TUTORS REFLECTIONS

0.1 NOMALANGA MAHLANGU

“Great architecture is inspired by that which is not architecture” Dickson

Adu-Adyei, 2022

“What is your name? What are your preferred pronouns? Where are you from? What do you do outside school? What were your first impressions of us?”

We begin each year with these very simple yet powerful questions for our cohort of students. Beyond the prospective architect, who are you? We have content creators, fashion designers, artists, nail technicians, and DJs from townships, the city, rural areas, and suburbia.

The most rewarding part for me is the process of unearthing these diverse backgrounds, traits, and interests through their design thinking, their conceptualization and making. It is in this process that we truly understand what inspires them, in turn inspiring their architecture, their understanding of it and their positionality in the spectrum. Our 2022 theme, Queer politics challenged not only the students but the teaching staff as well. It is now my belief that as practitioners and academics we have a responsibility to teach what we have not been taught and strive to be spatial designers/architects that are conscious that every line we draw, we are making conscience decisions to include/exclude someone

We end the year with more questions...

0.2 MXOLISI NTSHONA

The Second Year programme theme was based on Queer Politics. This theme allowed students to critically explore various academic theories and socio-political morphology of inclusion of all sectors of society within a place called Johannesburg. The students got to address queer lived experiences, albeit from a politically conscious and intersectional lens. Multidisciplinary programme allowed us as Lectures to integrate our teaching methods by so-doing minimizing working in silo`s. The great advantage of this programme was to student`s accumulation and assimilation of all Modules and knowledge to a common project. This Integrated approach was relatively new and unfamiliar to students’ methodology although the outcomes further enabled an adaptive approache by Lectures so as to reach the outcomes of individual Module Guidelines. The student`s responses to the Integrated and Multidisciplinary programme outcome evidently demonstrated a high level of excitement and appreciation of the newly acquired methodology of the production of knowledge and skills of learning Architecture.

0.3 LETHABO MATHABATHE

2022 was a year of implementation and being more intentional in my teaching career. The department has yet again continued to allow us growth in its transformative environment, for all that interact and coexist in and around it (including lecturers and students). Returning as an academic, and being involved in this year’s integrated project (The Public Closet) was both challenging and fulfilling to say the least. It has allowed and immensely equipped me with the experience & passion to continue adding knowledge and value in our students, and contributing positively to the department and industry at large. As a design studio, we have intentionally attempted to be experimental and creative with our teaching approach, and this has given my teaching philosophy, a more refined and deepened framing/ grounding.

The integration has been a beautiful one to watch unfold, from the themes explored, how the briefs developed, to being directly involved and watching our students flourish and finding their voices in their work, and in their respective modules, has been an honour to experience first-hand. The journey has been a fruitful and incredibly conscious one in adding to my setting as an educator above all things. 2022’s work, is one for the books, and it makes me extremely proud to have been a part of it and its success.

0.4 STEVEN SOTIRIOU

In the collective summation and reflection, the Interdisciplinary Design module was structured around elements of identity, inclusivity and integration. Seen as against the backdrop of the prevailing transformational disjuncture within the South African landscape, the cited themes assume an exceptional relevance for engagement. The pedagogy adopted was experimental in that the methodology adopted was one of integration across intersecting disciplines. The approach widened the scope of conceptual operations beyond the narrow ‘silos’ of separated modules. The ‘cross pollination’ of exposure and practice inspired an ongoing dialogue on post-colonial architectural teaching methodologies and served to dynamize the two-way lecturer-student interaction.Formulations of identity became the ‘building blocks’ in prompting introspective awareness, and accommodations of ‘other’ within a wider but cohesive, integrated paradigm. Integration across ‘the borders’ of parallel modules enriched the students’ perspectives. It has prompted creative and innovative thinking and inspired conversations relating to unconscious bias, gender transformations, diversity and inclusion.

0.5 SANJAY JEEVAN

2022 has been an incredible journey and a fruitful one. Being back at the university and teaching design technology has ignited some creativity in me to detail some of my design work with the same flair and commitment that I have seen from some of my students. I find myself in an interesting intersection as I am able to merge the working world and students‘ creativity and expression and hone in on the students’ expected deliverables…Especially from a technology perspective. Returning to the basics of architecture challenges one to understand the fundamental principles, question the methodologies and reflect on what we ‘know’ through a lens of a practitioner while answering students‘ curiosities. The briefs were structured to encourage multiple use of media to enhance the students‘ conceptual thinking and to stretch their understanding of some challenging topics. The responses have been spectacular and extremely thorough through rigorous mapping and research. The integration between the various modules further challenged the students’ thinking and developed richer conversations and discussions. The architectural interventions highlighted the student’s individuality and formed part of inclusionary architecture in terms of race, history, gender, politics, etc, something that was constantly reinforced throughout the year‘s themes. The full body of 2022 work, across the different modules, makes me incredibly proud to be part of such a dynamic team and thank you to the colleagues who made this collaborative project such an immense success.

0.6 THABANG MOTLHAKE

I thought it would be fitting and appropriate to start my reflection statement by titling it ‘fermentation’ as this best describes my first year in academia as a lecturer. As the reader, I am quite certain that you are baffled by my odd or irregular introduction. Well, let’s break it down. Fermentation can be defined as a state of change or development. This definition is fitting as I had to step into a new environment that required me to reconfigure and morph into my new reality. The space insisted I relive and revisit my memories as a student which was not as easy as it sounds. These are memories that were buried deep within my memory with no intention to excavate them. This experience was truly astonishing and completely different from what I had expected initially. It was not only a conglomerate of emotionally taxing moments, but it was quite fulfilling as well, as I was able to share my experience and skills gained from the architectural/construction industry. I can confidently state that students are a constant reminder for one to be courageous and persistent, a trait we tend to forget.

0.7 JABU

MAKHUBU

Intentionality. That is what transformation requires.

We as a team set our goal for the year to be intentional about changing our teaching and learning praxis. Two things stood out this year about our commitment to transformative pedagogy. One, we have had to change the way we work with each other by exploring ways to collaborate and break down the dominant silo approach with architectural education. Two we have had to be clear about why we are doing this. That is centre the experience of our students in our practise by dismantling the hierarchies between student and tutor. We set the framework collectively as a team and together with the students infill and mould the form it takes. This required of us as tutors to recognise that our students have and bring with them valuable knowledge in the studio. moreover, the themes explored throughout the year centred around narrative, identity, critical engagement with the self and the other and understanding our roles as spatial practitioners in this time. We (tutors and students alike) had to be brave, to test, experiment and go on unchartered trails with the hope of discovery. The projects are thus, at times raw, without a clear vocabulary but embody the spirit of authenticity.The work in this catalogue bares evidence of this practice. Yes, this is not by any stretch of imagination a perfect praxis. There is room for improvement. Our hope is that we have contributed meaningfully to the discipline and have inspired others to do the same.

It takes a village.