Staff Reporter
The country’s architecture regulator will bring academics, students, government officials and international regulatory leaders to Cape Town next month to examine whether architectural education and professional training are keeping pace with technological, environmental and social change.
The South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP) will hold its inaugural Education Conference at the University of Cape Town’s Beattie Building on 10 and 11 September under the theme Architecture in Changing Times.
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The conference will focus on architectural curricula, workplace training and the transition from university into professional practice, as well as the impact of artificial intelligence, climate change and digital technologies on the profession.
SACAP President Charles Nduku said the changes facing the sector required closer cooperation between universities, regulators and industry.
“Architecture is being reshaped by forces that no institution can address alone. We must ensure that our education, training and regulatory systems prepare professionals who can respond to changing social, environmental and technological realities while serving the public with competence, integrity and care,” said Nduku.
A key focus will be the pathway from architectural studies into professional registration, including workplace experience, mentorship and barriers facing emerging professionals seeking to enter the profession.
“South Africa cannot discuss the future of architecture without considering the people who must build that future,” said Nduku.
“Young professionals need a credible pathway from the lecture room into professional practice. This requires closer cooperation between universities, regulators, government and industry, as well as a serious commitment to mentorship, transformation and professional development.”
The conference comes as higher education institutions and professional bodies grapple with the growing influence of artificial intelligence and other digital technologies on how professionals are trained and how work is carried out.
Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane is expected to deliver the keynote address, with discussions also expected to cover the role architects play in responding to housing, infrastructure and spatial-development challenges.
A number of international architecture and regulatory figures are expected to participate.
They include Professor Ashraf M. Salama, Professor of Architecture and Urbanism and Head of the School of Architecture and the Built Environment at Northumbria University in Britain; Dong Wang, Director General of the Eco-city Design Centre at TURENSCAPE and Deputy Director of the Nature-based Solutions Innovation Center at Peking University in China; Hugh Simpson, Chief Executive and Registrar of Britain’s Architects Registration Board; and Michael Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer of the US-based National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.
Western Cape Infrastructure MEC Tertuis Simmers is also scheduled to participate.
SACAP said the international representation would allow South African academics, students and professionals to compare approaches to architectural education, professional registration and regulation with those used elsewhere.
Nduku said discussions about education and professional standards ultimately had consequences beyond universities and architectural practices.
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“The future of architecture must ultimately be discussed in human terms,” Nduku said.
“It is about whether people live in safe homes, whether public buildings serve communities properly and whether the places we design can withstand the pressures ahead. This conference must help us identify what needs to change and translate those discussions into action.”
SACAP said it expected the two-day gathering to produce recommendations on architectural education, professional regulation and industry practice.
The outcomes would also be used to inform the council’s strategic planning and its engagement with universities, government, industry and international professional bodies.
