This fantastic article describes Cas Nel's 'Partnership with Pabst' during the restoration of the famous Joki House in the late 1980s. A huge thank you to Cas for sending through the superb photographs.
The partnership approach facilitates the achievement of excellence in architecture. It is an approach in which a spirit of co-operation is the basis. It relies on a partnership of various skills that is synthesized in the process of the project.
The architect's role is to orchestrate this process to ensure that synergy is achieved. A partnership attitude should also prevail between the past and the present based on respect for the timeless qualities in architecture. Our partnership with Pabst is about the rediscovery of a synthesis that exists between the past and the present - it is one of appropriate recognition of the unique quality of his work.
Joki House from above (Cas Nel)
Wilhelm Bernard Pabst was born in Germany in 1905 and died in Johannesburg in 1964. He was selected to study under Professor Hans Poetzig who was then at the most produxtive stage of his Expressionist phase.
The vibrancy of the Weimar Republic in Germany had a profound influence on Pabst and also afforded him the opportunity to work for a number of leading architects. In 1927 Pabst joined Mies van der Rohe where he worked on the German...
