Page 3 – Constructionreview

Nora systems

Jul 4, 2014Mar 5, 2014 by patrick otieno

Nora systems develops, manufactures and markets resilient rubber floors and other service-provider solutions globally under the brand name nora®. Headquartered in Weinheim, Germany, the company … Read more

Kenya Pipeline Company signs US$489m contract for a new pipeline

Jul 4, 2014Jul 3, 2014 by patrick otieno

The Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) is ready to commence construction of a new pipeline after the signing of a US$489m contract between them and a … Read more

Urban-Think Tank improving housing conditions across South Africa

Jul 4, 2014Mar 21, 2014 by Robert Barnes

Design strategy collective Urban-Think Tank has designed and built a prototypical house as part of an initiative to improve housing conditions for slum dwellers in some of the 2700 informal settlements across South Africa

Working under the title Empower Shack, the team organised a design-and-build workshop in Khayelitsha, a township in Cape Town that is one of the largest in South Africa, and developed a design for a low-cost two-storey shack for local resident Phumezo Tsibanto and his family.

They then worked together to replace Tsibanto’s existing single-storey dwelling with the new two-storey structure, giving the family a new home with a watertight exterior and its own electricity.

Urko Sanchez – International Young Architects in Africa winner

Jul 4, 2014Jun 16, 2014 by Robert Barnes

Anyone visiting Urko Sanchez’s beautiful offices in the plush Links Plaza, Nyali, might get a surprise when they find Urko and his staff all barefoot! … Read more

Emporia shopping centre

Jul 4, 2014Mar 21, 2014 by Robert Barnes

Swedish architecture firm used brightly-coloured curved glass to draw customers inside its Emporia shopping centre. It features two gaping entrances made out of brightly-coloured curved glass, one amber and one blue.

Emporia, which won the Shopping Centres category at this year’s Inside Festival, is a shopping mall located to the south of the city of Malmö in Sweden. The building features residential and office units on the levels above the shopping centre, as well as a publicly accessible roof garden on the top.

Shigeru Ban – Emergency shelters made from paper

Jul 3, 2014Mar 25, 2014 by Robert Barnes

Architect Shigeru Ban had begun his experiments with ecologically-sound building materials such as cardboard tubes and paper. His remarkable structures are often intended as temporary housing, designed to help the dispossessed in disaster-struck nations such as Haiti, Rwanda or Japan.

Shigeru ban started exploring the structural possibilities of the cardboard tube as a building component, testing its stability and durability in the development of temporary constructions. he discovered that no only was the material strong, but also easy to waterproof and fireproof, making it an affordable, cost-effective material option. having been involved in a number of monumental projects and integrating cardboard tubes into his architectural schemes, ban realized that his practice and selected medium could be pushed further.

Shigeru ban recently spoke at TEDx Tokyo about the responsibility of the architect in the wake of a natural disaster, and why he started to construct emergency shelters out of paper.