Four talented women are featuring in the 2015/16 Corobrik-SAIA Awards of Excellence and Merit.

These four women are among the record 66 entries which will be presented at a gala dinner at Shine Studios in Braamfontein on 2 September. The entries comprise:

• Karlien Thomashoff of Thomashoff and Partners has entered the “Last Glass House” in Johannesburg
• Gallagher Lourens Architects have put forward the Hermanus Community Day Centre in which Tina Gallagher played a major role
• Kate Otten of Kate Otten Architects has submitted the Wits Rural Facility
• A Johannesburg home dubbed House Nicholas was entered by Noero Architects in association with Tanzeem Razak of Lemon Pebble Architects

The four women, along with the other competitors, stand a chance to win Awards of Excellence, which represent the highest accolade that can be bestowed on a building in South Africa, Awards of Merit conferred for a significant architectural achievement or special commendations for notable design.

The awards operate on a two-year system in which SAIA members from all of the institute’s regions are eligible to enter their best architectural work.  Regional awards are presented in the first year of the cycle and national awards in the second year.

Obert Chakarisa, CEO of SAIA, said that it was heartening to see the growing impact that women were making in the architectural profession.

“A mere 21.54% of our members are women, of which 19.46% are professional architects bearing the acronym PR Arch,” he said. “Encouragingly we are seeing increasing numbers of women in our Candidate Architect in Training category, currently 42 %, which bodes well for the future.”

“There is no doubt that women bring a unique perspective to architectural design and that they are involved in a significant proportion of the world class designs that are being produced in South Africa. We value their mounting contribution to the industry.”