learn and develop expected skills for architecture practice. Furthermore, the different learning style modes of development between male and female students emphasise a student-learning-centred approach. I enjoy working with our exceptionally talented, hard-working students who need personal guidance and care during their studies to achieve graduate attributes for professional architectural skills.

 I must establish a professional academic mentor relationship with the B Arch Honours students. I must be approachable, respectful, honest, and firm for this relationship to flourish. Both parties should come prepared, be on time and discuss the work process. For these relationships, we stay in touch, keep up with the work process, reflect, and often test ideas to synthesise all aspects for a convincing outcome, product, or proposal. Being approachable and available for students is challenging in a department with 200 students but possible in small classes of 30 – 45 students.

 Past achievements recognised by the UFS in acknowledging service learning and engagement always had many practical challenges to overcome. I asked myself how relevant our SL method is in training communities while creating a learning experience for students. I had to rethink this method. Community SL is a great challenge. The difficulties of realising these projects need to sit better within an average of 17 hours of student contact time per week. Under the more significant Project: Promoting the advantages of contemporary earth construction. I had to go back to my "digital drawing board". And I did. This new SL approach provides a new place of interaction in a less intimidating environment while providing contextual learning experiences for students to celebrate the skills of rural women artists and document their litema wall decoration practices, which are slowly disappearing from the Free State landscape.

Although using SL to promote interpersonal exchange is a recent educational methodology, approaches in community engagement continue to see new developments. After doing SL for 23 years with a critical self-reflective dialogue, I had to step back and look at the relevant mode of SL. Figure 6 shows the new SL model proposed to the UFS in 2021, where acknowledging existing litema skills is central. This marks the first time a new model was considered since the EU was established as a vehicle for SL. During the preliminary assessment of this model`s first use, students` self-reflections confirmed how they developed transferable soft skills during service-learning activities. The skills are embedded in hermeneutics as the art of understanding and communication needed to make oneself understood. This holds the science of interpretation about the built environment while integrating graduate attributes into our modules, preparing students for the world of work (employability).

 This new approach depends on more financial support and poses logistical challenges. However, it is relevant in a decolonised SL curriculum and supports UNESCO’s Art Lab for Human Rights and Dialogue, concerned with 1) the impact of arts-based practices on human rights and peacebuilding, 2) giving the floor to alternative voices in other more dominant cultural narratives; 3) to create a dialogue between “artists who have experienced trainers in the conduct of artistic interventions in fragile contexts; culture professionals and practitioners; journalists and researchers” as “artivists”;

(https://worldscienceforum.org/programme/2022-12-06-artistic-research-and-humanities-for-conflict-transformation-and-social-justice-a-case-study-unescos-art-lab-for-human-rights-and-dialogue-253) and 4) to support Ethical Artistic Practices in Support of Human Rights and Dignity (WSF, 2023: online). The new model is not an intimidating top-down approach as used before. The past developmental SL efforts focused on formally sharing new knowledge from the UFS’s side without first inquiring about firsthand experiences as a dialogue with earth-building artisans and litema artists. Now, perceptions around the current state and acceptability of litema arts are documented with semi-structured qualitative interviews at the source (rural areas). Few similar studies have successfully celebrated the rights and dignity of rural litema art on a national or international stage.

 In architecture teaching, the method of investigation is to analyse study buildings (examples, precedents and case studies with their voice to confirm a spatial experience. One-on-one feedback sessions in design studios are used to discuss ideas, concepts, and the progress of individual design projects in all study years.

In the postgraduate design studio, three assignments with continuous evaluation are presented as miles stones with individual rubrics. These are explained and discussed during the control with group and individual feedback. The final presentation of the work should show the process as evidenced by theory, study buildings (example, precedent and case study) with proposed guidelines for the new building, executed as a design strategy that holds context, theory, the brief, study buildings and site analysis as a synthesis for a proposed building.

Semester one or the early stages of a design project will be used for group work. Group work, research questions and digital journals will be used to hold a position to be designed for (undergraduates) and to be researched around (postgraduates). As the year programme’s complexity grows, more individual work applies.

Online crit session on BB has revolutionised feedback as critique sessions on the design process and progress for architecture students. Before 2020, my colleagues and I needed clarification about this experience. We have adapted well to this mode of instruction, control, and sharing in the design process. The main concern with this mode is peer review and how students need help progressing if all need to be linked to an online feedback session (observe and internalise the implications). In his case, there is no real supplement for a shared studio culture where students learn more from peers than expected. In the undergraduate project, the last design project of this year will hinge on the following study year as the introduction.

Effective learning and teaching are continued conversations with relationships based on trust, honesty, and professional good practice. Good curricula for a professional architectural degree at the UFS should develop clear implications to show how academia supports a future architectural career. I believe that curricula at university should develop together with current practice development to ensure relevant teaching is applied to a career practice in architecture.

I will continue with studio and student-learning-centred teaching in architectural design and construction modules for undergraduate (preferably F2F) and postgraduate students (F2F and online) as long as possible.

Vernacular architecture, Alternative construction methods, Earth construction, Adobe, CEB

Scholarship of Discovery

The Earth Unit (EU) at the Dept. of Architecture has received international recognition in the past 19 years. Since 2004 I have coordinated the training and teaching activities of the EU. The core objectives of the EU are to gain experience through building projects, developing building capacity, and shelter aid in rural and urban communities. My research activities focused on the acceptability and promotion of earth construction as part of four internationally funded research/training projects and a Ph.D. thesis. These findings were presented at fourteen national and nine international conferences. Nine articles and three book chapters were published with the majority focused on the promotion of contemporary earth construction as a green building process. I have acted in two international scientific committees for TERRA2016 and twice for VERSUS2014 -2017. I have provided extensive training and support workshops in traditional earth construction in rural parts of central South Africa for the last 26 years in the EU at the UFS.

Scholarship of Teaching

As a member of the EU partnership with the UNESCO Chair in Earth Architecture, I had the opportunity for visits and meetings between international partners where training methodologies, teaching, and curricula were presented and developed. In the last ten years, I have attended meetings and conferences at schools of architecture in Bamako, (Mali), Eindhoven (The Netherlands), Grenoble (France), Amman (Jordan), Lima (Peru), Perth (Australia), Alger (Algeria), Portugal (Villa Nova De Cerveira, Porto and Lisbon) and some public schools and departments of Architecture in South Africa. In 2015 I was a member of the panel for the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP) and the Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA) for the validation of the Kwa Zulu-Natal University, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning. In April 2018 I acted as the chair for the SACAP Validation panel at the University of Johannesburg, Department of Architecture, and compiled the validation feedback report.

Scholarship of Engagement

Since my involvement in the activities of the EU in 1996, I focused on the realization of 8 small to medium-scale buildings (a prototype farm worker’s house, two day-care centers, four ablutions blocks, a workshop complex, a visitor’s center, and two school assembly halls) in compressed earth block and stabilized adobe construction in the Free State and Northern Cape Provinces. These community service-learning projects provided workshops and learning opportunities for the engagement of students with community members. Working with small community groups offered practical and technical solutions for earth-constructed buildings. My most recent achievement was to present a research project: Architecture of Care and Engagement at the World Science Forum in early December 2022 in Cape Town.

In 1996, only seven UFS departments had formal programmes to accommodate SL. I was involved at the EU in constructing nine small to medium-scale buildings (a prototype farm worker`s house, two daycare centres, four ablutions blocks, a workshop complex, a visitor`s centre and two school assembly halls). This provided workshops and learning opportunities for SL outcomes. These activities building projects concerned inclusivity, equity, and social justice even before these became focused areas in academia and civil society. The biggest challenges came in 2021 when I shifted focus to reaching more communities and working in rural areas.

The ACE project discovered rural homestead sites where litema-artists actively practice. We had a different approach and did not go into a community to introduce upgraded self-help-building techniques as in the past. The focus was on a shared experience in which forty-eight women and eight men instructed our students in the art of traditional Sesotho litema-wall decoration by forty-two second-year construction students. The role of supplying new knowledge changed for the first time since 1996. The teaching method of care and engagement was now in place. This fieldwork method is well-developed in anthropology but uncommon in architecture for teaching and learning. This stage furthermore served as a preliminary exploration upon which an international student online collaboration (COIL project of 2022) could be built. My preferred teaching mode is a student-learning-centred approach face-to-face. Still, I depend on online engagement with or without a flipped classroom activity to clarify and remind students of the assessment criteria. COIL has taken our local online experience to an international stage, where we have gathered experience in cross-discipline and cross-cultural exchanges since 2021.

During February 2021, possible homestead workshop sites were identified, and the transport, accommodation and workshop logistics were finalised in May 2021. In June 2021, the EU and the Center for Development Support at the UFS conducted three tours to farms in the eastern Free State. Forty-two CONS2606 students visited and participated for three days on different parts of an assignment that included organisations tasks, collection of raw material, measuring up of existing homestead of houses, the preparation of wall surfaces and plaster panels for an exhibition, and videos to capture the mood of the engagement (https://vimeo.com/599473810/e1076c40eb). The response and positive feedback from artists and students were overwhelming.

I hope this approach will continue till 2025 from the Department of Architecture Construction tour fund. If possible, the SL effort can reach more rural farm earth-constructed homesteads. In addition to SL and community earth-building training projects, I took on a second challenge in 2020. COIL aligns with the UFS goal of promoting internationalisation. In 2019, under the SEOs: student exchange program, the South African Policy Framework for Internationalization of Higher Education coordinated by the Office for International Affairs at the UFS invited me to participate in the iKudu Project. The UFS International Office introduced me to Prof Carlo Citter from the University of Sienna, who introduced me to two past COIL lecturers at partner universities early in 2020. COIL collaboration exchange started on 12 Apr. 2021 (https://www.ufs.ac.za/templates/news-archive/campus-news/2021/july/ufs-partners-in-programme-that-promotes-internationalisation-and-virtual-exchanges).

I was one of four lecturers who presented this COIL to twenty-nine B Arch Hons. students. Other students were from Akita International University, Japan, Farmingdale College, USA, and the University of Siena. It was executed in three parts over nine weeks: 12 teams to collaborate in groups of seven to eight students (while creating a digital presence on Google Drive) to discuss, explore and reflect on the urban environment and the portrayal of society during war/the aftermath of a war as depicted in a selected main steam film. Six weeks later, the groups presented the final video and audio presentations. Students received help from the perspectives of academics in four diverse cultures and a group and individual assessment process while reflecting the course disciplines of the four university groups (Appendix 4). Three more COIL experiences followed (2022-2023).

A similar COIL collaboration with UNESCO chair partners in Africa to promote the advantages of contemporary earth construction building techniques is envisaged as a long-term effort. The EU is one of nine partners in Africa and one of the thirty-one international partners. I attend regular meetings and conferences hosted by these international partners, where training methodologies, teaching and curricula are presented and developed. Through this chair network, I had several opportunities to continue training in different earth construction aspects. A follow-up COIL exchange between new partner universities with architecture schools or departments for 2024 is in the developmental and planning phases.

I have started, formulated, and secured funding for a research project from SANPAD (2005-2009) with Project leader Prof Das Steyn. I have received funding from the NRF to complete my PhD thesis (2014) and for international travel and Knowledge Interchange and Collaboration (KIC) grants in 2013 and 2023. I have received the Vice-Rector`s Award for Community Engagement: Category Service Learning and Community-engaged Research, (Sept. 2015); an Excellent Achievement in Teaching and Learning, Faculty Natural and Agricultural Sciences, UFS, Category: Service-Learning Best Lecturer (Feb. 2018). I received an Excellence in Teaching and Learning Innovation Award, UFS, Category: Service Learning - First Place (March 2018). At the UFS Teaching and Learning Awards in Sept. 2021, I received second place in the Research Learning and Teaching: Advanced category and first place in the Innovative Methods Curriculum Enhancement & Transformation category.

Engaged scholarship of the ACE project used Participator Action Design (IDS, 2023: online) to implement the SL aim within a rural context while gathering new data on public perceptions around the contemporary application of litema in a cultural context. In the last three years (2021-2023), I have presented my engaged scholarship findings and current perceptions on litema wall decoration in central parts of South Africa combined with SL, with or without a COIL part, at six national conferences and one international conference and published in two national DHET approved journals and in two accredited international publications (Appendix 6).

Four COIL exchanges with international partners since 2021 and the ACE research project (2020-2023) supported the development of our undergraduate construction modules to develop our SL to a new level of scholarship of teaching and learning in our department.

The COIL exchange of 2022 within Histories and Theories of Architecture presented to third-year B. Arch Stud. Students provided an international student exchange of literature, ideas and experiences never attempted in our department. These included conversations about art, architecture, landscape, and culture that hold United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The same cohort of students that gathered data the previous year as second years shared their SL experiences of 2021 with American art History students at the Colorado State University during the COIL of 2022.