Designing more sustainable buildings requires a definition of sustainability that responds to the local context. In a South African housing project, this means addressing urgent economic and social priorities as well as environmental issues. This requires in a more comprehensive … Continue reading Sustainable Performance Criteria

To design more sustainable buildings, and avoid replicating designs that perform poorly we need new tools, methods and sources of inspiration. The ‘methods bank’ must create designs that are more responsive, resilient and sustainable. Outlined below are some suggestions that … Continue reading Sustainable Design Generation

How do you choose a research topic for a university research project? Having discussed this with students recently, here are some suggestions: Continue reading How To Choose a Research Topic

Architects and Artists sometimes find it difficult to argue for the value of their designs and art. The Gauteng Institute for Architecture (GIFA) recently organized a visit to the Radisson Red Hotel in Rosebank, Johannesburg. The new hotel has many … Continue reading The Value of Art and Design

There still seems to be some uncertainty about government programmes to encourage rapid private investment in electricity generation from renewable energy. The 12B incentive is particularly valuable for businesses, so it is useful to have some clarity: This incentive has … Continue reading Tax Incentives for Rapid Private Investment in Renewable Energy

There is an awareness that capacity in the built environment in South Africa should be improved. While there have been many excellent initiatives to address capacity, change has been slow. Therefore, there is a need to identify strategies that enable … Continue reading Developing Built Environment Capacity

We are reviewing the City Centre Sustainable Housing Competition and planning what’s next. So far we have had the following feedback: We are beginning to think about the next steps and how a future competition may be shaped. This includes … Continue reading City Centre Sustainable Housing Competition – What Next?

Karin Merle and I were asked to present on Transitioning to a Circular Economy in the Built Environment at a Regenerative Collaborative Event. Our presentation covered the following areas:   The presentation generated some interesting discussion and questions such as: … Continue reading Transitioning to a Circular Economy in the Built Environment

The City Centre Sustainable Housing Competition which we have been running for the last few months closed with a prize-giving event last week. The competition aimed to generate new ideas for inner-city sites and sustainable housing and was developed by … Continue reading City Centre Sustainable Housing Competition: Numbers and Thanks

I was asked to do a keynote that addressed the theme of Disruption for the 17th Built Environment Conference. Some of the points and examples shared are outlined below. Change and Disruption A prevalent characteristic of modern life is change … Continue reading Disruption and Regeneration

I enjoyed hosting the Learning from Living Labs and Built Environment Testing Facilities SASBE Seminar recently. We had excellent presentations from Jan Hugo, Elena Malakhatka, Sui-Kit Lau and Andy van den Dobbelsteen. Labs presented included the HSB Living Lab, Tropical Technologies Lab, the TU Delft Campus, … Continue reading Learning from Living Labs and Built Environment Testing Facilities

For World Green Building Week I was asked to present on the Regenerative Transition by the Botswana Green Building Council. My presentation included the following ideas and examples. What is the regenerative transition? We rely on nature for ecosystem services … Continue reading The Regenerative Transition

The Ecological Footprint Calculator provides a quick way of measuring living and working patterns in terms of global limitations. Data on food, travel, accommodation and waste is used to calculate an ecological footprint which is then related to the earth’s … Continue reading Measuring Sustainable Living and Working Patterns