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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

UFS mourns the death of a great academic
2007-02-27

 

It is with great sadness that the management of the University of the Free State (UFS) heard of the death of Prof. Dawfré Roode.

Prof. Roode (70) was the first Registrar: Academics at the UFS. He retired in July 1997 and was living in Jeffrey’s Bay with his second wife, Daphne, for the past three years.

Prof Roode’s ties with the UFS stretch over more than fifty years. He registered at the UOFS in 1955 as first-year student and was elected as chairperson of the student representative council in 1958. He also represented the university on the cricket field and as Free State nineteen-year old in the Currie Cup. His academic career at the UOFS started in 1963 when he was appointed as lecturer in Sociology and Social Work. After completing his D Phil in 1964, he was promoted to senior lecturer in 1966. He became the first head of the Department of Sociology in 1972 and in 1989 he was appointed as Registrar: Academics and in 1989 Vice-Rector: Staff and Administration.

“Prof Roode brought professionalism to the administration that did not exist. He not only served the academe as registrar, but also established it as an important function within the UOFS. His ‘institutional memory’ about earlier decisions and events at the UOFS is also legendary,” said Prof Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor at the UFS.

Prof Roode’s father, the late Prof Dawie Roode, was the first head of the Department of Music at the UFS. Prof Dawfré Roode had a love for music and was closely involved with the establishment of the Odeion String Quartet.

In October 2004 the university honoured him with a Centenary Medal for his outstanding leadership and contribution, as Registrar and Vice-Rector, to the development of the UFS by establishing and developing a strong and professional administrative structure at the UFS.

“Prof Roode left deep footprints at the UFS. I am glad that we could honour him for this in 2004 with a Centenary Medal before he passed away. He also attended the launch of the university’s history book earlier in February,” said Prof Fourie.

“Our sympathies go to Ms Trudie Roode (his first wife) and their three children Ms Frelet Roux and Gerda Daffue, and their son, Mr Dawie Roode. Prof Roode has left a gap in the hearts of the people who knew and worked with him at the UFS,” said Prof Fourie.

A memorial service will be held in Jeffrey’s Bay on Wednesday 28 February 2007 at 10:30. A memorial service will also be held in Bloemfontein on Wednesday 7 March 2007. More details will be made available at a later stage.
 

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
27 February 2007

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