Nadia Tromp

Nadia Tromp is a South African architect best known for her work in social architecture and spatial transformation. In 2008 she founded Ntsika Architects, one of the few black-owned female practices in the country.

Tromp served as the President of the Gauteng Institute for Architecture (GIfA), a region of the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA), from February 2018 to November 2019. At the time of writing, she was Director of the International Union of Architects (UIA) Community Architecture: Architecture & Human Rights work program; a board member of SAIA; and a member of the SAIA Transformation Committee.

After graduating from the University of Cape Town, she went on to work with Noero Wolff Architects, ACG Architects and Paragon Architects, among others, before founding Ntsika Architects. Tromp also spent a year at Harvard University on a fellowship where she explored ideas on effective social change at the Harvard Business School and Kennedy School.

Tromp's particular interest is in the spatial fragmentation of South African cities and the need for increased density and integration close to the inner city. She says, "As a practice, we are concerned about the scars left on our landscape by apartheid planning and strive to push the boundaries of conventional thinking around the power of architecture to transform the quality of the environment, through meaningful engagement with the communities in which we work."

The practice takes care to define problems and identify opportunities for nuanced programs that respond to specific user needs, with the intention of creating architecture that is humane, accessible and a delight to experience - an approach that is underpinned by a strong commitment to quality at every stage of a project.

Tromp's work is underpinned by the belief that architects have a broad role to play in society. As such, she continues to engage in a variety of platforms that are concerned with improving the human condition through a variety of interventions, including research around issues of spatial injustice.

In 2015, Tromp received the Mbokodo SA Women in Art: Architecture award. In the same year, in collaboration with Costa Rican filmmaker, Elda Brizuela, she received an international design award by the 19millionproject for the multimedia project, Museum of Human Migration (MoHM): Ultimum Refugium.

In 2017, she became the first architect from Africa to win a World Architecture Festival Award for a built project, in the category 'Health - Completed Buildings'. The Westbury Clinic, completed in February 2017 and located in a marginalized community to the west of the Johannesburg CBD, seeks to challenge the conventional way in which public amenities are developed by creating a new typology for primary healthcare facilities in South Africa. The project received a SAIA-Corobrik Award of Merit in 2018 and in 2019 the Westbury Transformation Development Centre by Ntsika Architects was selected as a winner in the 'Mixed Use Architecture' category of the Architecture MasterPrize (AMP). At these awards Ntsika Architects was also a finalist in the best practice category.

Awards:

2019 - Winner: Architecture Masterprize

2019 - Winner: German Design Award 2019

2018 - TIME SPACE EXISTENCE exhibition, Venice Biennale 2018

2018 - Guest Speaker AZA18

2018 - SAIA-Corobrik Award of Merit

2018 - Jury member: PPC Imaginarium Award

2017 - Winner: WAF Completed Buildings Health

2017 - GIFA Award of Merit, and Award for Excellence

2017 - Finalist: Women in Construction - Awards National Finalist

2016 - Finalist: Global Editors Network - Vienna

2015 - Winner: Mbokodo SA Women in Art: Architecture

2015 - Winner: 19millionproject Winner - MoHM (Museum of Human Migration)

Bibliography:

Ntsika Architects website: www.ntsika.co.za/

World Architecture Festival. "World Architecture Festival 2017 Category Winners". www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/overall-winners-2017 (2017)

Garreth van Niekerk. Ntsika Architects Wins Big At World Architecture Festival. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ntsika-architects-wins-big-at-world-architecture-festival_uk_5c7e9cd1e4b048b41e3a6a6c?ncid=other_saredirect_m2afnz7mbfm&guccounter=1 (24 November 2017)

German Design Award: Westbury Clinic. Special Mention Architecture. www.german-design-award.com/en/the-winners/gallery/detail/24874-westbury-clinic.html (2019)

German Design Award: Esselen Clinic. Special Mention Architecture. www.german-design-award.com/en/the-winners/gallery/detail/24875-esselen-clinic.html (2019)

Nidhi Prakash. Here's how we can use technology to improve the lives of refugees arriving in Europe and the U.S.. splinternews.com/heres-how-we-can-use-technology-to-improve-the-lives-of-1793853037 (20 November 2015)

L'Associazione Carta di Roma. "19 Million Project premia Ultimum Refugium, museo interattivo sulle migrazioni". www.cartadiroma.org/news/19-million-project-premia-ultimum-refugium-museo-interattivo-sulle-migrazioni/ (20 November 2015)

Architecture Masterprize: 2019 Winners. architectureprize.com/winners/2019.php (2019)

Byline:

Karen Eicker, Apex Information Systems (Pty) Ltd, Johannesburg, South Africa.