After weeks of rain, the sun came out for this year’s DAS Cape Town event.  

The Media in Africa team was delighted to welcome so many DAS regulars, as well as first time attendees.  

The day was jampacked with networking, industry updates and a thought-provoking line-up of speakers. 

Pierre Swanepoel of dhk Architects shared insights about the iconic Rubik. He detailed the challenges of the small site and of building a tall building that is sensitive to its context.  

Delving into the conference theme of bridging the divide, Heinrich Wolff of Wolff Architects referred to the National Baha’i Temple project in Kinshasa, and some experimental work he is undertaking with Harvard on the issues of land rights and entitlement to land. 

Architecture and Design Network’s Dr Luyanda Mpahlwa took the issues of land and spatial policymaking further in his presentation. He encouraged the delegates to be more involved in the process of the transformation of South Africa’s urban spaces. 

Dion Walters of Bomax Architects explored the principles of architectural design with reference to some of the practice’s landmark projects. He touched on the importance of managing relationships, never forgetting the brief and efficiency on site amongst others. 

Referencing two civic projects, Ashleigh Killa of The MAAK shared lessons from listening. The value of listening and working together collaboratively is in delivering public spaces that are well received and celebrated by the community. 

Taking the delegates on an architectural journey, David Talbot from Platform shared details of the Kloof Road House in Betty’s Bay – from exploring the topography of the site, through to completion.  

The day was wrapped up with Callie van der Merwe of Australian-based COOOP Design. He discussed design for behaviour in hospitality. 

Comments from attendees:  

– Thought provoking. 

– Beste conference ever! 

– Thank you for this opportunity every year to learn and be inspired! 

– Excellent presentations and speakers well organised.  

– Interesting to see local projects. 

– Very interesting project and planning shown. 

– Enjoyed it thoroughly! 

• The speakers dealing with relatable issues in our country. 

• It was very informative. 

• Thank you for a wonderful conference. The Speakers and Sponsors were wonderful! 

Our sincere thanks to our sponsors for their support: