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MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | FISHER, Roger CharlesBorn: 1951 02 02Architect (retired) Heritage Practitioner (Built Environment and Cultural Landscape)SACA:Reg No: 3329 Year registered: 1983 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BArch 1983 (Pretoria) - Final design title: Durban Station Re-Used; MArch 1989 (Pretoria) Architecture: A Paradigmatic approach to architectural history: postmodernism; PhD 1992 (Pretoria) Architecture: An ecosystemic role for architectural style: bearing 'the plan' in 'mind' Was born in Rondebosch, Cape Province (now Western Cape), eldest son of three sons and two daughters to Roger Edward William Fisher (alias Valentine) and Kathlyn Amelia Fisher (nee Symmonds). His primary schooling was at Bellville North Primary (1957-8; a parallel medium school, declared Single Medium Afrikaans from 1959), Bellville South (1959; English Medium school declared 'Coloured' from 1960) and Boston Primary School (1960-1963; opened in that year as English Medium). In 1964 the family transferred to Pretoria where his father took up a position as Draughtsman to the South African Railways and posted to the NZASM Headquarters Building in Pretoria (then the tallest building in the city). Here he attended and matriculated first class from Clapham High School (1964-1968). His subsequent career was somewhat chequered, initially floundering in first year of medical studies at the University of Pretoria (1969). He had spent some months before this archiving files in the basement of the Transvaal Provincial Administration Headquarters Building (Dec - Feb 1969) of the records of bye-laws promulgated in all towns from Amersfoort to Zeerust in the then Transvaal Province. He spent time as a Junior Life Sciences Officer with the Atomic Energy Board (Pelindaba) although he was based at the Pathology Laboratory of the University of Pretoria Medical Campus while much of the experimental work was conducted at the Radio-isotopes Laboratory of the Onderstepoort Veterinary Sciences Research Station (1969-1972). He later transferred as Junior Laboratory Assistant (1972-3) to the Desalination Laboratory of the Water Research Unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Here he acted as guinea pig to alternative test banks for career-guidance and chose from the possible directions of hotel management, radio broadcasting and architecture as career directions indicated by the results and applied and gained admission to architectural studies at the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria, from where he graduated with a BArch degree in 1982. During his studies he had worked as a counter assistant in Chamberlain's Hardware Store in Gezina, Pretoria, done holiday work (1974-5) in the employ of Martin ENGELBRECHT in Randburg and gained further practical experience as student in the Gezina offices of MOERDYK STUCKE HARRISON SERFONTEIN VILJOEN AND PARTNERS under the partner Francois VILJOEN. From 1980 to 1983 he spent time doing practical training in the offices of INDEX DESIGN under the directorship of Savas COUVARAS, where many of the projects were tenant installations for Old Mutual Properties, both in Johannesburg and the East Rand industrial areas as well as Pretoria. Notable Projects were the refurbishment of St Mary's Arcade, Johannesburg (1981) and President's Centre, Pretoria as well as extensions to Bandag Tyres in Marlborough, Johannesburg. He and Renier SMIT set up partnership in 1982 and practised under the name SMIT & FISHER ARCHITECTS until June of 1986. Here they designed amongst others, Castle Carey in Pretoria North, many alterations, additions and new residences including House Kahn in Menlyn, Pretoria. In June of 1986 he terminated the senior partnership with SMIT & FISHER ARCHITECTS and remained as consultant to the practice. In July of that year he was appointed as junior lecturer in the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria, where he taught across the curriculum from first year to final (fifth) year level in architecture in the subjects of history, theory and construction. He led and presented design studio modules in each of the five years of study in the term of his appointment. He developed the curriculum for teaching of principles for sustainability at honours and taught master's level. As lecturer he conducted regular annual bus tours for the history group to various regions of South Africa, Swaziland (now Eswatini), Lesotho and Mocambique as well co-leading a student tour with Karel BAKKER to Greece and Italy in December of 1988. Roger FISHER was granted observer status as representative of the Pretoria School of Architecture at the 14th General Assembly of the Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA) held in Mauritius in April of 1994, directly after the establishment of a first full South African democracy. While there news came through of South Africa's re-admission to the Commonwealth. He negotiated an immediate visit of the CAA for September of that year as a joint visit of the pending accreditation visit of the South African Council of Architects (SACA). The Pretoria School of Architecture was thus the first school in South Africa under the new political dispensation to have international recognition reinstated by the RIBA through mutual accords. In 1996 he was tasked with the curriculum development of the professional courses in the Architectural Design disciplines on offer at the University of Pretoria, then to be integrated into one Department, namely Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Architecture to ally them with the revised Council for Higher Education (CHE) models, as well as the requirements for the new professional registration categories of the South African Council for the Architectural Profession. His contribution is recognized through his having served on the steering committee of the Standards Generating Body for Architecture (SGB 12) and the Validation Committee of the South African Council for the Architectural Profession. His ongoing professional expertise is engaged in doing Heritage Impact Assessments and major studies have been done for the Old Pretoria Academic Hospital, and in association with Nicholas CLARKE for ARCHIFACTS, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital and the Free State Psychiatric Complex. He has directed a project for the digitization of all architectural archival material deposited at the University of Pretoria and made accessible through UPSpace. This is an ongoing project and the architectural archiving one of the inception repositories and a model for other such programmes. He participated in the Environmental Potential Atlas project (ENPAT) done for DEAT in providing information at national scale relating to architectural cultural landscapes. He has acted as assessor of both requests for funding and ratings for the NRF and has launched a successful bid for seed funding from SERA for a project for the creation of baseline performance indicators for the SA built environment. He acts as external examiner to fellow institutions in various subjects and portfolio examinations and has been external examiner for Master's studies. He has contributed essays for texts for books related to South African architecture for international audience. He has led doctoral studies by BARKER, BREEDLOVE, COETSEE, GIBBERD, KAMMEYER, SAIDI. He has acted as scribe to the Awards Panel of the South African Institute on numerous occasions and authored numerous critical citations on current South African architecture which is published, both in the SA Architect and those of the two most recent rounds of National Awards of Merit and Excellence (2005/2006; 2007/2008) compiled as a book. He reviews contributions to local academic journals, in particular the 'Journal of the South African Institute of Architecture', 'South African Journal of Art History' and 'Image and Text'. He has been guest editor or co-editor for special issues of 'Architecture SA', in particular the volumes '29th Parallel', 'Tropic of Capricorn' and 'The SA Mosque Centenary'. He has acted as Pro Bono advisor to the Northern Gauteng Region of the National Monuments Council and currently serves as Councillor to the Mpumalanga Province Heritage Council. He acts as heritage consultant to Archifacts and to the Artefacts website in his private capacity. His interest lies in the making of well-tempered environments through generative design that has eco-systemic fit of provable resource efficiency. His interest in architecture as a phenomenon of culture within the ecosystem is enduring, as in the innovative and resourceful use of materials and technologies so that the needs of the broad community be aesthetically satisfied. He currently resides in the Heidel Valley at White River, Mpumalanga Province where he cultivates ennobled Clivia hybrids He edits the newsletter (Clivia News) and Yearbook (Clivia) of the Clivia Society (an international society based in South Africa) and has recently co-authored a book 'Clivia - Nature and Nurture' for Briza Press. Roger FISHER is Professor Emeritus at the University of Pretoria. In 2010 he was the recipient of the Writers and Critics Award from the South African Institute of Architects, "The Writers and Critics Award is presented to Roger Charles Fisher in recognition of his deep knowledge of South African architecture and its links with international and local contexts, his astute powers of architectural evaluation and criticism, his ground-breaking implementation of innovative training programmes and broadening of the scope of training for the architectural profession, his prolific writings on South African heritage, his contributions to practical conservation by means of incisive technical reports and seminal conclusions, all of which has established him as one of the great figures of architectural writing, criticism, research and education in the country." 2013 10 04 The Heritage South Africa Gold Medal, the most prestigious award recognising achievement on a national level, was bestowed on Dr Roger Fisher. Below is the citation that accompanied the Medal: "Roger Charles Fisher was born in Rondebosch in the Cape Province where he commenced his education. He moved with his family to Pretoria in 1964 where he completed his schooling. After a varied early career he registered at the Department of Architecture where in 1982 he obtained his degree of Bachelor of Architecture. After a brief spell in private practice, he joined the academic staff at the University of Pretoria in 1986. There he read for his doctorate. On his retirement he was made an Emeritus Professor. In 1997-1998 Dr Fisher was tasked with the major challenge of developing an integrated curriculum for the Professional Courses in Architectural Design and the Departments of Landscape and of Interior Design. This had to be aligned with the requirements and validation of National and International Bodies. His interest in architecture 'as a phenomenon of culture within the ecosystem, and in the innovative and resourceful use of materials and technologies so that the needs of the broad community are aesthetically satisfied,' incorporates his love of heritage and history within the built and cultural environment. In his curriculum development at the University, Dr Fisher included the ecology of the past and the present built environment as an important component. This has inculcated an insight into and appreciation of heritage in several generations of students, extended through his personally conducted annual student history and design tours covering heritage in all provinces. Possibly his greatest contribution to heritage during his tenure at the University was his conception and direction of the project for the digitiisation of all architectural archival material deposited at the University of Pretoria and for making it accessible through UPSpace . This is an ongoing project and makes the architectural archive one of the inception repositories and a model for other such programmes. Since his retirement, Dr Fisher has continued this process in his private capacity with the establishment of his website ARTEFACTS in which all aspects of the built environment are being documented and made accessible on the web. He has acted as Pro Bono advisor to the Northern Gauteng Region of the National Monuments Council and currently serves as a Councilor to the Mpumalanga province Heritage Council. He has participated in the Potential Atlas project (ENPAT) done for the DEAT in providing information at national scale relating to architectural cultural landscapes. Dr Fisher has contributed to practical conservation by means of incisive technical reports and seminal conclusions all of which have established him as one of the great figures of architectural writing, criticism, research and education of both past and present in this country. His prolific writing was recognised by the South African Institute of Architects with the award of a Gold Medal." At a ceremony held at the Voortrekker Monument on 7 November 2011 he received a PIA award for the book Eclectic ZA Wilhelmiens : A shared Dutch built heritage in South Africa. In 2018 Roger Fisher was nominated by PIA for the SAIA Gold Medal of Distinction which is awarded to a member of the Institute in recognition of an outstanding contribution through distinguished service to the profession and takes the form of a printed certificate/citation and medal. The official announcement was made on 10 June 2022. SAIA put out a call to the regions in 2018, and PIA, a region of the SAIA, Pretoria Institute of Architecture was the region that nominated you for this award and which was approved by the Board at the time. Unfortunately, SAIA was only able to make a formal announcement at its Annual General Meeting held on 10 June 2022. This AGM covered the periods 2019/2020 and 2021 and was the first AGM held since 2018 due to various factors including COVID. At a SAIA ceremony on 2023 02 02 he was officially awarded the SAIA Gold Medal of Distinction Award Citation for Medal of Distinction Roger Charles Fisher's contribution, through distinguished service to the profession of architecture in South Africa, runs both wide and deep, spanning a period of more than 40 years. He has excelled as architectural educator and has made a resounding and lasting contribution to architectural education in South Africa. He has endeavoured, with exceptional success to stimulate research into the South African built environment, creating and curating Artefacts, which through his commitment, has become the extensive, essential and indispensable online built-environment database that it is today. Roger has contributed critical perspectives to our understanding and curating of our heritage in many of its tangible and intangible forms. His research and writing form a body of work of exceptional quality and critical importance to the Profession. Concurrently his selfless service to the Institute of Architects and its official mouthpiece, the Journal of the South African Institute of Architects, as well as the profession as a whole warrants acknowledgment through the awarding to him of the SAIA Gold Medal for Architecture. Watch the full ceremony HERE. GOLD MEDAL OF DISTINCTION - ACCEPTANCE SPEECH 2023 02 02 I regret cannot be with you all in person tonight but am privileged to be able to share this occasion more broadly with others, particularly friends and family. Thanks to the SAIA management for these arrangements. My congratulations to Professor Amira Osman on the occasion of your inauguration as President of the South African Institute of Architects. You bring both empathy and skill to a demanding task at a critical time. As colleague, but more importantly as friend who has shared many of your life’s waymarks, I am honoured to receive this award under your watch. My congratulations also to all my colleagues similarly receiving honours tonight. Your company is an honour in itself. I must thank some people by name, for they were instrumental in initiating the various roles I have played in the SAIA (then the Institute of South African Architects): Posthumously, Herbert Prins then Chair of the Education Committee – himself a recipient of this award – for inducting me, some forty years ago, into the protocols of the Institute’s proceedings. Mira Fassler-Kamstra, then President of the Transvaal Institute of Architects and President-in-waiting of the ISAA. Thanks for inviting me to serve on my first Awards of Merit Panel of Assessors some thirty years ago, the first of many under various Chairs. It was a memorable occasion at a momentous time. I am honoured that you can be there for me tonight, Mira. Thank you. My thanks to Professor Julian Cooke for inviting me to serve on the Editorial Board of the SAIA Journal some twenty years ago. This has been an enriching endeavor. Amira, with you at the helm I feel confident that the Journal will once again be the mouthpiece of the many and varied learned voices of the profession. SAIA Mpumalanga for retaining me as member after my retirement as I entered my eighth decade. I value this association and your collegiality. Thank you. In the family of South African Architects, Pretoria is my home. To the Pretoria Institute of Architects my thanks for submitting my nomination. Also, my thanks to the broader membership of profession who have supported my nomination. I know that these awards are not lightly considered nor readily given. The list of luminaries to which I am now added confirms this esteem. I am humbled. As an educator, my richest rewards are seeing those I have taught prosper. The duties bestowed by the Institute have always been a privilege since they have kept me close to my ex-students and abreast of their passage through life. Thank you for this. Lastly, my heartfelt thanks to Frank Gaylard, who has taken my self-appointed role as chronicler of the South African architectural profession to heart. You know that those accolades that relate to the website artefacts.co.za – now over twenty years old - are rightfully yours. Thank you for an adult lifetime of companionship and dedication. We, as a team, do what we do because we can, and we will keep doing what we do for as long as we can. Also, because we care. Thank You. Heritage Surveys and Policies
Professional Affiliations, Membership of Panels and Committees: Articles by FISHER
Books by FISHER
Books citing FISHER
Entries in books by FISHER
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