By some strange quirk of fate, I spent almost two years living in a place called Vrededorp. This is a run-down suburb of central Johannesburg a short walk from Wits (University of the Witwatersrand) I had been searching for a room to rent as a mature student and stumbled across this one. It was a strange area, historically restricted to poor whites, it had become a "grey area" where the apartheid rules were not enforced. If Google Earth is any guide it hasn't come up in the world in the 30+ years that have elapsed since then. I was rather shocked to see such poverty and degradation am ..read more

   These posts from LinkedIn deal with Zimbabwe architecture before independence, the UDI period, 1970s. I arrived about a year after independence, so although I got to know Frank Lincoln for example, I didn't really witness this period.  As usual my comments are just ad-libbing on thoughts that come to mind as I reflect on the 23 years I spent living in this beautiful but troubled country.   I have forgotten where some of these places are. At least, my memory is a bit scrambled. Vivid in parts and vague in others. Looking through my database for the Kopje area, I found two ..read more

 Sorry, did I say pumpkin? I meant Gherkin of course, but got pulled down the alliteration rabbit hole. And while I'm apologising, the pages are in the wrong order but they are numbered so ... do your best.  Continuing with LinkedIn posts compiled to this blog for convenience. Before I forget, here is the rest of my "WayWeBuild" study of Norman Foster's Gherkin using Revit as an exploratory device. I have always thought that the sheet layout features in Revit are under developed and undervalued. Yes they do a good job of representing traditional construction document sets. And of co ..read more

  Way back in the early 2010s I did a "way we build" study of the Gherkin using Revit. There were several blog posts and I even made some starter files and handouts. Almost all the freebies on my blog have become dead links thanks to the guys at Google. Recently I had a request to share the handouts, so I am experimenting with doing that here. https://lnkd.in/d-3b8Y7H https://lnkd.in/dAp6VHQr ..read more

In 1994, Andy Michalowski and I were tasked with drawing up about four fifths of the new terminal for Harare Airport. The remaining portion was assigned to Mwamuka Mercuri. It's the kind of job where the engineers act as principal agents. We (Clinton & Evans) were subcontracted to BCHOD. Concept design was by Paul Andreu and ADP (Aeroports de Paris) the same team that had recently completed Changi Airport in Singapore. Wikipedia does not agree with me on this. Perhaps "J. P." (our liaison architect) had worked on Changi with a different architect.     The concept featured a g ..read more

  I have a personal online archive of photos and drawings, filed by location and style /period. There is a section for Harare, mostly compiled about 20 years ago. This is Construction House by Harvey Bufe Mwamuka. Designed in 1990. It's pretty obvious that the design is by Vernon Mwamuka, the youngest partner. As far as I know it was his largest and most prominent work at the time. The influence of American architect Phillip Johnson is very clear in my view. (look up AT&T Building / 550 Madison Ave, for example)   I was collecting newspaper clippings on new projects in those ..read more

  Architectural practices evolve. Often they start as two young architects with complementary skills and a shared vision. As they get older, they often take a younger, energetic designer into the partnership to extend the life of the practice into their old age. You can trace this process in the name changes of registered practices. In Zimbabwe, "Harvey Bufe" became "Harvey Bufe Mwamuka," then "Mwamuka Mercuri." This third alliance gave them strong connections in both Harare and Bulawayo as well as the African and European communities which were sadly far from fully integrated.   ..read more

  I THOUGHT THIS POST HAD GONE OUT ON 15 FEB - NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENED  ANYWAY, HERE IT IS   It's a long time since I've ventured down (or up?) the trunk of the palm. Makes me wonder how many other "fun places to hang out" I'm missing, as I live out my hermit life-style. Sure enough it took a visitor from UK to entice me out here. The place is called "the Pointe" and you can take your pick of F&B outlets to sit out at while admiring the view. Plus various other entertainments I'm sure. At some point I will have to let go of Dubai and the whole ex-pat thing. Probably I shoul ..read more

 The natural thing to do, once I got the big heavy book of Bulawayo sketches back to Dubai, was to get into Google street-view and see how the buildings are holding up. Bit of a surprise to discover that street view doesn't cover Bulawayo. There are photos that you can get to pop up but no street view and no meshed 3d. It reminds me of the feeling I had when I moved to Zimbabwe in 1981. It was a bit like traveling back in time. Kitchen sinks were still using lead traps for the waste outlets ? That was the standard item available in builders hardware merchants. Plastic had yet to penetrat ..read more

 I moved to Dubai in 2004. It seemed quite daunting at the time after 23 years in Zimbabwe, and at least 5 years of increasing economic stress and decline. We agreed on a 3 month trial period. Then I had a month back in Zimbabwe to put my affairs in order. I spent some time digitising what I could of my accumulated papers and photos. Part of this was a project I had been working on for a few years to document the built history of Harare and Zimbabwe. To impose some order on this, I created maps in Autocad and divided the city up into zones, with increasing resolution, zooming in towards ..read more