With a focus on socio-spatial justice, Prof Carin Combrinck, the newly appointed Head of UP’s Department of Architecture, is challenging future architects to design not just for aesthetics, but for social responsibility and community impact. “I am immensely grateful for the chance to engage with the deeper systemic issues faced in our country,” she says

Professor Carin Combrinck, the newly appointed Head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Pretoria (UP), has spent over a decade reshaping how architecture is taught and practised. She is responsible for several courses that collectively contribute to teaching urban citizenship within this department at UP.

Urban citizenship is anchored in the idea that architects must move beyond aesthetics and technical skills to consider their social responsibility in the context of deeply segregated and unequal societies.

“I practised as a professional architect for 15 years while raising my children in Johannesburg,” Prof Combrinck says. “My involvement with an informal settlement upgrading project in Kimberley completely turned my life around; I realised how important it was for me to re-route my career to make a greater contribution towards our emergent society through architecture. This set me on course towards obtaining my PhD in 2015 while immersing myself in an academic career at UP.”

Prof Combrinck’s area of research centres on the role of architecture in community development, with an interdisciplinary view towards social innovation and urban citizenship. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in architecture from UP in 1992. After working in Germany for a few years, she did a master’s degree at the Pratt Institute in New York, US, which was awarded with distinction in 1995.

“It is often said that the study of architecture has a missionary zeal to it, and it was no different for me,” she says. “The course was so incredibly stimulating and challenging that within the first few months, my parents thought they had lost me to a convent.

“Late nights, hard work and the social interaction in the studio all contributed to an immense sense of solidarity with my fellow students. I found the depth of academic interrogation and the complex nature of design thinking intriguing, and experienced an academic curiosity that remains to this day. The exposure to both scientific and humanities fields consistently provides intellectual and creative opportunities for exploration and growth.”

When she was pursuing a career of professional practice, Prof Combrinck enjoyed the fluidity of her career path, having been able to mould and reframe it to suit her life journey.

“I loved being able to practise from home while raising my young children, and really enjoyed interactions with clients, assisting them to see their dreams come to fruition,” she recalls. “I found the challenge of balancing their aspirations with the limitations of budgets, site conditions and programme rewarding, and shared in the excitement of seeing a project come full circle.

“In the academic space, I enjoy seeing the spark of comprehension dawn in a student’s eyes, having robust engagements around complex philosophical issues and seeing the tremendous growth in the individuals. More than any of this, however, I am immensely grateful for the chance to engage with the deeper systemic issues faced in our country, where I have the opportunity to confront and explore the possibilities of making a positive contribution through our profession towards socio-spatial justice and urban citizenship.”

Prof Combrinck has consulted with the City of Tshwane Safety Promotion through the Urban Upgrading programme, has served on the Hatfield Precinct Plan Advisory Committee, the Mamelodi Community Learning Collaborative, the Department of Higher Education University Staff Doctoral Programme in Community Development, as well as the Moreleta Development Forum. She currently serves as Co-Director of the newly established work programme on informal settlements within the International Union of Architects.

Her vision for the department she now heads is this: to nurture and grow the extraordinary work that has been happening to raise an army of architects that are equipped to address rapid urbanisation and human migration across the African continent.

“I hope to contribute to the deep transformation of the profession so that our collective imaginaries manifest spaces that speak of an authentic African identity through meaningful participation, and spaces that contribute towards our societal well-being and that uphold the aspirations of our Constitution.”