A Return to Paradise and its People - Durban

THE KING SHAKA INTERNATIONAL ARIPORT at La Mercy was designed
by OSMOND LANGE ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS in collaboration with
several local firms including RUBEN REDDY ARCHITECTS (pictured). Plans
for the airport were first mooted in the early ’70s and finally got underway
in 2006, after studies showed that the existing airport would not be able
to cope with future air traffic. On 1 May 2010, the region’s new airport
was opened after a spectularly swift construction process. It will be able
to process 7,5 million passengers a year, as well as alleviating pressure
on the Durban-Johannesburg route by freighting cargo directly out of the
country. The airport is the central hub in the DUBE TRADE
PORT, a long-term planning initiative that will massively
stimulate the region and provide employment for hundreds
of thousands of people over the next two decades.
See it at: King Shaka International Airport, La Mercy
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CHOROMANSKI ARCHITECTS are the recent
winners of a competition to design the Pan
African Parliament buildings. The firm’s style
is defined by a design-driven practice which
seeks appropriate regional
solutions to building in South
Africa. The firm also designed
the inspiring Interpretation
Centre in the Isimangaliso area.
The KwaZulu-Natal Institute for Architecture is a voluntary organisation that was founded in 1901. One
of 8 regional institutes of the South African Institute of Architects, the KZNIA represents the interests of architects,
architectural practioners, the public and the built environment. It is an active organisation with a key interest in
regional and local developments. Every two years the KZNIA confers Awards of Merit on well designed and critically
acclaimed projects in the Province. More recently the organisation, under the auspices of the South African Institute
of Architects, won the bid to host the world’s largest congress of architects, the UIA Congress, in Durban in 2014.