Ora Joubert
| Artist Name: | Ora Joubert |
| Nationality: | South African |
| Year of birth: | 1959 |
| Artist information: | South African architect, educator, and writer Born in Pretoria, ’Ora Joubert earned her BArch cum laude from the University of Pretoria (1983), an MScArch from Penn State University (USA), and a PhD from the University of Natal, where she investigated how modern art influenced modern architecture. She practiced as an in-house architect with the township-based NGO Get Ahead Foundation (1986–1989) and has run a private practice since 1990. A renowned academic, Joubert has lectured at major South African universities and in the USA, including Washington University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She served as Head of Architecture at the University of the Free State (2001–2004) and the University of Pretoria (2004–2008), and now holds an Affiliated Professorship at UFS. Her work, featured in The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture (2004) and 40 Architects Under 40 by Taschen (2001), has received numerous design accolades including multiple SAIA Awards, the Corobrik House of the Year, and Dulux Colour Awards. As editor, she created the seminal reference 10+ Years 100+ Buildings – Architecture in a Democratic South Africa (2009), awarded a SAIA Award of Excellence, and its companion 10+ Years 100+ Projects (2018). In 2018 she delivered the Sophia Gray Memorial Lecture, La Promenade Architecturale, and in February 2023 was honoured with the SAIA Writers & Critics Award for her contributions to architectural discourse. The Constitutional Court Art Collection (CCAC) includes her mixed-media piece Architecture (CCAC# 0122), incorporating photography and pressed wood, donated by the artist in 1996. |
