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04 September 2019 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Charl Devenish
Jon Jacobson
Delivering the 31st Sophia Gray Memorial Lecture and Exhibition in Bloemfontein, was Jon Jacobson from Metropolis Design in Cape Town.

What is inside and what is outside? What is coming alive in the light? Minimalism. Hugeness. Shadows. Soft. Art. Complex. Conversation. Ambiguity. Clarity. All phrases and words used by the most recent Sophia Gray laureate, Jon Jacobson from Metropolis Design in Cape Town, to describe aspects of his work.

He delivered the 31st Sophia Gray memorial lecture in Bloemfontein. The name of his lecture at this prestigious event, organised by the UUFS Department of Architecture, was in [de] finite. Jacobson is the first graduate in the department’s MArch with Design.

Nature plays a big role in many of his projects, with a blurred distinction between the inside and the outside of the structures he builds. His designs fulfil the desire of a union with nature. 

A detailed investigation

Jacobson creates places and spaces to celebrate being. “Architecture is undeniably art, but it is also embodied in the completeness of the lived moment,” he says. 

Every project starts with a detailed investigation. “What social theory will we engage with? How progressive is it? What attitude will we take to the environment, to the theory of family? What other personal concerns will we be worried about? It is important to engage critically with this information. Important to build a philosophical base for each project,” says Jacobson.

He also believes it is important to consciously ensure that form follows idea with the same intensity that it follows function and that it does not blindly follow other form. 

At Metropolis, Jon and his team are client centred in their approach to design. Jon explains the process: “Some of the content is brought from the client’s personal and social aspiration and some from contemporary architecture culture, but the most potent component is the hidden set of ideas that emerge from our own engagements with the living world such as popular science, geology, art, music, literature, philosophy, theology, mysticism, and many others. And this emerges in the hidden sense of the word, in its architecture content.”

Content approach to design

In house design, Jon categorises the content that informs the architecture of the house: content pertaining to the individual, their philosophy, values and beliefs, content derived from culture, architecture and the arts, passion, religion, politics, and content referring to the natural world and its processes. Content from each of these spheres is present in any of his work. 

Jon says a major implication of a content approach to design is that it requires a design framework that is largely operative at a level of idea rather than at the level of form. This contributes to creating architecture rather than just buildings. 

His design method allows conscious control over the relationship between the ideas, the forms, and the poetics of the projects. “And at any point in the building process, it is possible to trace back and to critically assess whether any particular form is aligning with the core ideas of the project,” Jon indicates. 

Jon’s first taste of grappling with the infinite of architecture was with a garden pavilion he built for rest and relaxation. “For the first time I felt that we integrated planning, content, sight, programme, structure, and materiality into one unified whole that was expressed with a minimum of means and that was more than just the sum of its part,” he states.

He strongly believes that the individual is at the centre of every architectural project. He says the belief systems, type of social needs, family dynamics, physical habits, and spatial practices of their clients need to be investigated in detail in order to facilitate a meaningful spatial experience.

He continues: “We see our role as designers to saturate the environment with the meaning that enhances our clients’ daily experience in every possible way – from the ergonomic and the practical to the spiritual. In the process, the logics and tradition of architecture and the ego of the architect sometimes need to make way for human need and aspiration.”


News Archive

Zubeida Jaffer short film to feature on SABC3
2014-10-08

 

Zubeida Jaffer
Photos: Adrian Steirn, 21 Icons South Africa

The nation-building initiative known as 21 ICONS South Africa, was recently thrilled to announce that Zubeida Jaffer will feature in their second season due to her professional excellence as a journalist and author.

Jaffer is a well-known South African reporter and author and has been a writer-in-residence at the UFS for three years now. The 21 ICONS project was inspired by Nelson Mandela and has created a movement for positive change. By sharing the stories of iconic South African men and women, the intention is to inspire new generations to follow in their footsteps.

One icon is featured per week in a visual celebration of engaging and entertaining portraits and short films, along with an essay biography across multiple media platforms such as print, broadcast, outdoor and social media. Jaffer’s short film will be broadcasted on 2 November 2014 at 20:27 on SABC3 and her collectable portrait will be published in City Press on the same day.

Jaffer’s short film discusses her truth as a journalist and activist who was a key figure in the struggle movement in the Western Cape during apartheid. In an intimate conversation with Adrian Steirn (creator, photographer and director of 21 ICONS, Jaffer talks about her journey as a journalist who always seeks to uncover the truth and give people who don’t have a voice an outlet to express their views, opinions and thoughts.

Other iconic South Africans that have featured on 21 ICONS, were among others, Francois Pienaar (former Springbok rugby captain who won the 1995 Rugby World Cup), Pieter-Dirk Uys (satirist who used comedy and caricature to oppose the apartheid government) and Frene Ginwala (the first female speaker in the National Assembly of South Africa).

With the country celebrating 20 years of democracy, the message that everyone can do something to make a difference – which is portrayed in these powerful and inspiring stories that make up the second season of 21 ICONS – has been well-received by South Africans.

Be sure to get your City Press early and tune in on the evening of 2 November 2014 to see Jaffer’s feature on 21 ICONS.

Jaffer is also the publisher of the Journalist website (http://www.thejournalist.org.za/) launched earlier in 2014, of which the UFS is the founding member. The Journalist is “an independent, non-profit organisation working with the academic community and a range of credible online entities to make their knowledge more accessible to the wider public.”


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