Department of Architecture

Department of Architecture Join us on our mission whilst we broaden the scope of architecture through collaborative processes of innovation, design, research and making.
(2)

For International Museum Day, our 2nd year students stepped into critical debate and reading sessions unpacking the poli...
21/05/2026

For International Museum Day, our 2nd year students stepped into critical debate and reading sessions unpacking the politics, power, and architectural narratives behind Museum of West African Art, Grand Egyptian Museum, and The Louvre.

Iceman Drake🥶
15/05/2026

Iceman Drake🥶

07/05/2026

The 3rd year Architecture students in the design elective: JAG with Alex, had an informative discussion presentation with Raphaela Weddington from IFAS to enhance the students projects on the; Reimagining Johannesburg Art Gallery project. Thanks IFAS for having us and sharing your research with us!

16/04/2026

University of Johannesburg 1st year Architecture students
Diploma and Degree Site Visits to Soweto Park

16/04/2026

Sleep is a concept when youre studying architecture, or is itđź«Ł?

14/04/2026

3rd year Degree and Diploma designing a light weight portable shelter for coffee farmers in Ethiopia. Daily Routine of an Ethiopian Coffee Farmer

4:30 AM – 5:30 AM
• Wake up before sunrise
• Prepare for the day
• Family morning prayer / simple breakfast
• Sometimes begin with a small coffee ceremony at home

6:00 AM – 9:00 AM
• Walk to the coffee farm
• Inspect coffee trees
• Hand-pick only ripe red cherries
• Remove damaged fruit and check plant health

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
• Continue harvesting
• Carry baskets of cherries to collection point
• Separate cherries by ripeness

11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
• Midday meal / short rest under shade
• Family members often help during harvest season

1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
• Begin processing cherries
• Washing or spreading cherries on raised drying beds
• Turn cherries regularly for even drying 

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
• Farm maintenance: pruning, weeding, clearing ground
• Check water channels if washed coffee is being processed

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
• Return home with remaining harvest
• Store tools
• Prepare evening meal

7:00 PM – Night
• Family time
• Traditional coffee ceremony (roasting, grinding, serving coffee)
• Planning next day’s work

Advanced Diploma Students today exploring self, environment and potatoes!
10/04/2026

Advanced Diploma Students today exploring self, environment and potatoes!

What began with a simple question — what if? — has unfolded into a collaborative, multidisciplinary exploration of Johan...
06/04/2026

What began with a simple question — what if? — has unfolded into a collaborative, multidisciplinary exploration of Johannesburg CBD through folklore, storytelling, and speculative world-building. Over time, this question evolved into: what if dreaming and speculation were tools to both imagine and critically engage the potential of the Afropolis, before attempting to resolve it?

Over the past weeks, the studio has been shaped by workshops, guest lectures, and engagements across disciplines, expanding how we read and imagine the city.

Architecture students now conclude their phase, translating urban myths into playable spatial worlds and cinematic scenes. These narratives are now handed over to Graphic Design , where they will evolve into visual storytelling, characters, and new interpretations of the Afropolis

As part of Arrival of Myth, we had the privilege of hosting Dlala Nje and Prof Landi Raubenheimer, who each offered dist...
06/04/2026

As part of Arrival of Myth, we had the privilege of hosting Dlala Nje and Prof Landi Raubenheimer, who each offered distinct yet powerful ways of reading Johannesburg.

Rooted in the inner city, works directly within the spaces we are studying, offering immersive experiences, tours, and community engagement that reveal the lived realities of the CBD beyond perception and stereotype. Through their work, the city is understood through people, place, resilience, and everyday life. Their session grounded our project in a Johannesburg that is walked, inhabited, negotiated, and continuously reimagined by its communities.

In contrast, Prof Landi Raubenheimer invited us to read the city through film and media, drawing from her research on District 9: Johannesburg as Nostalgic Dystopia. Her work explores how Johannesburg is constructed as both real and imagined, a cinematic space shaped by memory, displacement, and speculative futures.

Together, these perspectives expanded how we see, read, and imagine the Afropolis.

Presenting the Department of Architecture social media committee!🤩watch out for the upcoming content!
20/03/2026

Presenting the Department of Architecture social media committee!🤩watch out for the upcoming content!

“Rural areas are not cities in waiting.” - Dr Ashleigh Weeden This year, our B.Arch 2nd Year semester 2 studio unfolded ...
08/12/2025

“Rural areas are not cities in waiting.” - Dr Ashleigh Weeden

This year, our B.Arch 2nd Year semester 2 studio unfolded under the second iteration of Institutional Ruralscapes: “The Homelands have now become the home lands” - a provocation that invited students to confront the spatial afterlives of apartheid’s Homeland system while imagining rural futures rooted in lived experience, memory, and possibility.

Our site was located in Ekhukanyeni (formerly Kwaggafontein), within the former KwaNdebele Homeland. Over several weeks, students engaged deeply with the semi-abandoned industrial park and civic infrastructure built during the Homeland era, examining how these spaces continue to shape labour, mobility, economic vulnerability, and everyday community life.

We were deeply honoured to be hosted by HRH iKosi Magodongo MS Mahlangu and MEGA and the Thembisile Hani Local Municipality, whose generosity, insight, and openness grounded the studio in lived knowledge. Through this partnership, students were able to move meaningfully between archive and anecdote, policy and place, speculation and memory.

It was a profound moment to welcome HRH iKosi Magodongo MS Mahlangu to the 2025 FADA Student Exhibition , where students presented their adaptive-reuse proposals directly to him, sharing how they reimagined these complex spaces through care, dignity, and future-building. His reflections, encouragement, and presence offered powerful affirmation of the students’ work and the importance of reconnecting architectural education with rural histories and leadership.

We are deeply grateful for this continued partnership and for the chance to dream new rural futures together. Our sincere thanks go to the students, colleagues, community hosts, and everyone who helped shape this meaningful journey.

Studio Team:









Second year class of 2025 signing out.

Address

Johannesburg
2006

Telephone

+27115591115

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Department of Architecture posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The University

Send a message to Department of Architecture:

Shortcuts

Share

Category