We would like to introduce you to the PIA’s panel of adjudicators for Cat A + B.
Calls for entries will go out before the end of the week.
We sincerely thank them for their commitment to this extensive and time consuming challenge.
Chris Malan – Convenor + Architect
Chris Malan is a senior director at Co-Arc International Architects with over thirty years professional experience.
As a young architect in training Chris accepted a solitary year-long posting to Botshabelo township outside Bloemfontein, an experience which both challenged and informed his understanding of the role of an architect in Africa. Seeking a broader perspective, he embarked on a gap year in Europe from which he returned at the end of 1989, when global political shifts heralded political change at home. He joined Meyer Pienaar Architects in Johannesburg and was appointed an associate in the firm four years later. In this role he immersed himself in developmental challenges of the country, and helped navigate Meyer Pienaar through a period of transition, which culminated in 2005 with the establishment of Co-Arc International, of which he is a founding director.
Chris has made award-winning contributions to architecture and to urban design in the current South African context and has worked as project architect across the African continent. He involves himself actively in all stages of design and on-site realization of projects at all scales, be they small developmental projects, major civic and corporate buildings, or strategic urban design frameworks. He has served on the habitat portfolio of the SA Institute of Architects, assisted academically as thesis examiner, competition adjudicator and guest lecturer, and co-authored and published two architectural monographs.
Chris thrives on the exploration of strategic solutions to complex contextual challenges, seeking to transform existing environments for the better by working with their inherent potential. Much of his work entails the redevelopment of urban precincts, brownfield sites or buildings in need of repurposing for a more sustainable future. Professionally grounded by separate degrees in architecture and in environmental management, he approaches projects with a sense of responsibility towards the shaping and the nurturing of our living environments: our cities as habitats supportive of human welfare within healthy societies, sustainably embedded within the natural ecosystems and resource-base of our planet.
Karlien Thomashoff – Architect
Karlien Thomashoff qualified as an architect in 1992 at the University of Pretoria. She is a director of three companies: Thomashoff+partner
Architects, Y+K Architects and WitOpWit. In her work, she aims to produce well-designed, environmentally appropriate designs that contribute positively to the built environment. She is also continuously involved in furthering awareness of protection of the historic built environment. In 1996 she was a finalist in the SA Rome Scholarship in Architecture and was selected as a finalist in the 2012 Absolut VISI Designer of the Year award. She was a key member on teams chosen as finalists in local architectural competitions.
She acted as an adjudicator on various adjudication panels such as the PIA regional Awards of Merit, the Limpopo regional Awards of Merit, the Murray & Roberts Des Baker Student Competition, the 8th Carl & Emily Fuchs Foundation Prestige Prize In Architecture and the Sol Plaatje University Architectural Competition in 2021. Thomashoff+partner Architects, run by Karlien and her husband Fritz, received both Regional and National Awards of Merit. Karlien presented a few public lectures in the past years, lectured part-time, and regularly acts as an external examiner to design studios at Universities locally and abroad.
Mark Schaerer – Architect
Mark Schaerer has a Master’s in Urban Design and Bachelor of Architecture from the University of the Witwatersrand. He is the principal Architect of SRS Architects, a Johannesburg based practice that works in the educational sector. He has been the Competition Administrator for four national competitions including most recently the co-administrator for the Commonwealth War Graves Memorial Competition in Cape Town.
Mark is currently a part time lecturer at Wits and has been an examiner at Wits, UJ and UKZN. In his spare time, he involved in public space events including multiple “Open Streets” events organised in conjunction with the City of Johannesburg and local communities.
Nompilo Okeyre-Dede – Snr Architectural Technologist and PIA Transformation Chairperson
Nompilo Okyere-Dede completed her undergraduate studies in architectural technology at the Durban University of Technology in 2010. And completed her postgraduate studies at the University of Johannesburg (B.Tech Architectural Management) in 2015 and her Master’s degree from the University of Witwatersrand in 2020 (Master of Urban Design).
She currently works as the director at Urbn Blu Architecture and urban design, a young architectural and urban design practice that aims to shape the urban environment through people-centred design. She is a registered professional senior architectural technologist (SACAP) with over 10 years of experience in the built environment in both the private and public sectors, with a particular interest in community-led design.
She is a member of the Pretoria Institute for Architecture and chairs the transformation committee, and has also served on SACAP’s recommendation panel for the 5th and 6th term council.
Victor Mokaba – Academic + Architect
Victor Mokaba is an architect and lecturer based in Pretoria. He graduated at the Tshwane University of Technology in 2015. He currently teaches at Tshwane University of Technology’s department of architecture and industrial design where he teaches design and construction at third year level and he is the third year architecture programme director. His career began at Mathews and Associates Architects in Pretoria and at dhk architects based in Johannesburg where he worked extensively on various projects ranging from commercial developments, high end residential projects and mixed-use developments.
Prior to joining Tshwane University of Technology, he taught design part-time at third year level at the University of Johannesburg’s department of architecture. Victor is the co-founder of Between Cities, a platform encouraging collaborative exchange between Pretoria, Johannesburg and the world. He is also the founder of Studio VM Architecture and Design, a multi-disciplinary design practice based in Pretoria and founded in 2019. Victor has a keen interest in empathetic architecture, heritage and conservation and construction and detail driven design.
Karabo Motsepe-Marutla – Public Interest + Sponsor of the adjudication process
Corobric is the generous sponsors of the Awards Adjudication Process.
Karabo Motsepe-Marutla has been with Corobrik for 16 years. She is Head of Department (HOD) for Government Development. IShe has been a part of Sales and Business Development where she is responsible for developing opportunities in target markets, nurturing and developing relationships within government departments, researching, planning, and implementing new target market initiatives. One of the key functions of her role is ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace, reviewing current market trends to propose new business ideas that can improve revenue margins and obtain better brand recognition in the market. She studied Political Science through née Rand Afrikaans Universiteit now called (UJ).
We sincerely thank them for their support.
Dr Nico Botes is a specialist in student selection for admission to higher education and in teaching beginner students in spatial design. He grew up on the Eastern Transvaal highveld, where the simplicity of the landscape left a lasting impression. He obtained his professional five-year bachelors degree, a research master’s and a PhD at the University of Pretoria, where he has lectured since 1997. He coordinated the coursework programmes in interior architecture until 2008 and now coordinates undergraduate programmes at the Department of Architecture and is responsible the first year of study and studio.
He has acted as study leader for more than 50 candidates who obtained their professional master’s degrees in architecture, interior architecture and landscape architecture and currently leads research studies in architectural education and universal accessibility.
His research is currently focused on investigating coordinated and integrated teaching and learning opportunities through the optimising of horizontal integration between core modules in the first year of study of the BSc Architecture programme at the University of Pretoria.
He was the founding art editor of Innovate (a biannual faculty magazine), has adjudicated regional awards of merit for the South African Institute of Architects and has judged national design competitions.
Prof. Gerald Steyn – Academic (Cat B)
Experienced, capable, and enthusiastic Architect and Built Environment Infrastructure Specialist with an exceptional appreciation for innovation and forward thinking.
Boasting over 13 years’ experience in the Built Gerald Steyn is a registered architect and research professor currently involved with the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the Tshwane University of Technology.
Apart from his research activities (he has a rating from the National Research Foundation) and guiding postgraduate students, he presents online courses on various academic topics, including research methodology, scholarly writing, literature reviews, and time management. He holds a PhD from the University of Pretoria and MArch and BArch degrees from the University of the Free State.
