CMAI Architects inspire others to follow

WORDS: Pieter-Ernst Maré

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When I read the recent article Save the Werdmuller Centre by Remy Raitt and Dylan Culhane I was outraged and pretty disturbed that we still have to read articles like this to save old buildings. I posted the article for the world to read in the hope that somewhere out there is somebody with a bigger vision that could help. 

Last year a call was made to Help us save Coromandel, the most amazing space that I have had the privilege of visiting out near Lydenburg. The space still excites me today, more so than some of our new buildings I see pranced about on décor programs with ridiculous proportions of ‘modern elegance’.

The question lingers: Why are we as South Africans so intimately afraid of our old spaces? Why do we want to rebuild our historic reverence of style and architecture year upon year? 

For five years now I have been lucky enough to do work through Lupini Architects in the CBDs of our country. We go in where the rats rule wild and before you know it, the old space is transformed and is a shining beacon. We keep the old lady’s bones; we give her a haircut and a purple rinse and she is ready to welcome all over again and has a new life! A sense of space is something that cannot be designed overnight. It needs years - decades in fact - to be lived in and used, and that is what makes a city a city. This is illustrated through the lack of sense of space in the citiies of new oil-producing countries vs. the ancient living cities of the East.  It is the most rewarding work to see how our CBDs start blossoming when developers put their money where their mouths are and re-invest in the city. Sometimes logistically this is very difficult with the development parameters on offer and the prospect of building a new hotel, trendy apartments or an office block on a field next to a highway must seem so much easier for both the developer and the construction team.

I spoke to Eugene Marais, an architect from CMAI Architects in Knysna. This firm has 30 years of experience in designing environmentally sensitive Architecture, Urban Design, Landscape Architecture and Sustainable Development. They are the brains behind refurbishments like The Dry Mill, The Turbine Boutique Hotel & Spa and the Sawtooth Building. Eugene explains that they are very fortunate to have worked for a number of years with - and are still working with - Dr Chris Mulder, who is in many ways regarded as a Landscape Architecture, Urban Design & Architecture icon both nationally and internationally, and who has successfully made the transition from this realm into that of property development.

We started talking about sustainability and as to what their approach to it all is. Ultimately they aim to achieve sustainability by applying the three legs of sustainability or 'triple bottom line' to their projects and harmonizing these three principles:

1.) Environmental Sustainability - Planet,

2.) Social Equity – People 

3.) Economic Viability - Prosperity.

On their involvement in the community he explains:

“CMAI Architect’s slogan is “Creating better places for people to live,” so yes, improving communities is our passion. Through our projects we also strive to create as many opportunities as possible. A typical example would be where we could specify & order streetlights for a project like Thesen Islands and now Crossways Farm Village (www.crosswaysfarmvillage.co.za) from a catalogue, but we rather design something unique with local materials & utilising local labour with off-the-shelf high quality light fittings. This way we have a unique product that adds to the character of the development and where we involve a number of local tradesmen & contractors.  On Crossways Farm Village we also identified the previously disadvantaged neighbouring community of Thornhill as the beneficiaries of a community trust which we assist in managing that will be responsible for the improvement of infrastructure & services like improving the local school, providing a clinic, etc.”.

As a believer of refurbishments I wanted to know more about the process of refurbishing the The Dry Mill, The Turbine Boutique Hotel & Spa and the Sawtooth Building.  He explains:

“Historically each of these buildings had a different function with different spaces & types of elements to work with. This created unique challenges and highlights. I was the Project Architect for The Dry Mill and it was special for me because we received a number of national and international awards for it. “What would I have done differently?”…lots of things I suppose but one needs to get to a point where you can evaluate the design and decide if this is the best design in the time-frame with this budget, otherwise you’ll never get to site… Fortunately one learns from each project which helps you to improve with the next project. On the Sawtooth Building we’ve recently added another dimension by designing 6 exclusive urban loft apartments. With the pre-sales looking promising, the project will probably go into construction sometime this year. Retaining old structures or elements is a great way to retain a historic connection with the past and it creates a wonderful sense of place, which is very difficult to replicate.  Environmentally the adaptive reuse of buildings is also very sustainable and therefore makes a lot of sense. Restrictions are something that needs to be identified and then researched early on in the design and then worked around or preferably incorporated into the design. One can create wonderful contrast by celebrating the old incorporated into the new.  Revamping old buildings does take a lot of work and careful planning because you’re working with structures that are seldom straight & plum and that have probably evolved in use over the years.  A passionate team & client with the willingness to come up with unique design solutions is the only way to succeed.”

 My last question to him was what the contemporary design language of Knysna in his opinion was:

“The early pioneers brought with them a variety of architectural styles, but the abundance of local material like timber and the fact that most craftsmen came from forestry and ship building backgrounds was probably the biggest influence in creating a maritime-infused Cape colony style of architecture for Knysna.”

It's exciting to see know that not all South Africans run from old spaces - some indeed embrace them inspiring others to follow.

Read more on Pieter-Ernst's architectural insights at www.alive-architecture.co.za/

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