Heidi Boulanger (van Eeden) is an architect, writer and researcher based in Cape Town, South Africa and recipient of a LafargeHolcim Research in Practice Grant (RPG) to examine sustainable brickmaking and brick industries in rural contexts.

Her research is focused on regenerative- and African urbanism, industrial ecology and systemic architecture within the post-industrial condition.

She also practices as a registered professional architect and has worked for the award-winning firm studioMAS, where built work focuses on adaptive re-use, “nature as architecture” and multi-disciplinary creative collaboration.

Heidi Boulanger also lectures part-time at the University of Cape Town and has previously written as a theoretical columnist for ArchitectureSA, the journal of South African Architecture.

She studied architecture at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, receiving a National Research Foundation (NRF) Bursary in Regenerative Urbanism. Her Master thesis, Machinarium, investigated the use of industrial ecology (or ‘waste-to-resource’ systems) to establish post-industrial textile industries which utilize urban wastewater as a sustainable source of water and energy.

She won the South African National Corobrik Architectural student of the year award with her thesis (2014). She received the SACAP Medal (2013), the SAIA Award (2013), the PIA Prize (2013), the Regional Corobrik Student Award (2013), selected as representative in the Hunter Douglas Awards (2013), the HolmJordaan prize for Architecture (2012), the PIA Prize (2012), and winner of the Tshwane Leadership Foundation’s “Rebranding Homelessness” competition (with J Oyomno & K Steynberg).

She was a member of the 2018 PPC Imaginarium “Best Graduate Student” architecture competition jury (in collaboration with renowned architects Hermann Kamte, Enrique Browne and Nadia Trompe) and participated in the Resilient Urbanism design master workshop, 2013 (with the University of Melbourne) and the AZA International Architectural Conference in Pretoria (2018).

She won the LafargeHolcim Awards Next Generation 3rd prize 2014 for Machinarium: Regenerative urban catalyst and textile production and the LafargeHolcim Awards Next Generation 1st prize 2017 for Brick-Works in South Africa: Brick kiln and incremental development project.

Heidi Boulanger participated in the LafargeHolcim Awards Labs in New York (2015) and Mexico City (2018) where she received a LafargeHolcim Research in Practice Grant (RPG) to examine sustainable brickmaking and brick industries in rural contexts.