The architectural emotional design process i have become familiar with - is now replaced by an accountant like, militant calculation heavy butchering of the design. All this is fine if it really means im saving the planet.
Now that this process has been written into our constitution, and all municipalities are enforcing it - My questions are - how did this process get so entrenched into our law, before 99% of architectural professionals even heard about it? And more worrying is what's ahead of us? Only building products stamped with a private entity certain stamp being used on South African building sites? Does this immediately put thousands of small SA building business's out of work? - Window manufacturers , carpenters, aluminium specialists etc etc? Will this favour a certain few and are billions of rands at stake for a very clever privately aligned few?
Yes, regulations are very important - However to micro regulate one area of South Africa's built environment - the formal sector, incidentally were the money is. Whilst turning a complete blind eye to another sector - the informal settlement sector. Is very hypocriticle at best. The final question is - what is the council of the built environment and the architectural regulatory bodies doing to bring South Africa's informal settlements in line with these new xa regulations? informal settlements where inferno fires are rife and TB and air born communicable diseases are a very real problem due to a complete lack of ventilation?
INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS DOMINATED BY HUGE OVERLORD GANGS AND UNREGULATED INDIVIDUAL LANDLORDS CONTROLLING MULTIPLE LIVING UNITS IN MULTIPLE INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS? CHARGING PREMIUM RENTS TO THE PEOPLE. A MULTI BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY WORKING INDEPENDENTLY FROM THE ENTITIES ACTUALLY PROVIDING ALL THE SERVICES TO THESE DESPERATE COMMUNITIES. THE TAX PAYER IN THE FORMAL SECTOR PROVIDES THE FINANCE FOR THE SERVICES IT CURRENTLY APPEARS.
Im very sure the answers are being studied very diligently by the crowd who pushed for the xa calculations in the formal sector. The exact same crowd who carefully worried about the exact daylight that overshadows my designed living room dining room table. That crowd who put measures in place for an informal settlement home dweller not to be fleeced by an unregulated landlord process.
My current perception at present is - design architecture is dead - behold the rise of the calcutects calcutecture!!
