Architecture of the Transvaal

Architecture of the Transvaal is a seminal collection of writings by twelve South African architectural critics, each knowledgeable in his or her field of interest, on the rich and diverse heritage of the built environment of the region. It also presents an overview of the architectural heritage of South Africa. Many of the high-quality black-and-white illustrations appear here for the first time. The Transvaal, the name given to the region covered in these essays, in the history of the subcontinent is of short duration - a colonial invention - yet it does coincide with a geographic area straddling the Tropic of Capricorn, bound by the Vaal River to the south, the Limpopo River to the north, the Kalahari Desert to the west and Mozambique to the east. The area has a specific climate -temperate to hot summers with rains usually delivered in dramatic rolling thunderstorms, the winters warm and sunny and dry by day yet with night temperatures of around zero degrees Celsius and below with heavy frost. There is also a characteristic vegetation -tawny grasslands with bushveld scrub on the highveld changing to semi-arid desert in the west and subtropical humidity on the lowveld below the Drakensberg escarpment to the east. It is also the geographic area from which most of the architectural students come, from which most of the architects of the region graduate - from the Universities of the Witwatersrand and Pretoria - and in which most of the graduates practise. While following international trends, the architecture of the region is distinctive, reflecting home-grown interpretations, responding to the particular circumstances of the region, be they cultural, ideological, political, pragmatic, climatic or merely convenient. Dr Franco Frescura, past Director of Philatelic Services, past Senior Lecturer at the School of Architecture, University of Port Elizabeth, has published widely on shelter in southern Africa. Dr Elize Labuschagne, previously of the National Cultural History Museum, has researched the topic of traditional Trekker homes and interiors. She is now an interior design consultant in private practice. Dr Dieter Holm, Professor, past Head of the Pretoria School of Architecture, now Head of Postgraduate Studies and Research in the Division of Environmental Design & Management, University of Pretoria, is an expert in energy use and consultant as conservation architect. Dr Mike Keath, previously with the Division of Building Technology of the Council for S

שנה

1998

שפה

English

הוצאה

Unisa Press / Uitgewers

מהדורות

1

עמודים

340

ISBN

9781868880393

מקור הנתונים: Wikidata