Boukunde - Department of Architecture, UP

Boukunde - Department of Architecture, UP The official page of the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria, South Africa
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The Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria, offers validated professional and research programmes in architecture, interior architecture and landscape architecture

An amazing week of building new networks and shaping new opportunities. Prof Chrisna Du Plessis, Dr Jan Hugo and Christo...
31/05/2026

An amazing week of building new networks and shaping new opportunities. Prof Chrisna Du Plessis, Dr Jan Hugo and Christo van der Hoven joined the Technical University of Mombasa, the University of Nairobi and Aarhus University in Denmark. Watch this space for more on the NextGen Build Project

Honours architecture students involved in the Architecture of Dignity research project, led by lecturers Janri Barker an...
29/05/2026

Honours architecture students involved in the Architecture of Dignity research project, led by lecturers Janri Barker and Dr Nico Botes, had their induction at the Gladys Evans Training Centre of the South African Guide-Dogs Association for the Blind in Sandton earlier this week.

They were warmly welcomed by guide dog puppies before attending a series of short lectures on the three types of assistance available in South Africa: guide dogs for clients with sight impairments, service dogs for those with mobility impairments, and autism support dogs for children aged 5 to 12. The students were introduced to white cane training, walking with trained guide dogs, and the work of the Department of Orientation and Mobility, including its involvement in the site-specific orientation of blind students on the University of Pretoriaโ€™s campuses.

This year, this research group is focused on the access criteria necessary to assess and support equitable and independent navigation of the built environment for assistance dog teams in the South African context.

Our sincere thanks to all the staff and dogs at the Association, with special mention to Tanya Schonwald, Head of Strategic Corporate Partnerships, and Pieter van Niekerk, who heads up Public Relations, and his guide-dog Oโ€™Shea.

๐€๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซโ€™๐ฌ ๐€๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‚๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ž๐ฑ๐œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ Congratulations ...
29/05/2026

๐€๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซโ€™๐ฌ ๐€๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‚๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ž๐ฑ๐œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ 

Congratulations to Dr Nico Botes, recipient of the Department of Architecture Teaching and Learning Award.

This award recognises teaching that embeds the Department's values through grounded, thoughtful pedagogical practice. Dr Botes's work is recognised for developing a pedagogical approach that initiates beginner students in architecture into the studio by grounding their work in their personal identities and physical bodies, onto which the notion of โ€˜the otherโ€™, served through their agency, is gradually scaffolded and scaled up in complexity over the subsequent years of study.

We are grateful for the care, reflection, and pedagogical commitment that this work represents.

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ž๐ฑ๐œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐๐ฎ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐€๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‚๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ.Congratulations to Franc...
28/05/2026

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ž๐ฑ๐œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐๐ฎ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐€๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‚๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ.

Congratulations to Franchesca de Moura, recipient of the Neill Powell Neill Award for best completed postgraduate research study, and Gaby Hansen, recipient of the Robert Gustav Schmikl Award for best progress in postgraduate research studies.

Postgraduate research remains central to the Departmentโ€™s contribution to architectural knowledge, built environment scholarship, and the development of research-led design cultures. These awards acknowledge the sustained intellectual work required to produce meaningful and rigorous research.

We extend our sincere thanks to the University of Pretoria for supporting these postgraduate research awards.

๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ซ๐จ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐Œ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซโ€™๐ฌ ๐€๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‚๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ.The Professional Ma...
27/05/2026

๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ซ๐จ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐Œ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซโ€™๐ฌ ๐€๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‚๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ.

The Professional Masters programmes bring together advanced design research, technical resolution, critical enquiry, and professional formation across Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Interior Architecture. The awards in this category recognise excellence in dissertation work, design, documentation, heritage awareness, ecological responsiveness, product design, urban design, hand drawing, planting design, energy-conscious design, and professional practice development.

We are proud of the work produced by this cohort and of the intellectual and professional maturity reflected in their projects.

Our sincere thanks to the sponsors who supported the Professional Masters awards: Bosun Group, Corobrik, NEWURBAN Architects & Urban Designers Polysales (previously Polyflor South Africa), ILASA - The Institute for Landscape Architecture in South Africa, Bapela Cave Klapwijk, Johannes Matthysen, Matthysen | Landscape Architecture Studio, Newtown Landscape Architects, Dr. Gwen Theron, ARCHNEER STATIONERS, Pretoria Institute for Architecture, SACAPSA, SAIA Architects and the Architecture Archives at the University of Pretoria.

๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‡๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐€๐ซ๐œ๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐€๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‚๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒThe Honours ...
26/05/2026

๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‡๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐€๐ซ๐œ๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐€๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‚๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ

The Honours year marks a significant transition in architectural education. It asks students to work with greater independence, conceptual depth, technical precision, and ethical awareness. The awards in this category recognise achievements in design, environmental and landscape thinking, urban citizenship, and overall academic performance.

We congratulate all recipients on the quality of their work and on their contributions to the Department's culture during the 2025 academic year.

Our sincere thanks to the sponsors who supported the Professional Honours awards: Luxury Frontiers, Prof Piet Vosloo, Pretoria Institute for Architecture, and Prof Carin Combrinck.

๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐๐ฎ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซโ€™๐ฌ ๐€๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‚๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ.These awards acknowledge e...
25/05/2026

๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐๐ฎ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซโ€™๐ฌ ๐€๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‚๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ.

These awards acknowledge excellence across design, technical documentation, environmental and ecological response, design communication, history of the environment, and overall academic achievement in the BSc Architecture programme.

We are proud of the discipline, curiosity, and care reflected in the work of our undergraduate students. These achievements form part of their ongoing development as future professionals who will contribute critically and responsibly to the built environment.

We also extend our sincere thanks to the sponsors who support our undergraduate awards: Pretoria Institute for Architecture, kwpCREATE Architects and Landscape Architects, University of Pretoria, NEWURBAN Architects & Urban Designers, Newtown Landscape Architects, GASS Architecture Studios, ARCHNEER STATIONERS, and Aristata Boekwinkels.

๐‹๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ค ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐€๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‚๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ, ๐œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐›๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐š๐œ๐ก๐ข๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž 2025 ๐š๐œ๐š๐๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐œ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ....
22/05/2026

๐‹๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ค ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐€๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‚๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ, ๐œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐›๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐š๐œ๐ก๐ข๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž 2025 ๐š๐œ๐š๐๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐œ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ.

This event offered an important moment to recognise academic excellence, design inquiry, research development, teaching contribution, and the forms of commitment that sustain architectural education across undergraduate, professional postgraduate, and research programmes.

We extend our sincere congratulations to all award recipients and valedictorians, and our gratitude to the staff, families, professional bodies, industry partners, and sponsors who continue to support our students.

A special word of thanks to our event sponsors, Bosun Group and York Timbers, for their generous support of the ceremony.

๐Œ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ'๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐š ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐€๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐š ๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐Congratulations to Humayra Akhalwaya, who has received a...
19/05/2026

๐Œ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ'๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐š ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐€๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐š ๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐

Congratulations to Humayra Akhalwaya, who has received a double award at the Africa International Design Awards - AIDA 2026 as an Emerging Designer in the Spatial Design category for the work from her MArch(Prof) project.

Her project, Edges of Belonging: Design for Everyday Exchange in Melusi, was recognised in two award categories:
- ๐˜œ๐˜ณ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜—๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ
- ๐˜™๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ณ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ

Humayraโ€™s work investigates how everyday streets in Melusi Informal Settlement can become safer, more inclusive and more socially active spaces. Through a co-design process, the project responds to mobility, trade, public thresholds and community interaction, proposing incremental in-situ upgrades that work with the existing spatial practices of the settlement.

This recognition is a significant achievement and speaks to the value of socially engaged architectural education, participatory design and spatial justice. It also reflects the strength of young designers who are willing to work carefully, critically and collaboratively within complex urban contexts.

Congratulations, Humayra. We are incredibly proud of this achievement and the contribution your work makes to architecture, urban planning and informal settlement upgrading.

Supervisors: Jason Oberholster and Prof Carin Combrinck

We take great pride in the meticulous organisation of our archives. Last yearโ€™s extensive moving and revamping project r...
12/05/2026

We take great pride in the meticulous organisation of our archives. Last yearโ€™s extensive moving and revamping project resulted in the renewed accessibility of our many archive spaces, and in turn set the stage for this yearโ€™s continuation of archival functions.

The Drawing Room and the Resource Centre were our main focus points, where we revised furniture arrangements and worked to make all retrievals more convenient. Parallel to this all our other archival spaces and storage systems are constantly being upgraded and revised, while the digital database of archival metadata is refined behind the scenes.

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