Engineering and science translated into fashion

Mark Tromo in his House Pierneef design, smaller on the inside, bigger on the outside.

Architecture students interpreted Professor Ora Joubert’s philosophy of the buildings she designed through the creation of fashion garments at the event hosted by the Department of Architecture on 9 February, in Building 11, Pretoria Campus. Professor Joubert is the esteemed winner of the Sophia Grey prize and students were greatly inspired by her work and came up with brilliant fashion ideas.

Guests from various universities were invited and were tasked with judging the designs. The goal of the event was for students to understand the philosophy of the buildings better and translate their understanding into fashion garments.

Architecture students in their different garments which represented different buildings created by Professor Ora Joubert.

Professor Joubert explained how she wanted her buildings to influence other people to make their own interpretations, which would hopefully feed into their professions. She explained herself as “modest”, and did not want everyone to focus on her and her buildings, but wanted them to be inspired by what they were seeing.

Pumla Makhoba in her House Mooikloof.

Pumla Makhoba (23) said that she enjoyed the experience and considered herself privileged to be part of the event. She chose the “House Mooikloof” because she was able to use isolation material due to its softness of the plastic but firm as a cardboard. This creation enabled her to move easily.

She further said that when it came to architecture, one would not only design buildings. “I believe that if you can design a house you can design pretty much everything,” she concluded.