TEACHING

Piet Vosloo joined the then Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pretoria in 1994. In 1999 the Department merged with the Department of Architecture and he was appointed as Senior Lecturer. Until 2005 Piet taught mainly in the Construction, Design and Plant Sciences modules at undergraduate level, and thereafter mainly at post-graduate level in the Department’s research field: Environment Potential, which advocates sustainable and appropriate design and construction in the built environment. In 2009 Piet was appointed as Associate Professor and then focussed his work on guiding post-graduate research and professional degree students in his research field. He currently also lectures in the Honours and Professional Master’s programmes. He has been an external examiner at the University of the Free State and Tshwane University of Technology.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Piet is a SACLAP validation panellist and has acted as Merit Awards judge for the Institute of Landscape Architects of South Africa. He was appointed as the National Judge for the South African Landscapers Institute for a period of seven years, during which he judged projects on the African continent and Indian Ocean Islands. Piet serves on the JBCC Technical Committee with the mandate to develop forms of contract and sub-contract suitable for the landscape construction industry. He was instrumental in the development of the Landscape Architectural Profession Act (Act 45 of 2000) under which the South African Council for the Landscape Architectural Profession was established and the profession regulated.

RESEARCH

Piet Vosloo co-ordinates the Environment Potential research field of the Department. In 2008 he completed his PhD on the determination of pertinent contract document requirements for landscape projects in SA. He is currently supervising a number of Honours, Master’s and PhD students and has guided students to the successful completion of their Master’s and PhD studies since 2001. He is the research leader for a number of funded research projects for the University, of which current projects address a thermal performance study of often used walling methods in SA and a ‘cradle to cradle’ life cycle assessment of clay bricks in SA. His main research interests lie in sustainable construction in the built environment, natural and passive building climate control, landscape architectural design and construction, and the contractual environment within which landscape work is undertaken in SA. He has travelled extensively and has addressed conferences and presented lectures and conference papers in Chile, the USA, Kenya, Bulgaria and locally in SA.

Publications

1. Vosloo, P.T. 1992. Mobil Bloem 1-Stop: Landscaping along the N1-highway. Parks and Grounds, 69, 22-23.
2. Vosloo, P.T. 2003. Cheetahs are elegant animals but elephants live longer. Leading Architecture & Design, July/August, 26-29.

3.          Vosloo, P.T. 2002. The University of Pretoria and the Landscape Architectural Legislative and Educational Frameworks in South Africa. Urban Green File Supplement, February.

4.          Vosloo, P.T. & Maritz, M.J. 2005. Landscaping: An analysis of current contracting processes and documentation. Acta Structilia, 12(2), 42-69.

5. Vosloo, P.T. 2008-2009. Five series article titled: Landscape contracting in SA. the September/October 2008 to May/June 2009 issues of Landscape SA.
6. Young, G.A. & Vosloo, P.T. 2009. The Mpumalanga Provincial Government Complex. In: Van Uffelen, C. ed. 1000X Landscape Architecture. Lindau Germany: Verlagshaus Braun, 79.
7. Middleton, L. & Vosloo, P.T. 2011. Sources of new ornamental plants: the importance of heritage plants and plant relicts from historic places and old gardens. South African Journal of Art History, 26(2), 55-67.

8.          Vosloo, P.T. 2011. Why a building contract should not be used for landscape work. In: Stoffberg, H., Hindes, C. & Müller, L. eds. Landscape Architecture: A reader. Pretoria: UNISA Press, 259-275.

9.          Middleton, L. & Vosloo, P.T. 2011. The botanical garden of the University of Pretoria – a unique heritage and valuable academic training facility. In: Stoffberg, H., Hindes, C. & Müller, L. eds. Landscape Architecture: A reader. Pretoria: UNISA Press, 105-110.

10.        Vosloo, P.T. 2011. Should the South African landscape industry submit itself to statutory regulation? Landscape SA, July/August.

11. Vosloo, P.T. 2012. David Hicks at Riversfield Farm – the closing of a chapter. South African Journal of Art History, 27(3), 172-183.
12. Vosloo, P.T. 2015. Commemorating industrial ruins – the case for the Tswaing salt works. South African Journal of Art History, 30(2), 42-62.
13. Vosloo, P.T., Harris, H., Holm, D., Van Rooyen, C.J. & Rice, G.A. 2016. Life Cycle Assessment of clay brick walling in South Africa – The Clay Brick Association of South Africa: Technical Report 7A. In two volumes, prepared by the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria for the Clay Brick Association of South Africa. ISBN 978-1-77592-113-4.
14. Vosloo, P.T., Harris, H., Holm, D., van Rooyen, C.J. & Rice, G.A. 2016. A Thermal Performance Comparison between six wall construction methods frequently used in South Africa – The Clay Brick Association of South Africa: Technical Report 7B. Prepared by the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria for the Clay Brick Association of South Africa. ISBN 978-1-77592-114-1.
15. Vosloo, P.T. 2016. Living walls and green facades: A case study of the UP Plant Sciences’ vegetated wall. Architecture South Africa, 80, 42-55.

Lectures & conference papers

1.          Vosloo, P.T. 2001. Presented a series of lectures at the University of Forestry in Sophia, Bulgaria and presented a paper titled: Landscape Architecture Education in a democratic South Africa, which was published in the proceedings of the International Conference on Landscape Architecture held in Varna, Bulgaria from 18 to 19 May 2001.

2.          Vosloo, P.T. 2001. Landscape architecture education and training in response to democratization in South Africa. In: Proceedings of the CELA 2001 Conference, 9-11 August 2001, San Luis Obispo, California.

3.          Vosloo, P.T. 2004. Current trends in landscape architecture in South Africa. Lecture resented at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile on 17 March 2004.

4.          Vosloo, P.T. 2004. Environmental considerations in the planning of sub-urban areas east of Pretoria. Lecture presented at the Universidad Central in Santiago Chile on 18 March 2004.

5.          Vosloo, P.T. 2004. Landscaping at the Mpumalanga Legislature and Singita Lebombo – a new approach to KNP camp design. Lecture series presented at the Universidad Arturo Prat, Iquique, Chile on 25 and 26 March 2004.

6. Vosloo, P.T. 2011. 50 Years of South African landscape Architecture – Quo vadis? Paper presented at the IFLA Africa Conference, 5-7 October 2011, Nairobi, Kenya.
7. Shand, D. & Vosloo, P.T. 2014. Agrarian conservancies - a model for sustainable communal urban farming. Paper presented at the Peri-Urban 2014 International Conference on Peri-Urban Landscapes: Water, Food and Environmental Security, 8-10 July 2014, Sydney, Australia.
8. Rice, G.A. & Vosloo, P.T. 2014. A Life Cycle Assessment of the Cradle to Gate phases of clay brick production in South Africa. Paper presented at the Eco-Architecture 2014 International Conference, 24-26 September 2014, Siena, Italy.
9. Nice, J.A. & Vosloo, P.T. 2015. Exploring spatial planning and functional program impact on microbial diversity and distribution in two South African hospital microbiomes. Paper presented at the Healthy Buildings America: Innovation in a Time of Energy Uncertainty and Climate Adaptation Conference, 19-22 July 2015, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
10. Van Rooyen, C.J. & Vosloo. P.T. 2015. A thermal performance comparison of six wall construction methods frequently used in South Africa. In: Gibberd, J. & Conradie, D.C.U. eds. Proceedings of the Smart and Sustainable Built Environment (SASBE) Conference 2015, 9-11 December 2015, Pretoria, South Africa. Pretoria: CIB, University of Pretoria, 427-438.