XXV CONGRESS IN DURBAN
5 August 2008
KZNIA Journal
The Durban Bid was all pulse, colour, texture and creativity. A top-notch delegation which included the Minister of Public Works, Thokozile Didiza, exuded the African welcoming spirit and so secured the rights to host the XXV UIA World Congress in Durban.
On July 6th 2008, the South African Institute of Architects presented its 2nd Bid to host the International Union of Architects Congress in Durban. The first Bid was presented in Istanbul in 2005, where we lost by a narrow margin to Tokyo, who are to host the upcoming event in 2011.
The UIA (Union Internationale des Architectes) Congress and General Assembly is held every three years and member sections bid for the privilege of hosting the event. The selection is made six years in advance. Founded in 1948 and representing 1.3 million architects globally from 116 countries, the UIA had been hosting congresses since its inception. The last five events have been in Torino (2008), Istanbul (2005), Berlin (2002), Beijing (1999), and Barcelona (1996).
The main objective of the Congress is to provide architects with an opportunity to participate in a series of culturally and professionally enriching events based on a specific theme. The UIA is a non-governmental organization uniting the professional associations of architects in over 110 countries internationally.
The hosting of this event in Durban will represent the third time the event has been hosted in Africa. The other occasion was Rabat (1951) and the second in Cairo (1985). This is only the third time in the 60 year history of the event that it is to be hosted in the Southern Hemisphere. The other occasions were in Buenos Aires (1969) and Mexico (1978).
This year's Congress, held in the northern Italian city of Torino, south of Milan was entitled Transmitting Architecture. Each bidding city or candidate city presents three key elements as part of the Bid. The first is an exhibition stand, the second is a cocktail function and the third an audio-visual presentation defining the bid. This year, we were competing against Singapore who were bidding under the theme of 'Green Cities'.
Durban bidding theme was 'MultipliCITY: World Future'. The diverse and multilayered nature of Durban is to guide the Congress as a living laboratory of multiplicity in action and co-existence. The theme invites discussion on the challenges facing world future and focus on Durban as a microcosm of these challenges and celebrates African solutions which embrace diversity and pluralism.
Peter Engblom was the artist commissioned to direct the creative side of the Bid and our theme for the stand was to reduce, reuse, recycle. The idea was also to create a 'lounge' to showcase some African hospitality. We bought couches from the Ikea in Torino and covered them with hand printed fabric made in Durban - embossed with gold. We used Heath Nash's recycled light fittings, made from milk bottle to illuminate the space and telephone wire baskets to adorn the walls. Two Moyo face-painters joined the team and had queues alongside the stand waiting for face-ainting. The crimson pink of the ostrich feather head gear on the face-painters and the African rhythms of Max Mntambo were highly evocative elements of the Bid. There was an overwhelming sense that Africa's time has come.
Singapore put up stiff competition in their audio-visual presentation offering two scholarships to each developing country which attended, free student entry etc amongst others. Fanuel Motsepe, the GIFA president crafted a most elegant speech for the final presentation, incorporating key aspirations from significant leaders both historic and current in our country, most notably the following quote from Mahatma Gandhi : "Is it not a gift we leave to posterity….." (Need text from Fanuel Motsepe).
In 2014, we are expecting around 7000 people to attend the Congress in Durban. Some interesting statistics of the event in Torino are as follows:
9106 people attended the last UIA Congress in Torino.
1613 were free (press, UIA Council members etc)
7493 were paying
4926 (65%) were architects
1868 (25%) were students
699 (9%) were accompanying people
138 countries were represented
49% were Italians
For South African there was a triple cudos. Not only was Trish Emmett elected as a Vice President representing Region V on the UIA Council, she was also elected to be the Second-Vice on the Council, after the First Vice from Mexico (check country) and the president, Louise Cox, from Australia.
Further more Rodney Harber & Richard Dobson also received honourable mentions for the 2008 VASSILIS SGOUTAS PRIZE: A new UIA Prize for architects working towards alleviating poverty.
The Bid Committee was chaired national by Trish Emmett and locally by Ivor Daniel and comprised members of the KZNIA, SAIA and eThekwini Municipality, Architecture Department.
Nina Saunders
7 August 2008
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