Jaco Booyens Architect
  • Projects
    • Buffelsdrift Gold Medal Domus International Restoration Awards
    • Contemporary Mud House Buffelsdrift
    • Buffelsdrift Renovation
    • Buffelsdrift Staircase
    • Buffelsdrift Pumproom
    • Subsistance Farm Rysmierberg
    • Damaraland Clay Project
    • Big Tiny House Glencairn
    • Project Phoenix
    • Walvisbay Container Terminal Entrance
    • CAM Plywood Structure
    • Fort Haasbroek Swakopmund
    • Rammed Earth Desert House Swakopmund
    • Off the grid house Prieska
    • New BP Green Headquarters Cape Town
    • African trade mission in Rome
    • Vertical Village on the River Tyber
    • Staircase house du Plessis
    • Olijven Hof brick vault Montagu
    • Cape Town Offgrid Scyscraper
    • Gate to industrial park
    • Furniture design
    • Thesis 1996 - Emergency center for earthquakes
  • Design Philosophy
  • About
  • Publications
  • Sketchbook
South African Institute of Architects Rome Scholar
Jaco Booyens (October 2001–March 2002)

During 2001 I entered and won a design competition for a 9-month 
scholarship and residency at the British School of Rome. The 
design brief was to design a Trade mission for Africa on the 
historical site of the Castel Sant'Angelo. The building has a 
history dating back to Roman Emperor Hadrian. The main 
pedestrian axis aligning with St Peters Cathedral at the Vatican 
cut through the site touching the edge of the River Tiber at the 
entrance to Castel Sant'Angelo. 

I proposed a building that stood on one of the existing remains of 
the Castel's medieval walls. The main facade was orientated to 
the west. The design included an active shading system using 
a pulley system operated by gravity water counterweights. 
Empty containers were filled with water turning them into 
counterweights lifting the shade screens and when the water 
was drained the screens would close.  This action was controlled 
on a timer closing the screens during the afternoon when the west 
sun was at the worst. The screens then formed the edge of a 
public collonade of which many examples can be seen in Rome.

Previous prominent architects from South African history that 
attended the British School of Rome were Roeloff 
Uytenbogaardt and Norman Eaton. Jaco Booyens up to date has 
been the only awardee from the University of Pretoria. 
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  • Projects
    • Buffelsdrift Gold Medal Domus International Restoration Awards
    • Contemporary Mud House Buffelsdrift
    • Buffelsdrift Renovation
    • Buffelsdrift Staircase
    • Buffelsdrift Pumproom
    • Subsistance Farm Rysmierberg
    • Damaraland Clay Project
    • Big Tiny House Glencairn
    • Project Phoenix
    • Walvisbay Container Terminal Entrance
    • CAM Plywood Structure
    • Fort Haasbroek Swakopmund
    • Rammed Earth Desert House Swakopmund
    • Off the grid house Prieska
    • New BP Green Headquarters Cape Town
    • African trade mission in Rome
    • Vertical Village on the River Tyber
    • Staircase house du Plessis
    • Olijven Hof brick vault Montagu
    • Cape Town Offgrid Scyscraper
    • Gate to industrial park
    • Furniture design
    • Thesis 1996 - Emergency center for earthquakes
  • Design Philosophy
  • About
  • Publications
  • Sketchbook