Bachelor of Architecture (UG): ​

• 2017- current, 3rd year, Semester 1, 12-15 Students

• 2014-2017, 1st year, Semester 1 & 2, 40-60 students

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Diploma in Architecture (UG)

• 2017- current, 3rd year, Semester 1, 12-15 Students

• 2014-2017, 1st year, Semester 1 & 2, 30-60 students

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1st year Architectural Design 

Over the last seven years, through an iterative process, I developed innovative design briefs which aimed at disrupting the student’s architectural frame of reference of the suburban house form while at the same time valuing the learner's unique experience of culture, society and memory in architecture. The intention of the brief was to solicit the most creative expression from the learner.

We established that we need to:

• Re-introduce imagination as a practice

• Look to other creative mediums for inspiration like music and art.

• Include the learner’s voice in the brief. 

• Allow socio-cultural narratives to drive ideas.

• Develop their conceptual skills and not focus on making orthographic drawings

• Foster their analytical and critical skills

• Hone their ability to translate a narrative to space and space into form. 

The studio was also reconfigured into smaller groups to create a supportive design idea culture, reposition the educator as a facilitator and not as a ‘master’ of knowledge. The themes of the briefs focused on the translation of dreams to reality, innovative technology and materials, unique program pairing and developing communities. The studio briefs were scaled from simple 1:1 to 1:500 and back to 1:1 with a strong focus on the human scale as the common denominator.

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3rd year Architectural Design 

3rd year is an elective and the theme for my studio elective responds to the effects of fragmented post-colonial cities morphologies by working with qualitative and quantitative empirical evidence like community voices and urban and spatial data. Architectural students are required to begin to see themselves as active agents of change. The elective attracts students who want to make a real change starting with small tangible interventions.

Urban and architectural change is slow, but it’s important for them to:

• Know their value as a spatial practitioner beyond pen and paper

• Understand how urban and architectural change is affected, who the role players are and how to be a catalyst for change

• How to create a vision by interpreting stakeholder voices 

Community engagement has been a prominent focus of my practice and I reflect on it as a valuable skill in my teaching methods. Relating to inclusive design and relatable practice in my philosophy, more specifically Kolbe’s Experience of Learning Theory and Karl Roger’s ‘Humanism” theory that learners can learn through experiencing it for themselves. Community engagement is a powerful way to integrate learning and demystifying the practice of architecture, as an alternative teaching method. The boundary of the teaching studio walls is blurred and they are required to see the neighbourhoods and communities as an extension of the institution. 

• Slovo Park, Nancefield, Johannesburg, Building a park with 2nd year architecture students in collaboration with One-to-One Agency, 2013

• Vrededorp (Fietas), Johannesburg. Developing a new vision for Fietas with 1st year architecture students in collaboration with Salma Patel, Fietas Museum 2015-2021

• Lotlekhane centre of the aged and garden. In collaboration with the departments of Industrial Design and Visual Art and Honors students. Design and build recreation space and garden for the elderly, 2017.

Bachelor of Architecture (UG): ​

• 2020- 2021, 2nd Year, Semester 1, 30-60 Students

• 2010- 2016, 4th Year, Semester 1&2, 30-50 Students

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Diploma in Architecture (UG)

• 2019, 3rd year, Semester 1&2, 30-60 Students

• 2010-2013, 2nd year, Semester 1&2, 90-100 Students

Bachelor of Architecture (UG): ​

• 2018-2019, 1st year, Semester 2, 30-50 Students

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1st year Design Studies

This is a semester long theory module and the intention is to provide learners with a wider reference for African art, design and culture theory so that they can appreciate, discuss and make those critical connections. The intervention of colonial art and design is deeply rooted in our curriculum and can often be echoed by educators with a bias for western knowledge. The critical review of Western knowledge systems and influenced are analysed while turning out ‘gaze’ towards African-centred art and design and this can mediate our references and practice of architecture. The strategy for this module was to:

• Institute an interactive and critical and art and design discourse

• Foster empathy within the discourse

• Strengthen the critical decolonial view

The learner guide states that the purpose of this module is to introduce students to the fundamentals of art and design theory and how these relate to architectural design. This

module enables students to incorporate cultural and sub-cultural nuances and social organization processes as informers to thinking, writing and design processes. This module enables students to appreciate the many sources of local social and cultural aesthetic influences in our society on which the designer or architect may draw from. Students engage and unpack the interconnections and overlaps of art, architecture and cultural landscapes.

At the end of this module the student should have:

• Knowledge of the basic spatial and aesthetical aspects appropriate to the local art and architecture

• Knowledge of architectural and design history in broad terms

• Discuss contemporary visual and architectural discourse

• Observe and analyse influences of culture, art, design and architecture

• Examine art and design sub-cultures to gain an appreciation of the multiple influences of art and design within the country

• Develop a trans-disciplinary understanding of design theory

Diploma of Architecture (UG): ​

• 2014, 1st Year, Semester 1&2, 90-100 Students

• 2010-2013, 1st Year, Semester 1&2, 90-100 Students

This is a 4th year post-graduate diploma interdisciplinary program between fashion, jewellery and students. The approach was multi-faceted. It focused on the common design methodological threads of the discipline that is folding, stitching, and pleating. The body was as the architectural site and the term ‘architecture was employed as a way of intervening ‘onto’ the body. Additional criteria of looking towards African tribes and their ability to make ‘body architecture’ and apply symbolic mediation to the body to signify status. The learners were encouraged to respectfully deconstruct and augment tradition. In addition, include aspects of sustainability in the design.

The outcome of the projects was to:

• To develop a frame of reference for interdisciplinary design

• To be able to draw from other design disciplines in a meaningful way

• To work critically from a local point of reference

• Develop a design-driven process that is rooted in a critical regionalist approach

• (For architects) To design using environmental factors

• (For Jewellery and Fashion students) to design and fabricate culturally appropriate pieces which are technically well resolved