PROFILE OF DANIEL van der MERWE
Daniel van der Merwe studied Landscape Architecture at the University of Pretoria, and then continued to complete his studies in Architecture at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1988. He worked as an architect for the practice Stefan Antoni Architects in Cape Town from December1989 until October1990 - working on mostly residential scale projects, where after he joined the practice Manfred Hermer, Grosskopff and Lombart Architects in Johannesburg.
He gained experience in residential, retail, office, hospital and other commercial projects and was involved in the design, technical documentation and project management of these projects. He joined the Department of Architecture at the then Technikon Witwatersrand in June 1992, and continued as a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Johannesburg. Daniel set up his own practice in 1994, and practiced simultaneously as a symbiosis between industry and academia. He joined the Cement and Concrete Institute in September 2008 as Architect as head of the architectural focus area to allow for the promotion of Architecture and Architectural Concrete.
Daniel participated as the Convenor in the conceptualising, planning and execution of architectureZA.2010 Biennale that took place in Johannesburg in September 2010. He acted as Convenor for the architectureZA.2011, and is assisting with the planning of the AZA2012 Biennale scheduled to take place in Cape Town. Daniel serves as the SAIA Convenor: Marketing, and as the Vice-President and Convenor: Promotions & Communications for GIfA.
Daniel has developed extensive links with Industry through his practice work, and with other academic institutions by serving on advisory boards of several university departments of Architecture. He extended these relationships by acting as an external examiner at the University of the Free State; Tswane University of Technology, University of Pretoria and Cape Peninsula University of Technology.