Heather Dodd is working on a PhD. in Architectural practice in a pioneering programme at the University of the Free State which recognises work within an architectural practice as a body of work for academic reflection. Creative research submissions are part of the academic submission process.
Sol Plaatje University : Building C002 : Moroka Hall of Residence, Dining Hall, Lecture Rooms and Offices, Kimberley
Sol Plaatje University, located in Kimberley in the Northern Cape is one of two new universities to be set up in post-Apartheid South Africa in response to increasing access to higher education.
The campus for the new university is located in the heart of Kimberley. The basis for the development of the new university was a comprehensive urban design process commissioned by the client, one that integrates the university within the urban fabric of Kimberley. Spatial integration of the campus into the town itself – rather than a stand-alone gated campus – was a fundamental decision of the university. In doing so, the university takes on a civic function within Kimberley, contributing to the economic, social and cultural life of the town. Building C002, the Moroka Halls of Residence, is a mixed use multi-functional building with a student residence, dining hall, teaching facilities, office and retail as part of the first phase of buildings.
Tower Inten_city, Johannesburg
The project entitled Tower Inten_city, presents an alternative future for a 30 storey tower building built in the late 1960’s in the inner city of Johannesburg. The building, ABSA Towers, earmarked for renewal located at 160 Main Street is a landmark within the city. At inception the project was a proposal call from a Bank that wanted to optimize an existing asset within their portfolio to transform their precinct and relationship with the city. The building was put on the market for developers and designers to reimagine its future and in doing so consider the symbolic, social and political consequences of it future.
Rapid growth and investment resulted in an unprecedented concentration of high-rise developments in Johannesburg in the 1960’s. These mono-functional vertical enclaves served the exclusive interests of corporate capital. After the end of Apartheid and the dramatic economic, demographic and political shifts of a new dispensation, these towers remained unchallenged to serve their new context – one which is Urban, African and Cosmopolitan.
This project was entered as a Future Project into the World Architecture Festival 2018 held in Amsterdam in November 2018. Tower Inten_city was shortlisted in the Future Competition Category and named as the World Architecture Festival WAFX Power and Justice Winner 2018.
Motif
Marking a milestone in practice, the firm decided to produce an exhibition of work showcasing significant projects from 25 years of work. Exhibited in October 2018 at a public gallery in Newtown Johannesburg, ‘Motif’ was opened with a speech by Prof. Lone Poulsen. The exhibition was subsequently shown at the Fassler Gallery at the Department of Architecture, the University of the Witwatersrand in February 2019, with a public lecture by Heather Dodd, a partner in the Practice.
Curated by Savage + Dodd Architects in collaboration with Glenda Venn of Its a Go Communications, the exhibition consisted of 20 hanging banners and 2 horizontal feature panels showcasing 22 projects spanning from 1994 to 2019.
