An accessible introduction to the architecture of Durban

This ambitious project is a collection of photographs and research that presents the diverse social, geographic, economic, cultural and religious history of Durban through its architecture.

It showcases a rich selection of at least one hundred buildings and is a guide that allows people to discover Durban through these buildings and understand their importance in their context and the value that they add to the urban realm.

The series was launched at the UIA’s 25th World Congress hosted in Durban in 2014. Five thousand sets have thus been scattered around the world promoting Durban’s architecture.

The format is a small file with sturdy card pull out brochures. The ten brochures include; Victorian & Edwardian Architecture, Churches, Islamic Architecture, Hindu  Temples, Art Deco, Markets, Crofton & Benjamin, Late Modernism, Modernism and Contemporary Architecture.

Each brochure features around ten carefully selected buildings, a map to locate them, and a short contextual description of the driving forces of the location, materiality and form that these buildings have taken.

Designed to interest the architect and non-architect alike, the dynamic and engaging graphics draw you in while reference to further reading and a link to a comprehensive website database is aimed to satisfy those that want to know more.

This project has provided an archive of high resolution professional photographs and focussed research of these important buildings of Durban, and must surely be one of the largest and most comprehensive catalogues of material gathered to date.