Conference 2000

Reshaping South Africa by Design

In February 2000, The Design Education Forum of Southern Africa, together with the Design Institute of the South African Bureau of Standards, organized a Design Summit, held at the end of February in Cape Town, which brought together a wide range of stakeholders. For the first time a large number of individuals from different sectors came together to forge links and start developing strategies for promoting design and design education, to the ultimate benefit of South African society. The discussions which were initiated at this Summit have continued, and part of this Conference was devoted to a workshop looking at some of the critical issues. The reports of this workshop, together with some of the findings from the Design Education task team at the Summit are included at the end of these Proceedings.

The theme of this conference, Reshaping South Africa by Design, was derived directly from the conclusions of the Summit and the outcomes of that event are reflected to a certain extent in the conference structure. Some of this will be apparent from these published Proceedings, some will be less tangible. There was a conscious attempt to bring together a wider range of disciplines than had previously been the case. For the first time we had delegates and presenters from such diverse fields as architecture, engineering, craft, and the school sector.

The Design Education Forum annual conferences provide an important forum for critical debates and for nurturing a research culture. For this reason we believe it important that there be a full record of all presentations, even those that perhaps do not meet the academic standards usually required of academic conferences.

INTRODUCTION

MEL HAGEN
President: Design Education Forum of Southern Africa
Conference Committee Convenor

OPENING ADDRESS BY THE HON. MINISTER OF EDUCATION,
PROFESSOR KADER ASMAL

Prof Asmal elaborated in his address on the importance of design and design thinking, and, as Dr Buchanan indicates, used the design of the new South African constitution to exemplify the power of the design process. In the end Prof. Asmal departed considerably from his prepared speech, and it is a matter of profound regret that a live recording was not made at the time, and that many of his insights are not fully represented in the printed text.

HUMAN DIGNITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS:
TOWARD A HUMAN-CENTERED FRAMEWORK FOR DESIGN
DR RICHARD BUCHANAN
Carnegie Mellon University

Dr Richard Buchanan was brought out with National Research Foundation funding as an International Research Fellow. His keynote address captures and echoes some of the fundamental insights that the Minister broached.

ABSENCES AND VISIONS :
SOUTH AFRICA SEEKING THE FOUNDATIONS OF DESIGN MODELS
PROF PITIKA NTULI
The African Renaissance Institute

Our paper seeks more to raise questions than to suggest a definite agenda for the use of African knowledge systems as counter hegemonic discourse.

How do we achieve the African Renaissance when Africa is caught in vicious cycles of war, famine, corruption and dictatorship? Who is to spearhead this project? Is it black people only? Is it the intellectuals or business people or is it politicians? Is the African Renaissance a new concept or is it Pan Africanism revisited? These and other questions will be addressed in my talk.

URBANIZATION AND DESIGN
PROF DAVID DEWAR
Department of Planning
University of Cape Town

Features and characteristics of the urbanization process which have significant implications for urban design in South Africa. The second raises the question of how well the country is dealing with urbanization. The paper then identifies a number of key starting points for thinking about the design and management of urban settlements.

DESIGN, TECHNOLOGY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS FACTORS OF INTERNATIONAL COMPETTIVENESS
DJ DE BEER AND R DE LANGE
Technikon Free State,

Analyzing technologies like Rapid Prototyping (RP) or Free Form Fabrication (FFF), and its influence / impact towards Rapid New Product Development.

WORKSHOP ABSTRACTS

• Teaching to learning - Ann Allan
• The Design of Design Education and Training - Joseph Gaylard
• Mapping our learning landscapes : Carol Larche, Cheryl Hewson, Julia Brewis
• Guga S'Thebe Arts, culture and Heritage Village, Langa: Nomthunzi Jacobs, Carin Smuts, Sibongile Memane, Lovell Friedman

INFORMAL DESIGN FROM A
SOUTHERN AFRICAN CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
TIFFANY TURKINGTON
Head of Graphic Design, Design Centre College of Design, Johannesburg

Designers are on the forefront of a digital era that continues to break our links with the physical world. In a world of Post-modern, digitally influenced design styles, our reshaping of this country needs to be done with a renewed perception of cultural and regional design methods and interpretation.

WHAT CONSTITUTES PRACTICE-BASED RESEARCH IN OUR NEW TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITIES?
JOHANN VAN DER MERWE
Department of Foundation Studies, Port Elizabeth Technikon

This paper looks at the issues surrounding practice-based design research. It will touch on the topic of practice-based research capacity building, and emphasize the lack of universal standards for design research. It will then deal with the fitness of a conceptual system leading into Glanville’s free-to-research design conceptualization. The paper ends with recommendations for a few vigorous questions to ask of design’s adequacy as an accredited research competitor.

RURAL CRAFTS + HIV/AIDS PROJECT KZN 2000 – ‘DESIGN MESSAGES’
KATE WELLS
Design Factory, Dept of Design Studies, ML Sultan Technikon

In South Africa we are blessed with hundreds and thousands of highly skilled rural craftspeople and artists all of whom take their role very seriously. They work in isolation with only their immediate surroundings as influences…..yet they are expected to compete in the market place alongside the rest and in a world that is now very ‘connected’, very technology based and where knowledge is power. This paper outlines a project undertaken in conjunction with the British Council, Middlesex University

ACCESS PROGRAMME AT THE BORDER TECHNIKON
DEE-ANN LEACH
School of Applied Art, Border Technikon

This paper briefly considers the foundation options that are available to Art Departments, but it primarily focus on the School’s new visionary direction for the Access Programme.

MASIBUMBENI INITIATIVE: A Case Study Presentation
TIFFANY TURKINGTON, Head of Graphic Design
Design Centre College of Design, Johannesburg

This ongoing design education initiative was started in response to the IFI Pro Vitae project. IFI approached 6 institutions worldwide to undertake design projects that would benefit disadvantaged communities, a selection which included Design Centre in Johannesburg.

RESHAPING BUSINESS BY DESIGN
JURIE GROENEWALD
Faculty Built Environment & Design, Cape Technikon

Design can reshape business by suffusing a design ethos throughout the organisation. This paper will explain the conversion model, indicating how inputs are turned into outputs and the value that design can add in the process. This principle will then be illustrated by four actual case studies: SL Magazine, Steers, Safari Wines and Cadbury’s P.S. chocolate.

PALACES OF DESIRE
CENTURY CITY AND THE AMBIGUITIES OF DEVELOPMENT
RAFAEL MARKS AND MARCO BEZZOLI

South African cities are rapidly transforming into archetypal post-modern cities. Just as the ‘Apartheid city’ developed through a combination of racist ideologies and Modernist functionalism, so our new urban spaces are shaped through the articulation of local conditions with global economic and cultural forces. Released from the grip of state control, our cities are now at the mercy of that most nebulous of conceits - the free market. Not so much freedom of the city, as freedom to profit.

DESIGNING IN SPECIAL ENVIRONMENTS:
THE HISTORICAL CENTRE OF CAPE TOWN
STEPHEN S TOWNSEND
City Of Cape Town

Special environments require very special responses from designers. This paper will first describe each of several and often conflicting pressures on designers and the relationships between these pressures.