The SA Institute of Architects (SAIA), a voluntary association that is the collective voice for the nine existing regional institutes in SA, has recently appointed Prof Amira Osman as its 70th president.
An architect, academic and researcher, Osman holds the position of SA Chair in Spatial Transformation and is also the director of the think-tank, Platform 100. Business Day caught up with the new president of SAIA to find out what the organisation will look like under her leadership.
When did you first get into architecture? What drew you to the profession?
I spent my childhood in a home full of architectural books and we had many a detour from school via building sites and my father’s practice (Omer Siddig Architectural Consultant [OSAC]) in Khartoum, Sudan. OSAC is where I worked over university holidays and after my graduation in 1988 where I picked up my experience in design, construction and architecture in general.
I am currently working with my father on the compilation of his archives into a book. This has been a labour of love, a walk down memory lane, a time in my late teens and early 20s, when I absolutely absorbed whatever I saw and whatever I heard at the office; the nostalgia of drawing pens and the smell of ammonia as the blueprints were being made. I believe that the OSAC archives book will be a unique contribution that my father will make towards the documentation of architecture on the African continent and I am proud to be associated with it.
What are the important issues you want to tackle as president?
I will be lobbying for the best architectural minds to help dismantle the apartheid spatial legacy. The structure of our cities was carefully planned to humiliate and disadvantage. The design of our neighbourhoods did not happen by chance; it was deliberate and targeted. Yet, now in a democratic era, architects are excluded from many documents and processes concerning spatial transformation.
I am worried about President [Cyril] Ramaphosa’s response to questions in the National Assembly on November 3 2022, when he said, “We don’t have enough suitably qualified town planners to help with urban planning”. I do not believe this is accurate. There is a constant sidelining of the SA disciplines that can most assist in achieving spatial transformation — the spatial experts, the town planners and the architects.
The department of home affairs identifies architecture as a scarce skill which is also problematic and leads us to look elsewhere for experts in the built environment when we have them here, in SA.
In your view, which policy areas need to be addressed by the sector?
We are pleased that an architect, Dr Heather Dodd, was part of the team that helped put in place the new norms and standards for rental housing gazetted in January 2023. This should be a game changer in achieving quality housing environments because “design matters”. At the heart of the policy is the pursuit of integrated housing environments that provide amenities for residents and seek to transform our cities. We look forward to further engaging the department of human settlements towards more progressive achievements.
Every project and site-level intervention has the potential to be transformational. Experimentation and innovative pilot projects are as important as policy change. So, we also need to build partnerships between the built environment professions and government agencies to implement new projects. I would like to see the government driving and funding these collaborations and facilitating their success.
Where are the opportunities and prospects in the short term for the architectural industry to grow?
Prof Tinyiko Maluleke, the vice-chancellor at the Tshwane University of Technology, encourages us to consider statistics and facts in telling our various narratives about the built environment. I propose that we take the numbers, which are many times disappointing, or even alarming, and creatively harness them for a better future.
The numbers say unemployment levels are high, people spend large percentages of their time and income on travel to and from work, and the construction industry is the biggest culprit in environmental damage. The numbers tell us that natural hazards will occur multiple times a year when they once used to happen every other year. The numbers also tell us that countries that most need the services of architects are the ones with the least number of architects per population.
These numbers tell us that many more architects must become involved in the real-life problems of our majority citizens — and if this is done, quality environments will contribute significantly to the wellbeing of the population.
How can the government do more to support the sector?
The most creative cities globally have been able to acknowledge the importance of architecture as a profession in their development. The Netherlands has a government-funded agency dedicated to partnering with public and private sector enterprises towards exploring innovation in the built environment from construction systems to financial systems. Many innovative projects have come about because city authorities have seen the importance of having architects as city employees.
Many urban innovations that we take for granted today such as the BRT (bus rapid transit) system originated in Curitiba, Brazil when the city was led by a mayor architect-turned-politician. Indeed, his legacy lives on many years after his tenure and has gone on to influence many other cities globally. In Bern, Switzerland, a city architect went on to have much influence on transforming building practice in public buildings over a number of years.
What type of legacy do you envision leaving behind?
I want to leave SAIA stronger, with a national and global presence and valuable contributions and partnerships across Africa. Collectively, we can address issues of climate change, vulnerability and poverty, harnessing innovation in the built environment to achieve a healthier relationship with nature, achieving resilience and prosperity. SAIA must play a major role in implementing various spatial and human settlements policies of SA, many of which are premised on a very progressive constitution. I want our profession to move out of the shadows of being “niche”, to be mainstreamed, to take centre stage and to be transformative.
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