The Water Research Centre not only addresses the issue of water research but also how architecture reacts to its surrounding context and the effect that it has on how the building operates and functions. The architecture is activated by the environment’s transformation from one season to the other. The water is the lifeline of the building, it not only supplies water to the building but the architecture in return purifies, creates habitats for fish and birds, it lives in symbiosis with nature.

Presentation of the “Next Generation” 1st prize for “Bio-Mimicry: Water research center, Fika Patso Dam, South Africa” (l-r): Daniel Irurah, jury member and Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture & Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; winner Jurie Swart, South Africa; and Edward Schwarz, General Manager of the Holcim Foundation, Switzerland.

South African Jurie Swart won the “Next Generation” 1st prize 2014 for “Bio-Mimicry: Water research center, Fika Patso Dam, South Africa”.

This project explores whether nature and architecture can amalgamate to become a hybrid solution in a vast landscape which has lost its reference to place and time. The transformation of place and time through architecture results in a progressive fusion giving meaning to a certain non-place lacking character and spatial qualities and resulting in an awakened space. This led to the idea of spatial reawakening through the medium of architecture.

The site Fika Pato Dam is located in central South Africa on the edge of Eastern Free State, Drakensburg.

The project aims to amalgamate two contrasting systems to become a hybrid in a vast landscape.

The linear design merges onto the existing column structures, juxtaposing and creating a tabula rasa.

The concept is based on biomimicry, exploring nature’s secrets and applying them to the architecture.

The floating foundation and wetlands become a habitat for animals and insects to live and breed.

Interior perspective of the Laboratory, all research can be done directly on site.

The water tension forces the floating foundation/fish-farm up or down to activate the architecture.

This image captures the program of the Water Research Centre: Laboratories, services and circulation.

Project entry 2014 Africa Middle East - Bio-Mimicry: Water research center, Fika Patso Dam, South Africa