benjamin kollenberg _ cv & portfolio

B e n j a m i n K o l l e n b e r gC u r r i c u l u m V i t a e . P o r t f o l i o

Benjamin Kollenberg Curriculum VitaePersonal Detailing

Benjamin Kollenberg 7 December 1993

(+27) 82 877 [email protected]

25 2nd street, AbbotsfordJohannesburg, 2192

93 12 07 5077 081 South African

Yes (aquired 04/2012) and own transportYes (will be acquired by 01/2016)

Soccer, Rugby and Athletics - supporting, but playing in particularMusic - both listening to it as well as playing guitar, bass guitar and

piano and of course Architecture, Urban Design as well as Industrial Design

Primary Education

King David High School Linksfield Johannesburg (2000 - 2011)

Matric (7 distinctions)

Soccer 1st Team (2010 & 2011); Rugby 1st Team (2010 & 2011) Most Promising Rugby Player Award (2010)

School Athletics Captain (2010)Final artwork recieved Merit Award at IEB Johannesburg Exhibit (2011)

Best All-Rounder Award recieved (2011)

Tertiary Education

University of the WitwatersrandJohannesburg (2012 - 2014)

1st and 2nd year passed (3 distrinctions acheived in each)3rd year passed - Bachelors Degree of Architecture achieved

(with 4 distinctions and a distinction average achieved)

Chosen for Deans List (2012, 2013 and 2014)Member of the Golden Key Society

Recieved award for “Student in any year above first year, to submit best solution to a real life problem of a domestic or residential nature” (2013)

Awarded Construction Merit Award (2013)Awarded Everite Prize for “best design utilizing concrete” (2014)

Recieved Steel Institute award - “best design using steel components” (2014)Awarded “Top student to graduate from the undergraduate degree” (2014)

Chosen as one of the 6 finalists for the Boogertman + Partners 2015 Design Challenge, from all architectural students in 3rd - 5th year from

South Africa, Kenya and Ghana.

Date of Birth : Contact :

Physical Address :

ID :Nationality :Drivers LicenceWork Permit :

Interests :

School Attended :

Standard Passed :

Awards and Merits Recieved :

University Attended :

Standard Achieved :

Awards and Merits Recieved :

External Merits :

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References

Pierre Swanepoel, StudioMAS Architects + Urban Designers (pty)Ltd.

[Current Employer]Tel. - (+27) 11 486 2979; Fax - (+27) 11 686 5399; Cell - (+27) 83 227 6380

[email protected] 3, Courtyards on Oxford , Forest Town, Johannesburg, 2193

please see www.studiomas.co.za

Julian Michaels, Julian Michaels Architects ©

[Previous Employer]Tel. - (+27) 11 483 2323; Fax - (+27) 11 483 3010; Cell - (+27) 83 292 1292

[email protected] 1st Street, Abbotsford, Johanneburg, 2192

please see - www.julianmichaelsarchitects.co.za

Adrian Masarow, AMA Architects ©

[Previous Employer]Tel - (+27) 11 807 7505; Fax - (+27) 11 807 7509; Cell - (+27) 83 378 2891

[email protected], 12th Avenue, Rivonia, Johannesburg, 2052

please see - www.amagroup.co.za

Ludwig Hansen, Ludwig Hansen A + Ud

[Supervisor of Bachelors Degree of Architecture program at University of the Witwatersrand]Tel. - (+27) 11 486 1468; Cell - (+27) 82 600 9424

[email protected], Selkirk Rd, Parkview, Johanneburg, 2121

please see - letter of recommendation attached- www.ludwighansen.co.za

Brendan Hart, MayatHart Architects and Heritage Consultants ©

[Previous Lecturer in both 1st and 3rd year]Tel. - (+27) 11 728 8828; Cell - (+27) 82 376 7884

[email protected] see - www.mayathart.com

Professional Experience

StudioMAS [Architecture + Urban Design] (pty)Ltd.November 2014 - Present

Once I completed my Bachelors degree of Architectural Studies, I began my year of working experience at studioMAS Johannsburg. I began working in the November, just weeks after I completed my exams, as i quite literally could not wait to begin. Ever since that very first week of work, I have worked on a eight of projects, in a variety of different sectors and for a mutiplicity of dissimilar clients as well as in an assemblage of positions of responsibility. I have worked directly until Pierre Swanepoel (studioMAS Director) on four projects entirely on my own (including a primary school renovation, as well as a cycle route from Rosebank to Sandton, culminating in a bridge structure over Sandton Drive) and on three other projects, participating in design teams, ranging from three members to fifteen. It has been a non-stop learning curve and an absolutely fantastic experience thus far, being constantly inspired to achieve new things.

Julian Michaels Architects ©January 2014 - February 2014

After my second year at university I was absolutely hooked and dissimilarly to the previous year could not wait to work again. Julian Michaels took me in to his practice as a draftsman. While I was there, I felt I learnt more than I had in the previous 6 months - it was non-stop exposure and was continually eye-opening and humbling, working on mostly residential projects to the point of practical detail I had never quite imagined existed. I was fortunate enough to be given the responsibility and allowed the opportunity to provide much of my own design input into two residential renovations I worked on.

AMA Architects ©January 2013 - February 2013

Although initially reticent to work during my very first summer break, an internship at AMA Architects proved absolutely invaluable. It was my very first practical experience in the architectural profession and both taught me important real-world drafting skills but also hugely inspired me.

Private JobsJanuary 2013 - Present [Intermittently]

Growing up as the first born to two architect parents, I have been almost constantly surrounded by the architectural profession. Most probably as a result of this upbringing, ever since I completed my first year of studies I have been involved in a multiplicity of projects mostly collaborating with architects looking for an extra pair of hands and a fresh outlook. This has been particularly eye-opening as I have been afforded the opportunity to view a huge variety of means to which the practice can direct one and have been given a range of experience - from workshop drawings of steel staircases, to designing showrooms and even to a collaboration with an 87 year old still practicing architect on a set of presentation drawings.

I am proficient in and chose to work with Revit, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Indesign as well as 3ds Max.

Benjamin Kollenberg Curriculum Vitae

Benjamin Kollenberg Portfolio

page 3

Foreword

I absolutely love that tangibility that has the potential to be such an integral component of design. It always unsettled me that growing up, I never wanted to do anything else but architecture, yet when I began my formal architectural studies and especially when I began practicing as an intern, this belief

was vehemently re-affirmed. Architectural design, in particular is something I am extremely passionate about, yet I very believe that simultaneously it goes hand in hand with a tactile material engagement,

on the one end of the spectrum and is too vitally linked to urban planning on the alternate end. It is that proactive involvement with people, so vital to architecture and design as well as the collective

creativon of anything as palpable as a lifestyle, that I am absolutely obsessed with.

I have always believed that one can only really work passionately (and thereby happily) through a design approach similarly aligned with ones own personal design manifesto, especially when

beginning to engage in a collective effort actualised through design teams in todays office culture. I am both inspired and humbled at the thought of the architects and professionals I will hopefully have

the opportunity of working alongside next year. I am particularly privaledged to have worked with architects in the past that I had previously kept in mind as constant points of reference in my own

personal designs, and the first hand experience of that design process I had so highly regarded was absolutely invaluable (and I wasnt even one bit disappointed by the reality). Similar to my past

architectural occupational experiences, I really am extremely excited to get the absolute maximum involvement as well as optimum knowledge out of this next working experience.


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Project Index2 0 1 5

1.0

- Kgoro Precinct & Rivonia Block : Page 9

2.0

- Jan Celliers Primary School : Page 11

3.0

- Sandton Drive Link Bridge & Cycle Lanes : Page 15

.4.0 - A R C B _ 3 0 0 2 (artwork) : Page 19

page 5



page 6

Project Index2 0 1 2 - 2 0 1 4

5.0

- House Buthelezi : Page 23

6.0

- Urban Gymnasium : Page 25

7.0

- Museum of South African Human Rights : Page 27

8.0

- Germiston Film Factory : Page 31

2015studioMAS Architects + Urban Designers & Self Johannesburg

under Pierre Swanepoel, director of companywww.studiomas.co.za

The first body of work exhibited in this portfolio has been completed, some on my own but most in collaboration with a host of other talented professionals, from January - October 2015 (during my time) at studioMAS Architects and Urban Designers. As the name of the

frm suggests, the works range from architecture to urban design yet most often reside somewhere in the interface of the two.

As this portfolio is indicative of the work I have produced, (and not actually all the work I have done) I have had to chose select projects to portray. I have chosen 3 studioMAS projects out of the total 9 I have been involved with and then included a 4th project, in which I

produced alongside a friend of mine as a private job. These 4 projects have been included, first of all because they are all hugely diverse and indicate the vast spectrum of intellectual consideration that has occurred over the last ten months, the second being because I truly

believe that in these 4 project, are elements individual to and reflective of my own design practice and lastly because I really did enjoy working on all these projects and have had a lot of fun with them.


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1.0Kgoro Precinct - Rivonia Block

2015

Client : Regiments CapitalContractor : Unknown

Completion Date : June/July 2017 (according to programme)Personal Role : Architectural Visualisation Representative (In conjunction with project architect and director of studioMAS)

The suburb of Sandton, is irrefutably the fastest growing architectural and urban development in Africa and as a result has become easily the busiest central business district in the country. However, this rapid growth poses a variety of fundamental issues, both practical and academic and this rapid rate of development means that these need to be solved simultaneous to its continual evolution. The Kgoro (meaning Gateway) precinct is one of the

first design projects in Sandton to begin to address these contemporary issues in a sustainable manner advocating a pleasant and viable typology for future inhabitance.

It is essentially a mixed use development, surrounding a series of open (and glorified) public spaces, consisting of retail, residential, offices, hotels and even recreational facilities - including a contemporary art museum at the heart of it all. The entire precinct has been built above a massive parking garage basement and above the Sandton Gautrain station (the biggest station in the underground train system, spreading across Gauteng). A proactive

emphasis has been directed towards this unique position in an attempt to address the transportational issues surrounding Johannesburg, (and Sandton in particular) and ease into a sustainable lifestyle transcending the brackets of class.

[2][1]


page 9

While addressing all these issues and focusing on a truly public integration between the dissimilar programs within the precinct, we were also afforded the opportunity to create a architectural framework for all the buildings as well as design the most prominent one - Rivonia Block. In all of the architectural manifestations, a certain uniqueness to the buildings is celebrated, to create a cosmopolitan type atmosphere from a

collection of all the architectural languages, expressing this multiplicity of combined notions and programs throughout the development. Similarly there is also a huge variety of open space, throughout the precinct, in a variety of different forms, from the truly public square, to a entirely private balcony 12 storeys up - yet all these spaces have a certain connectivity between them bringing the precinct together in a holistic sense.

[3]

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2.0Jan Celliers Primary School

2015

Client : Jan Celliers Primary SchoolContractor : Acacia ConstructionsCompletion Date : December 2015 (according to programme)Personal Role : Project Architect (In conjunction with director of studioMAS)

Jan Celliers Primary school is an 80 year old institution in northern Johannesburg, and undoubtedly one of the best primary schools in the country. It functions as an amalgamation of age old tradition and an inspired technological movement of 21st century education.The school, as with any institution spanning a vast number of year, has to be developed and the architecture rejuvenated from time to time. However this very easily results in a disjointed and haphazard vernacular or alternatively an stagnant architecture, stuck in the history. We were recently tasked with the development of an urban framework as well as the architectural edifices to fit into the plan, as a means to take the facilities forward. The overall concept of our approach was to accommodate for and improve the existing facilities currently in use as well as provide the necessary revitalising expansion, so vital to the schools growth and continued educational merit. As can be seen, this plan begins to rationalise and create meaningful open space in and around the new and existing buildings. Space that has been considered in terms of its individual varying levels of security and exposure, but also considered and differentiated alongside their dissimilar functions.


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[4]

PR. ARCH PIERRE SWANEPOEL

6362

REVISION DATE DESCRIPTION

STAGE

SCALE

DISCIPLINE DRAWING NUMBER

RASERIES REVISION

CHECKED

Dwg No.

DRAWN

P.S.

DATE

subject to their use by the client for the particular project to which thisdocument relates, and the client shall nor be entitled, either directly orindirectly, to make use of the document(s) for the carrying of any additionalor similar works or publish the same except with the prior consent fromstudioMAS.

drawing titleprojectcopyrightstudioMASP.O.box 1614 saxonwold 2132

e-mail [email protected]

tel: +27 11 486 2979 fax: +27 11 646 5399

In accordance with the relevant clauses of the Copyright Act 1978 (Act 98 of1978) relating to assignment, all documents prepared by studioMAS inconnection with the project remain the property and copyright of studioMAS,

REVISIONS:

S.A.C.A.P Reg.No.C

17.09.15BK

1 20 0 1LP 1

as shown

Sections & Elevations

Revised SDP - Additions and Alterations to an existing building

Jan Celliers Kultuur Sentrum


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[5] [6]

The architectural manifestations of the new facilities fit very much into the urban plan creating holistic open space, yet they then become their own unique entities on the inside as a particular focus is very much placed on the individual functionality of the different programs. These spaces are very consciously designed to be robust and versatile in their respective continued usages and they have the capacity to be utilized for the next 80 years with minimal intervention. As is the nature of a school, the presence of inhabitants to the new buildings fluctuates yearly and for this we have accommodated quick, efficient and inexpensive alterations possible to be made, within the existing frameworks built – the potential for a dry walling divide or a sound system upgrade are just two examples – and without altering at all the existing or new functional buildings.This develops the sustainable culture of natural development and growth for the school in the future ahead. There were huge time constraints imposed on the project, as we were to build everything (a cultural centre along with a new multi-media hall, two new sets of classrooms, an open air amphitheater as well as a new swimming pool) between the close of the school 2014 and the open 2016. As a result of the above mentioned, it was an absolute whirlwind of a project, working through a multitude of collaborations. Yet all the while, designing for kids and two months later seeing them running about, appreciating that brand new space really did result in a particularly fun and rewarding project.

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3.0Sandton Drive Link Bridge

& Cycle Lanes 2015


Sandton Drive Link Bridge (& Rosebank to Sandton Cycle Route)Client : Growthpoint Properties, Liberty Properties, Johannesburg Developement Agency, Johannesburg Roads Agency

Contractor : UnkownCompletion Date : June 2016 (according to programme)

Personal Role : Project Architect (in conjunction with director of studioMAS)

Rosebank and Sandton are two of the most rapidly developing contexts in South Africa, having now successfully created a shift from the old Johannesburg downtown central business district, to a newer built up business super-

suburb. Despite the mere 4,5km as the crow flies between the two, it easily takes 20 minutes to drive from one suburb into the next, as a result of the insurmountable influx of activity and constant presence. This flood of the general public however, isn’t the only issue exposed by this shift, but also the completely indulgent and entirely

unsustainable transportational nature around South Africa and Johannesburg in particular – Old South Africa prioritized a segregated urban plan for the city, and even 20 years down the line acts as a urban connectivity

nightmare.

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The City of Johannesburg (similar to many cities around the world) has been making a very conscious effort to promote alternate means of transport, attempting to bridge the so actively perceived divide between classes. In line with this current initiative we (as studioMAS A + UD) were afforded the opportunity this year to design a cycle route from Rosebank through to Sandton, in an attempt to connect the two in a sustainable manner.The approach decided upon for the cycle lanes is different to any other individual cycle lane in Joburg. We have opted very much against developing a recognisable typology or at least the one size fits all approach and have designed all the various road edge conditions individually, although always paying careful attention to the ease of transition between any two treatments. The proposed route has been calculated to remain for its entire length along the high level waterboard of Johannesburg and as a result we have managed to keep the total route on grade, despite its existence in a exceptionally undulating city. A particularly controversial approach within our discussions with the city, was to consciously (at certain points) integrate the cyclists with the cars and with the pedestrians, providing all with their own necessary requirements and treating their very much dissimilar and unique requirements all while forcing the inhabitants of each mode to be conscious of each other. In a context where the average vehicular speed is 25km/h it only makes sense for people to cycle, especially for intra schedule movements and for this to be a reality the city needs to promote a functional comfortable and truly Johannesburg based strategy and design to epitomise this.

The Rosebank to Sandton cycle route then culminates midway down Sandton drive - a six lane, extremely high intensity arterial route - where a monumental linkage bridge has been commissioned to be built. This bridge, is absolutely vital in tying together a multiplicty of urban elements absolutely vital in the sustainable functioning of Sandton. We have, with the reassuring support of our (somewhat growing number of) clients on the project, expanded the definition of the bridge and of exactly just how much it can rejuvenate an approximate radius of 400m surrounding it. These methods include bicycle storage, linkages into public transport facilities, a vigilance and thereby security to surrounding areas, properly public pause areas as well as the obvious connectivity of either sides of an dangerously impossible road to traverse. All these elements aside, it initiates a comfortable presence out onto the street and public interfaces that the surrounding buildings desperately lack.

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[7]

Architecturally the bridge, aesthetically indicates its statement we intend to make by visibly prioritising the collective human figure at a human scale over one travelling in a private vehicle below. There is a serious lack of humane architecture in Sandton a heart of development this issue is epitomized in the lack of public spaces. The walkway is protected by lasercut steel panelling arching around the human figure, providing the illusion of

more space than actual as well as allowing a particularly gentle and comfortable dissuasion of one from the edge. This is extremely important in preventing the general public from both jumping over but also throwing anything down - yet is portrayed in a particularly polite manner.

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[8]

4.0A R C B _ 3 0 0 2

2015

Client : AOP JohannesburgCompletion Date : September 2015

Personal Role : Artist (Along with one other)

Art has always been a point of reference in both my general interests as well as in terms of my work put into practice. Midway through 2015 Gabriel Hope, a South African contemporary artist, approached me to create a collaborative art work - he always having been fascinated in architecture and myself having been constantly intrigued and interested in the arts. The theme was chosen to be that interface and relationship between the two formal practices. The work then begins to raise some fundamental questions of the conclusive differences and perceptions dividing the two - perhaps unnecessarily so. The definitive line between the artist and architect is an age old grey area - simultaneously intrinsically different yet so interrelated. The artwork set was in the medium of blueprints, produced using modern print making materials and methods, yet still paying homage to a bygone era of architectural representation.

Hope and myself both went to the same university, along with tens of thousands of other students, yet both had the exact same interesting and ‘unique’ experience within our own faculties and that was an exclusive relationship intra-faculty and an alienation towards the vast majority of the institution. It might not be a universal experience, however, Wits University (as well as any other institution) aside, these are notions portrayed in everyday life throughout almost all formalised practices. We so often do what we do because we do it. When working with Hope, we purposefully broke a substantial number of ‘rules’ - interestingly enough, many of these “do’s and don’ts” are taught as polar opposites within the architectural discipline and the world of arts.

We investigated both the imposed boundaries through the ‘institution’ and how they existed so prominently in thought but also as physical edge conditions. The immediate subject matter or the prints reflects these doors and corridors (mostly metaphorical although surprisingly common physical manifestations too) between schools of thought. The actualisation can be as small as a threshold detail or as big as a buffer city and this variety in scale is often a reason why these divisions go so easily unnoticed.

We created an installation of our print, suspending it from the ceiling and positioning it towards the viewer as one would position a book. This was to provoke an increased intimate engagement with the work and try get one to spend some time considering it. It is quite literally an open book. It doesn’t necessarily portray the answers but it does start to evoke the questions arising in that interface between art and architecture.

The prints were exhibited at the Art On Paper Gallery in Johannesburg, and there are now 30 editions floating around the citypage 19


2012 - 2014University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

http://www.wits.ac.za/

I began to study architecture, straight away as soon as I completed my primary schooling. I always knew that it was what I wanted to do and almost instantaneously I began to love what I was studying (obviously one or two all-nighters notwithstanding). At the university,

we had a hugely diverse array of lecturers and supervisors throughout the three years, as well as the numerous external moderators we were exposed to.

The projects began particularly conceptual and as we transcended through the program got more and more practical as well as obviously exponentially more challenging. This process saw us, beginning with artworks and compositional challenges, designing spaces

and ultimately housing (often as restricted an area possible), before moving on the alternative mixed use developments, forcing us to take a stand and formulate design opinions. As we progressed, we began to focus on construction and the detailing required to actually build this intricately woven designs we had come up with and finally we we designing all kinds of buildings, from feasible office spaces to

specialised film studios and museums, all the while following these designs up with construction drawings.

page 22


5.0House Buthelezi

September 2012

The last design project given out in first year was a residency for a South Africa artist with the site being anywhere on The Melville Koppie. We were assigned the artists for whom we would be required to design for and I was fortunate enough to be given Mbongeni Buthelezi. Buthelezi creates truly unique and seemingly abstract

artworks, by melting coloured plastics to enormous rectilinear canvases, in which the subject matter would, upon taking a few steps back, suddenly became recognisable. His subjects matter consists of anything South African and he tends to find inspiration in the peacefulness and serene beauties South Africa has to offer.

House Buthelezi consisted of a huge variety of easily adaptable spaces, created by a series of dynamic planes. They were able to be configured in a multiplicity of dissimilar arrangements according to the desired ratio between private, public and work. The private facilities of the residence are partitioned off by changes in level -

on the interior - as well as by protruding planes – on the exterior – so that there is still an element of privacy to Buthelezi’s living. This planar house similar to Buthelezi’s art comprises of abstract elements - the planes - that exist as interpretive divisions, almost abstract until one actually fully experiences the created spaces. Similar to the

artworks colour collages, the collage planes imply all the boundaries and spaces to House Buthelezi.

As can be seen from the above-mentioned, House Buthelezi was purposefully based on Buthelezi’s artworks, but in addition to this, the contextual setting on The Melville Koppie hugely informed the design. The house pays homage to the many available views and vistas and frames them for all inhabitants - as well as constantly providing

Buthelezi with his own personal inspiration. page 23


6.0Urban Gymnasium

September 2013

Our final project of second year was to design a gymnasium, to include a training gym and any two sports fields – action football and basketball were my two elected. Our provided site was in Rosettenville, either in the city centre in an urban surrounding or on the lakes edge, inside Wemmer-Pan Park. I chose the urban gymnasium as I found the pedestrian highway along 1st street, the spine of the site, fascinating.

My design was centered on this concept of continual dissimilar movement - the movement around the gymnasium, through a gymnasium as well as the multiplicity of activities to take place inside a gymnasium. The form as well as partii of the development emphasise perceptions of movement and thereby create a communal consciousness of dissimilar collective movements.

The gymnasium design proposes a new pedestrian route of travel, an arcade running through the building envelope. However this new route is by no means to be bound by the building at all, but merely provides much needed access from 2nd street to the marketplace of 1st street. The entire ground floor is essentially purely public, with very few controlling measures in place. The proposed notion is that similar to the market street, if the public utilizes a space and it’s necessary to their everyday life, it will be maintained by the general population in a joint venture with the gym management. There are however a private and substantially

more controlled facilities to the structure and these begin from the ground floor upwards – essentially the building begins one floor up. All of the internal spaces, however, have an emphasized and integral relationship, in terms of visibility and connectivity, between the inside and out.

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7.0Museum of South African Human Rights

September 2014

Halfway through third year we were tasked with designing a high-rise human rights museum to be

situated, centre Braamfontein, corner Juta street and Station street. The given site faced

predominantly south-east with a service alley traversing the entire suburb along the north.

The building was in its essence designed to celebrate the South African individual. This was the

underlying concept to the design. Similarly to the manner in which south Africa transcended so much

hardship in such an absolutely united effort – which is the actual inevitable crux of the

museum - so too the museum intended to act as a celebration of the notion of collective effort in a

multiplicity of spaces and experiences. The architectural elements are designed representing this proposed collective spirit – both visibly and tangibly -

whilst still portraying the collective journey undertaken.

The proposed building has separated some of its many dissimilar facilities in form and experiences as a means to emphasise their individuality and their own unique inte-

gration in the collective whole of the precinct, and yet subtly and simultaneously combined them through

outside and truly public spaces intended for free usage by all inhabitant – thus bringing them together

This museum is based on South Africa’s transcendence and transition through time and place,

encouraging interactive experiences as well as intellectual introspection, such that one will be able to

appreciate and understand the South African individuals human rights and the

surrounding context thereof.

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8.0Germiston Film Factory

October 2014

Our Final design project of our under-graduate degree was in the form of a production studio situated in the historically rich, central business district of Germiston. The provided site opened up onto a public square, containing the old Germiston Library building – an intricate early 19th century architectural showcase, proposed to be to renovated into a theatre in the near future. This allowed both the opportunity to open and integrate the proposed building into this public square but also the opportunity to create an arts precinct and link the two edifices.

Through the proposed design a hugeemphasis has been placed on the creation of as functional and pleasant a pub-lic space possible, defining and complimenting it at every opportunity. However, this is not necessary a selfless act of design, for a public space as vibrant as the possible above-mentioned, will hugely add and compliment just about anybuilding. These studios aren’t just any building though. They form a physical manifestation of the creative expression that is the South African Art Industry. The architectural language and forms used, should be to constantly inspire an obviously functional, but also creative and quirky work-ing environment, and the open space and eventual precinct are as mucha part of this inspiration as any single architectural element.

page 31


The core concept of this development is to be the simple yet contradictory phrase ‘United through Diversity’. Any Africa, certainly any South African and in particularly, any ‘Joburger’ will understand what an integral notion this juxtaposition represents both historically and culturally. It is quite an astounding concept, just how diverse the population is, and yet how integral every single part is and it is actually particularly inspiring.These notions can only really be personified through the focus of human activity. The architecture will be molded almost entirely around the human scale and experience to provide an environment, encouraging interaction and cooperation. These notions are all good and well to represent with the architecture, however they only really bear intrinsic value once tangible. As a result of this, the core to the functional and programmatic design of the proposed studios, should revolve around the creation of this tangible personification of the concept - collectivity through a collaboration of individual elements, emphasized in their individuality yet collectively creating the whole which will eventually become a small district.

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Benjamin Kollenberg PortfolioImage Source ReferencesBibliography

Recieved from StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd., courtesy of Regiment Capital [pty]Ltd. (2015, October)Image owned by Regiment Capital [pty]Ltd. and used with permissionProduced by Fictional Pixel © (2015, September) - Co-ordinated by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.Urban Design by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.Architecture by LYT Architecture © & StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.

Recieved from StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd., courtesy of Regiment Capital [pty]Ltd. (2015, October)Image owned by Regiment Capital [pty]Ltd. and used with permissionProduced by Fictional Pixel © (2015, September) - Co-ordinated by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd. Urban Design by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.Architecture by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.

Recieved from StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd., courtesy of Regiment Capital [pty]Ltd. (2015, October)Image owned by Regiment Capital [pty]Ltd. and used with permissionProduced by Fictional Pixel © (2015, September) - Co-ordinated by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.Urban Design by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.Architecture by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.

Recieved from StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd., courtesy of Jan Celliers Laerskool. (2015, October)Image owned by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd. and used with permissionProduced by Adriette Myburgh (2015, March) - Co-ordinated by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd. Urban Design by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.Architecture by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.



Recieved from Nicolas Bischoff , courtesy of BURN, Visual Illustration CC. (2015, October)Image owned by Growthpoint Properties [pty]Ltd. and used with permissionProduced by BURN, Visual Illustration CC. (2015, September) - Co-ordinated by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd. Urban Design by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.Architecture by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.

Recieved from StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd., courtesy of Regiment Capital [pty]Ltd. (2015, October)Image owned by Growthpoint Properties [pty]Ltd. and used with permissionProduced by Fictional Pixel © (2015, September) - Co-ordinated by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd. Urban Design by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.Architecture by StudioMAS A + UD [pty]Ltd.

Kgoro Precinct - Image [1]

Kgoro Square & Rivonia Block - Image [2]

Kgoro Rivonia Block - Image [3]

Jan Celliers & Surrounding Suburb - Image [4]

Jan Celliers School - Image [5]

Jan Celliers School - Image [6]

Sandon Drive Link Bridge Aerial - Image [7]

Sandton Drive Link Bridge - Image [8]

B e n j a m i n K o l l e n b e r g T h a n k y o u v e r y m u c h

( + 2 7 ) 8 2 8 7 7 0 2 4 8 . b e n j i k o l l e n b e r g @ g m a i l . c o m

benjamin kollenberg _ cv & portfolio

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