Construction World November 2022

BUILDING

Bespoke architectural design studio GASS Architecture Studios won five awards at the recent South African Property Owner Association (SAPOA) Awards. The awards ceremony took place at the 2022 SAPOA Convention held at Sun City from 28 – 30 September 2022. GASS ARCHITECTURE STUDIOS WINS BIG AT 2022 SAPOA AWARDS

T hese prestigious awards recognise excellence in the contributions of developers and built environment professionals through commercial real estate development. Founder and director of GASS Architecture Studios Georg van Gass said, “We are proud and honoured to have worked on these remarkable projects and to have had the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to these amazing developments through architecture and design. Well done to the teams that worked together so well to realise the final results.” GASS Architecture Studios won the following awards: • Winner in the ʻResidential Developmentsʼ category for The Onyx at Jewel City, developed by Divercity and designed by GASS Architecture Studios. • Winner in the ʻTransformationʼ category for Jewel City Precinct, developed by Divercity and designed by GASS Architecture Studios. • Winner of the overall award in the ʻSustainabilityʼ category for the Green School South Afrika.

• Winner in the ʻOtherʼ category for the Green School South Afrika. • ʻOverall Winnerʼ for Green School South Afrika. Green School South Africa, which opened in February 2021 in the Drakenstein Valley just outside Paarl in the Western Cape, was developed along sustainable and biophilic principles. GASS Architecture Studios’ regenerative approach to architecture and design on this project was guided by the requirements of the Living Building Challenge (LBC) certification, which is considered the world’s most exacting and advanced sustainable building certification. Green School South Africa’s principle of “Educating for sustainability” means that sustainability is embedded in every aspect of the design, from the materials to the school curriculum, and the learning environment is considered an active pedagogical tool. The spatial arrangement of the buildings was inspired by the tectonic shapes of the Paarl Rock Boulders which surround the site, and mimics the

20 CONSTRUCTION WORLD NOVEMBER 2022