A few days after the annual Sophia Gray lecture, the Department of Architecture at the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted the inaugural lecture of Prof Jeremy Smith.

Prof Smith, the Design Director of Irving Smith Architects in New Zealand and an Adjunct Professor in the UFS Department of Architecture, is known for his innovative approach to architecture that emphasises sustainability and the relationship between buildings and their natural surroundings.

Earlier this year, he partnered with RTA Studio – an architectural firm based in Auckland, New Zealand – and won the prestigious Dubai International Best Practices Award for Sustainable Development in the category of the Most Beautiful, Innovative and Iconic Building with the entry: The ‘Scion Innovation Hub, Te Whare Nui O Tuteata.

A changing climate

Themed Being Finished is Finished, the lecture attracted a diverse audience of architects, industry stakeholders, academics, students, and the general public. Prof Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation, welcomed Prof Smith and the attendees. He congratulated Prof Smith on this milestone, highlighting that a professor’s work often represents the beginning of much unfinished business. He noted that the UFS is proud to host such lectures, which celebrate and acknowledge excellence in research and practice.

Prof Paul Oberholster, Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, introduced Prof Smith, praising his impressive career and the numerous national and international awards he has received.

Prof Smith’s lecture focused on the evolving relationship between architecture and the landscape, particularly in New Zealand, where only a quarter of the original forests remain. “We know our climate is changing. In New Zealand we massively made landscape; landscape is everything. Modernism has asked us to use the lawnmower,” he remarked.

He believes in the importance of architecture that adapts and evolves within its natural surroundings, rather than imposing new landscapes. He introduced the concept of ‘soft architecture’, which involves designing buildings that fit into the changing landscape. This approach allows for a sustainable relationship between architecture and nature, ensuring that buildings enhance rather than dominate their environment.

He illustrated this philosophy with a project, the ‘Bach with Two Roofs’ house, which was damaged by a cyclone in 2014. The storm altered the surrounding landscape, and rather than simply repairing the house, Prof Smith redesigned it in a flexible and adaptive manner that might accommodate environmental change. This project demonstrated how buildings can be refurnished to adapt to a shift in the landscape, ultimately coexisting with and responding to the natural world.

“From life in the forest, the landscape shifted – the sun was hotter, the wind was stronger. Our building has lost its fit to the landscape. Refurnishing it, we need to acknowledge that this time a new forest will grow. It will be a stronger forest – it will be indigenous and will grow in relation to the building. In this shifting landscape, it’s not the landscape that needs to be refurnished. It is the building.”

Doing more with less

Prof Smith also discussed two award-winning projects: the ‘Te Whare Nui O Tuteata’ project and the ‘Feather House’. Both projects are examples of his commitment to sustainability and adaptive design – doing more with less.

The ‘Te Whare Nui O Tuteata’ project, part of the New Zealand government’s SCION Timber Research Institute, uses a diagrid timber structure that reduces material usage and allows the building to integrate seamlessly with its forest surroundings. The building was designed with a neutral carbon count, and the timber used was locally sourced, reflecting the natural landscape.

Prof Smith described the building as an educational invitation to visitors to ‘walk in our forest’ and learn new and sustainable ways of resourcing and building with timber. “The building behaves like a forest – the closer you get the more is revealed. Light filtering through its timber framework is also much like sunlight through a forest canopy – enhancing the building’s connection to its surroundings.” 

In discussing the Feather House, Prof Smith highlighted the importance of designing spaces that can evolve with their inhabitants. “Design for the ‘there and then’ rather than for the ‘here and now’,” he said. “One cannot design a room for every occasion, but you can provide an invitation.” He advocates for creating architecture that anticipates future changes and adapts to evolving environments, ensuring that buildings remain relevant and functional over time. His design philosophy underscores connection rather than division of spaces and doing less rather than more to create adaptable and sustainable living environments. “Do not design the space based on whose shoes are in the shoe rack,” he commented.