Landscape ideas to shape communities
Corobrik winners suggest approaches to water access, rising oceans
EXPLORING the possibility of re-routing an existing concrete water channel to allow residents from a disadvantaged community to access water for food gardens is the idea that won a UCT student the Corobrik Landscape Architecture Award recently.
Josephine Dalberg’s thesis, “A River Remembered: reconnecting to landscape, memory and resource through water routes”, focuses on the historical relationships between people and the landscape.
“Having always had an interest in the Cederberg area, I decided to focus on Clanwilliam, the area’s oldest town and gateway to the region. This will create the opportunity for developing household and community gardens, as well as sites of social engagement between the RDP community and the town centre,” Dalberg said.
Amber Myers took home the secondplace prize at the awards. Both are UCT students.
All graduating students in the UCT Master of Landscape Architecture programme are eligible for Corobrik’s Most Innovative Final Year Landscape Architecture Award.
This year’s first-place recipient was awarded R8000 in prize money, with the runner-up taking home R6000.
Myers titled her thesis “Perceiving Landscape: designing for the contemplation of material culture through time”.
She suggested constructing a coastal park and archaeological museum on the Point of Mossel Bay, using materials harvested from buildings which will be submerged by the rising ocean over time. “The things we build, and what we build them from, say who we are,” Myers said.
“The park encourages reflection on how the layers of human culture and development have changed the landscape over time, and how we can do so more responsibly in the future.”
Corobrik commercial director Musa Shangase said the standard of the competition was high.
“South Africa has so much architectural talent and this is evident by the extensively researched dissertations produced this year.
“Through landscape architecture, we’re able to bring aesthetically enhanced spaces and socially cohesive designs to the various communities.
“We at Corobrik believe that ‘better starts here’, and when it comes to landscape architecture, better starts with these award-winning ideas.”