The South African Institute of Architects (SAIA) conferred a national merit award on renovations and additions to the DHET UFS Department of Architecture Building. The UFS is very proud of this award.
The building, which was completed in 2012, was designed by Typology Architects' director, Henry Pretorius. Pretorius is also the Head of the Department of Architecture at the UFS.
“The merit award by the South African Institute of Architects, which was presented on 1 August 2014 at the International 2014 UIA congress (held for the first time in South Africa), is a great honour. Not only does the award recognise my work as an architect, it also brings back a certain degree of pride to the Free State and especially the UFS’s Department of Architecture,” says Pretorius.
The SAIA Awards Programme runs over two years to coincide with the presidential term of office, starting with the Regional Awards for Architecture during the preceding year.
A total of forty-nine (49) entries for varying buildings were received from the regions. The project range included residential projects, new public buildings, restoration of heritage projects and an academic research project.
From these submissions, fourteen (14) projects received merit awards, of which eight (8) projects received excellence awards.
The adjudication panel comprised:
• Sandile Ngonyama: SAIA President
• Paul Kotze: Architect, planner and academic from WITS
• Malcolm Campbell: Architect from ACG Architects in Cape Town
• Annemarie Meintjies: Deputy editor of VISI magazine, representing a prominent member of the public
• Peter Kidger: representative of Corobrik, sponsor of the awards.