Architecture students take top spots at Interpret Durban
UKZN Architecture students were among the winners at the Interpret Durban competition.
FIVE UKZN Masters students in Architecture participated in the 7th Interpret Durban competition, with three scooping prizes on offer in their section.
Students taking part were Glen Scott, Ross Swiatek, Nadiyah Ismail, Jenni McGee and Josh Montile. Glen Scott won first prize, Ross Swiatek, second and Nadiyah Ismail third.
The fifth category of the competition featured architecture alone as a closed competition with representatives of UKZN and the Durban University of Technology (DUT) disciplines of architecture going head-to-head in the competition.
The competition brief, written by Durban’s Mark Bellingan, focused on the students’ conceptual idea, design and interpretation of Albert Park in Durban, with the idea being to turn it into something worthwhile and positive for visitors and adjacent residents through potential architectural projects.
Scott’s winning plan involved improving Albert Park by giving it value through ‘Trash for Cash’ while Ismail’s design Ulwenbu is a social network or “web” that links people, exploring the relationships between individuals through linkages of space and architecture.
Ismail said: “My plan is to form a more integrated and socially sustainable community, a democratic space for interaction that leads to a versatile yet resilient society. It is a bottom-up approach that deals with street level issues in and around the Durban CBD but could be applied to almost any area in Durban.”
