Ichtus Studio Architects

11/11/2025

12/01/2017

Proposed House Mohale Tzaneen

20/10/2016

EXPERIENCE - my take:
Lately I've been 'exposed' to various peoples' opinions on this concept - & they differ nogal widely! But in my 36 years of practicing this great profession of architecture & of course a life's worth of living, I've been privileged to 'experience' so much of what that 'life' is all about, that I need to share it, not to put it on a pedestal or claim it is the ultimate 'value'.
Experience is therefore not just a glib statement based on 'years' of much-ness. It is really every purposeful & creative hour spent in the successful initiation, research, development, implementation & completion of every challenge, idea, design & project in my life & line of expertise. It is woven thu times of contemplation, introspection, trusting that God is in control. It's in every triumph, every disappointment, every failure, every challenge, every fear we face, every redo, every victory & every tribute. It's coupled to all the many hours of just slogging it out, of not being discouraged, not giving up, or not giving in to mediocrity or shortcuts. It's to believe in yourself, despite adversity or what others say. It is to never stop learning, never to ignore advise - good, or not so good. It's developing ones instincts & ability to discern pitfalls & opportunities.
Experience also brings with it a huge responsibility: To sow into the lives of those younger than myself: 1st to my children, my family, my friends, colleagues, workers & whoever God puts on my way! - & to leave a legacy, not for myself - its never about ourselves - but to positively impact the future more effectively:
As a guy named Jeffrey Gandz said: "It is not that experience should shape the future but, rather, that such experience should be accessed to help shape the future more effectively."
blessings - Koos

07/10/2015

Article in Timber iQ magazine August / September 2015:
DESIGN WITH OUR ENVIRONMENT IN MIND

The other day I stumbled across some old 3rd-year "Bouteg" (Building Technology) notes of mine that I had made under the tutorship of Hans Wegelin and Alan Konya. It reminded me again that, what we as architects need to give special attention to now, is to design as we've been taught: With our environment in mind.
As architects, we have a duty to be more energy conscious and to be more sensitive about, inter alia, supporting a sustainable habitat. This is a far bigger prerequisite than just the current concern of electricity or
water shortages.
There has been a lot of hype around ‘energy savings methods’ of late, and to the broader public and
unsophisticated media this may seem like a new trend.
However, it has always been our responsibility as architects to be specifically thoughtful to all of these areas
of design.
Now more than ever, it is clear that we as architects have to re-assess our design methods by going back to the basics, as the numerous, sensitive and responsible mentors and teachers before us have taught us.
All the energy saving, green building techniques bandied about today are not new – they have always been there, but are too often forgotten or ignored by many of us in the architectural profession. This has to change.
It is time for architects to take the lead again in the strive to protect our environment. We must utilize everything at our disposal to influence clients, developers, government and individuals, for all to embrace the so-called green building techniques, to make buildings more user friendly and more efficient – and this must be done not just to score ‘green points,’ but through the entire life cycle of the development. This will have to be a concerted effort and must include all our professional industry partners. The energy crises we are currently experiencing in South Africa and which we will most probably continue to experience for a number of years, do, although they
present many frustrations, also present a great opportunity to educate, influence and implicate.
We have to employ techniques that will save energy and other resources like water. Consider the following options:
The re-use of old building waste; the utilization of repurposed materials and buildings; the renovation of
buildings; and the minimizing of air-con needs by natural convection and ventilation through the Venturi effect.
Moreover, we must also minimize or hopefully eliminate the use of building materials that are toxic to us and our
environment. We are not facing an easy task: There are stakeholders and other heavyweights with influence in industry whose vested interests may not be similarly aligned, and we could face resistance and other difficult challenges that might undermine our efforts to fulfil these goals. We need to be vigilant and guard against being bamboozled or easily influenced without considering all the facts. We cannot summarily believe all the hype from some manufacturers about how ‘green’ their products are, for that is something that is already rife in this artificial world. Research and investigate first!
I really believe that one of our main objectives must be to empower people through education, enabling them to
understand the dynamics of not only energy saving strategies, but also how to treat our environment with more respect. Like the saying goes,
“Where there is a will, there is a way.” Architects can and should show the world the way.
Koos Visser (B.Arch.Pta) SAIA

19/04/2012

Evening from the deck @ Vleesbaai

03/06/2011

03/06/2011

23/11/2010

School of Mathematics.
University of the North

main entrance view