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from ARCH SA - March 2021

ARCHITECTURAL ALCHEMY

INTERSTITIAL

It has been said that landscape is “the glue that binds”. For 25 years, GREENinc has had the privilege of engaging with in-between spaces to build connections – to past (heritage), to people (community), to place (ecology) and to our shared future (opportunity)

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The practice, started by Stuart Glen, Anton Comrie and Erika van den Berg in 1995, has built up an extensive body of work that includes corporate headquarters, university campuses, hospital grounds, memorial and heritage projects, public urban spaces and private landscapes across South Africa, Africa and as far afield as Germany. GREENinc has been recognised with international awards such as the Architecture+ Award in Dubai and the Torsanlorenzo GREENINC’S PLAYFUL, Prize in Italy as well as 12 Awards of Excellence

EXPERIMENTAL AND from the Institute for

COLLABORATIVE Landscape Architecture in South Africa (ILASA). APPROACH TO With Erika’s retirement

DESIGN REMAINS A some years back, and Anton and Annamari’s departure to

CORNERSTONE OF pursue a fantastic opportunity THE FIRM’S WORK AS in the UK, Stuart and Andrew Kerrin now lead the practice. IT STRIVES TO CREATE GREENinc’s playful,

SPACES THAT ARE experimental and collaborative approach to design remains

INNOVATIVE AND a cornerstone of the firm’s work as it strives to create INSPIRING. spaces that are innovative and

1. A courtyard space at the Botswana Innovation Hub, Gaborone. Architects: SHoP. 2. Indigenous climbing plants soften a building at The Houghton Hotel, Johannesburg. Architects: Boogertman and Partners. inspiring. The practice has offices in Johannesburg and Durban, with current projects scattered across Botswana, Gauteng, KZN, Northern Cape and the Western Cape.

GREENinc’s best projects are those where the team has worked so closely with the architect and other professionals that the boundaries between the disciplines blur, where it’s impossible to isolate parts from the greater whole. They find that bringing other interesting people like artists and even traditional healers onboard adds immeasurably to their projects. Watching their projects grow and develop over time is ultimately rewarding.

The GREENinc team is passionate about the natural environment and mediating between it and the built environment. Right from GREENinc’s early years, Erika led the landscape profession in developing contextually-appropriate indigenous planting palettes at a time when this was far from the norm. This has helped to establish dynamic new ecosystems and support existing ones in all of GREENinc’s projects. The systemic nature of landscapes – social systems being one of them – has also been a strong driver in our approach to creating place, especially within the urban context.