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MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | RUSHMERE, John WeirBorn: 1939 04 01Died: 2025 08 20 Architect | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born in Port Elizabeth. Worked in Johannesburg with Anthony LANGE, Glen GALLAGHER, and Willie MEYER - all of whom had studied in America under either Rudolph or Kahn. Regards this period as postgraduate study. All physical substance is a reflective expression of spiritual substance. The essence of all things is in the immaterial. The material is merely a means of expression - it is not the reality of that which is expressed. We designers need to be inspired more by the essence of things in making places than by the idol-worship of images. The world of effects confuses rather than inspires. The rational mind can only work with knowledge accumulated through the five senses; its potential is limited to the rearrangement of existing references. The intuitive mind goes beyond the confines of the physical world and becomes an extension of infinite will. The difficulty is the ego, which is derived from conditional and rational knowledge that keeps getting in the way. Self-centeredness is not the route to the discovery of our potential greatness, or the discovery of an architecture of relevance and beauty. (UIA Issue 8, 1985) John RUSHMERE joined ERASMUS RUSHMERE REID as principal in 1967. In 1977 he was Vice-Chairman of the Eastern Province Committee of the CPIA. Recipient of the Gold Medal Award from the South African Institute of Architects in 2002. (Modus Issue 1/1987 volume 2; Modus Issue 1/1988 Volume 3) He was the Milde McWilliams Memorial Laureate in 2009 with "Aesthetics of Place". Tribute Rest in Peace to the mighty John Rushmere. A man who has had an incredible impact on the architectural profession in South Africa and indeed on my life, work and world view. He lives on in a legacy cast in concrete, layered in brick and adorned in light. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, time and experience with us young architects in the early days of our careers. I will never forget walking into Onion Row at age 19, and finally realising, with immediate and immense force, the effect that architecture has on our psyche and being. Rest in Eternal Power, Old Man. (Nikhil Tricam, 21 August 2025) Obituary The legendary architect John Rushmere, ISAA Gold Medalist (2002) passed away on the 20th of August, and with that the loss of an exemplary South African voice of architectural authenticity. For many of his colleagues, friends and students it is the loss of a dear friend, and inspirational and generous mentor who will sincerely be missed. For scholars of architecture his work leaves behind a legacy of thoughtful architectural and urban interventions, and lessons based on humanist principles and meaningful placemaking, respecting the spirit of place and vernacular traditions. Many of John Rushmere's quotations and anecdotes and those from friends and colleagues describe his thinking, creativity, spirituality and generosity of ideas. As Architect:In the UIA Publication of 1982 of Southern Africa - a milestone publication for South African architecture of the time - there is a chapter on The Village Place at Cape St Francis, a holiday compound for four families, developed in the early 1980's. It is in his words 'an expanded house'. This building illustrates Rushmere's urban intentions. The plan of the village is quite innovative and resembles a community or settlement in it's articulation (analogous to a little 'Bastide' says Piet Louw). " A village after all is a large, or complex house, just as a city is a large or complex village, they all have to do with community. I pay a lot of attention to community, the relevance of anything derives from its relatedness, and relatedness are fundamental to community. Community is a harmony of relationships..." He was an urbanist in his conceptual thinking, as most exceptional architects are. The Duckpond Pavilion at St. Georges Park Cricket Ground in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) was an urban gesture, holding, shouldering and consolidating the famous cricket oval and linking it to the public park in a very public manner. "The idea to lift the sky building was that one would have an awareness of the park. That’s the upper deck … they are lovely spaces. The wall was a very deliberate gesture to the park, to make it a friendly structure. I think we all love colonnades, we love brick colonnades, they’re in our minds maybe from a magazine, cloisters, university buildings and so on … so it’s a very friendly structure." On a language rather than a style of architecture : Onion Row, the group housing complex where he resided for many years responds to the site, the historical structures - the house of his parents built in 1939 - that was an informant, to create a village. "Onion Row is about spines. The 'idea' began with the needs of the plan — private places inside and outside and an unrestrained consonance with light and sun. It became a 'long house' unfolding itself to the north and lying 'lepel' against the back of its neighbour in the row. The plan crystallised as a strong linear movement pattern, and the spine assumed control as the ordering idea that structured activity and established the hierarchy of internal and external space." As Sportsman and Team Player John was a talented and respected sportsman and represented Western Province in cricket and rugby, and excelled as a lock for Province and later for Transvaal when he moved to Johannesburg and then Eastern Province when he moved back to his home town. I knew of John Rushmere the rugby player, as a teenager before I met him as the Director of the School of Architecture at the NMU many years later. And Shirley his wife was a cousin, we were joined to the Rouxfamily legacy at the historical Cape Dutch farm Libertas, Stellenbosch, our ancestral Roux grandparents a brother and sister. John and I also shared an appreciation of the historical Cape buildings and placemaking, and vernacular traditions. It is the fact that he participated in team sport, says Piet Louw that showed in his approach to design and making in his architecture that was created by many and was done in the collective spirit of making and community values. John always quoted Piet Louw's reference to the significance of 'background buildings' in urban settings, and that urban architecture could not only be about iconic, object buildings. He exposed his students to this and community values in urban design thinking. In his address to his audience during the 2017 Milde McWilliams Lecture: "...no building is one man deep and so I have so many people to acknowledge … my mentors, I mentioned them; my collaborators; the assistants who worked for me; many colleagues and also laypeople whose comments werealways valuable. So, I thank them, wherever they are ..." A rugby anecdote of John captured by Gavin Fernie - from the UCT Ikey Tigers website : "For me it was always the 'playing', never the result. I know I am almost alone in this, but my memories are garnered from countless hours of play and the enemy was always “the final whistle”, win or lose. Surely to be fully conscious in the moment of living, doing, being is where the potential exists to experience the fullness of life. To focus on the end just serves to foul the “now”, or to be effectively unconscious." As Teacher Colleague and close friend Theresa Hardman reflects on teaching with him at the NMU: John was a born teacher, who gently guided through suggestion and inspiration. When in discussion with him, we knew for certain that we had his full attention. He was always 100% present. He recognised the uniqueness of every student, gently encouraging us to be bold and poetic. I remember one beautiful evening in his beloved Onion when he invited students to sing and play various musical instruments as we celebrated the creative spirit alive in each of us. He taught us how to bring beauty into the simplest act. But most of all, he taught us to care… about every line we drew and about every person we were designing for. He was an architect who embodied care and respect. That is what he taught us. In time his remarkable teaching and leadership skills were recognised and he was awarded an Honorary Professorship, one which was most deserving. As part-time teacher, examiner at NMU and friend, Piet Louw reflects on the experience: In his teaching and practice endeavours, John Rushmere was driven by a strong philosophical and ethical position to life and to his fellow human beings. Whether it was in family life, in academia, or practicing the art of the discipline of architecture, or participating on the sports-field, or sharing friendships in various forms, his concern for the common man and for the search and delivery of dignified environments always stood out. Always speaking with commitment and passion, his ‘task’ is captured in his statement about the discipline: “Architecture is an idea realised; shaping space, light, movement, and structure to make place and moment a celebration of our humanness”. As Colleague and Friend Mira Fassler Kamstra reflects: John, John and Shirley, Onion Row illumined by the roof light and the Gothic voice of Hildegard of Bingen... I had long admired John’s work before we actually met and after that it was as though we had never ever not been friends! Apart from architectural practice, we both worked for our respective Institutes and in what seems to have been another time, served on the Institute of South African Architects’ National Board. As an external examiner during John’s time as Head of Department at Nelson Mandela University, I observed first hand his understanding and passion for his students. For them, nothing was too much trouble though mincing words was not his style of honesty! ...and Shirley? Shirley was always there with her support, her lovely meals, her participation and endless patience in listening to us “gaaning aan”..." Now with aching hearts, we mourn with Shirley and the family for the passing of the inimitable, irreplaceable John until we join him one day in that other time and dimension of which he spoke so much. In a quote from a recent telephone conversation John said, 5 October 2025 | Martin Kruger with Mira Fassler Kamstra, Theresa Hardman, Piet Louw References: http://www.umemagazine.com/issues.aspx List of projects With photographs With notes
Articles by RUSHMERE
References
Entries in books by RUSHMERE
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