The University of Pretoria’s architecture department has won an international award for prioritising climate responsibility and social justice in how it trains SA’s future architects.
Pretoria, South Africa (19 May 2026) – The International Union of Architects is a global body representing architecture institutions across more than 70 countries in the world.
This year, over 70 schools entered their Award for Innovation in Architectural Education. The University of Pretoria (UP) was among just a handful that won!
Architecture programmes focus on teaching students how to design. UP’s programme does that, but it also teaches students to think carefully about who they’re designing for, and what the real-world impact of their work will be.
The programme is structured around five stages that students work through over their full five years of study – awareness, philanthropy, activism, solidarity, and collaboration.
When students graduate, they are architects who know how to work alongside communities and how to navigate difficult social realities like poverty and inequality. They also have the ability to make design decisions they can actually defend and explain.
“The curriculum is intentionally developmental,” said Professor Carin Combrinck, Head of the Architecture Department. “It prepares graduates not only to design, but to read complex contexts, work with others as legitimate knowledge partners and translate evidence into implementable spatial responses.”
They’re trained to understand the context they’re working in, collaborate with the people affected, and produce something that can actually be built and used. In the honours studios, they work with communities and sites, under real constraints.
This kind of work includes mapping climate risks in specific neighbourhoods, designing with communities rather than just for them, and developing building solutions that use materials responsibly and reduce waste.
“Students are required to justify their decisions in relation to risk, justice, feasibility and material consequence,” said Jason Oberholster, Director of UP’s Unit for Urban Citizenship. “They are learning not only how to design, but how to listen, translate, negotiate and respond within complex urban realities.”
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How the CCID is Waging War on Cape Town’s Litter Every DayThe award that UP has received specifically recognises programmes that take on the big challenges of our time, including climate change, inequality, housing, and limited resources.
What impressed the jury about UP’s entry was that these topics are woven into the entire five-year programme, from the first year through to the postgraduate level.
“What makes the model significant is that it doesn’t separate social and environmental questions,” said Dr Jan Hugo, professional postgraduate programme coordinator. “It treats them as interconnected, which is why it’s both contextually grounded and globally relevant.”
UP’s programme is built around the specific realities of South African cities. That includes considering the legacy of the apartheid-era in spatial planning, environmental pressures, and communities that have historically been left out of design decisions.
The jury recognised that this approach is relevant far beyond SA’s borders. Cities everywhere are grappling with the same pressures.
“This is not only a moment of recognition,” Oberholster, Dr Hugo and Prof Combrinck concluded. “It confirms that architectural education in South Africa can make a meaningful contribution to global conversations about the future of the discipline, the profession and the city.”
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