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Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon KRIGE, André Corneille Born: 1956 10 02 Died: 2020 08 22 Architect BArch 1981 (Pretoria) - Final design title: Nikon Fotografiesentrum Message from Mthembeni Mkhize SAIA Chief Executive Officer. 2020 09 30. It is with heartfelt sadness to inform you about the passing away of our fellow Architect André Corneille Krige. A personal Obituary for André Corneille Krige. André Corneille Krige, my father, died on the 22nd of September 2020 at the age of 63, only 10 days before his 64th birthday, in Johannesburg. Within this life he truly lived. André was born in Johannesburg and matriculated from Linden Hoërskool in 1974 and went on to obtain his B.Arch Degree at the University of Pretoria in 1980. For his thesis he received the Concrete Society of South Africa design award. He started his career at the offices of Taljaardt and Carter, first in Johannesburg during his studies, and then in Pretoria after completing his degree. It was soon after that he worked for Peter Hatting in Pretoria where he met Henk Boogertman. In 1982, after completing his military service, he founded Boogertman Krige Schmidt Architects in Pretoria alongside Henk Boogertman and long-standing friend Sieg Schmidt. The practice later became known as Boogertman Krige and Partners. In 1987 he moved to Johannesburg to start the Johannesburg branch of Boogertman Krige were he led until 2003. In his time at BK and partners, the practice grew considerably, and many new partners joined. André was involved in various other ventures and innovations during his time at Boogertman Krige. Some notable achievements would include: André was awarded the AutoCAD Evangelist award for his outstanding contribution to AutoCAD in Africa in 1990. André was responsible for the first Virtual Reality system for architectural use from Division, a UK based company in collaboration with Hewlett Packard (1997). In 1998 the CSIR developed and built a laser cutting machine for architectural models based on specifications supplied by Andre. In 1999 André received the PMR Golden Arrow Award for Most Admired Individual (Architect). Having left Boogertman Krige in 2003, he went on to found, MKM Architects (Leta Mosienyane, André Krige, Fritz Metz). He founded Krige Architects in 2006 where he was joined by Mark Falconer in 2007 and later by Clinton Angerson who became a named partner in 2017. The firm became known as KAPA architects. It was in the offices of KAPA that André did what he loved until the very end. There are countless good things I could say about his career, he was awarded and admired. But what will remain the longest is the impact he had on us all. I will be forever thankful for what he taught me. From him I learnt that I wanted to be an architect. From him I learnt that architecture is not only for special occasions. That architecture is an opportunity to get to know someone better than they know themselves. He taught me that architecture is not about a building, it is about people. Something we often forget. That it is not about what you achieve, but how you go about doing it. That it is never too late. That you should always learn from your mistakes. That you should never give up. That you should never stop exploring. That you should live in a way that inspires others. That you should never stop caring. That you should never stop dreaming. That architecture is so important that it should not be left to architects alone. If I had to describe my father, there would be many words I could use: He was a friend. He was a husband. He was a father and a grandfather. He was consistent in everything. He was a wizard behind a computer. He was curious. He was caring. He loved to give. He was one hell of a biker (he could pop a wheely for kilometres on end). He was a cyclist. He was a helicopter pilot. He was a collector (of mostly watches). He was a tech junky and a gadget man. He was a traveller. He was a fan of Tintin. He was a businessman and an entrepreneur. He was an educator and a mentor. He was intimidating, yet approachable. He was fierce but very gentle. He was impatient but would never settle. He was full of jokes yet always professional. He was my hero. He was my dad. But what described him best, he was an architect. Having seen over the past months, amidst great suffering, how André continued to fight without ever complaining, without ever giving up, should be more than enough to make any person proud to have known him. And as his son, it was an honour to witness. André leaves behind a wife, Vanessa; his two sons, André (with wife Kabi) & Adolf; his two grandsons Luka & Oskar; his two step-sons, Clinten (with wife Gillian) & Christopher (with partner Chantal); his granddaughter Micaylah; two brothers Gerhard and Leon and three sisters, Mathea, Melite and Edna. He will be deeply missed. His Son, André Krige _____________________ A personal Obituary for André Corneille Krige by his brother. “In Our Dreams we fly..” Joni Mitchell. Andre was the second youngest of six siblings raised by Gerard & Judith Krige. As his younger brother, life was filled with endless adventure, dreams & creativity. Andre was a dreamer, not a whimsical absentminded dreamer, but a creative genius, constantly testing new avenues, new technology, new directions. In the mid-1960s, life was analogue, often hand-crafted, growing up within a political bubble invisible to most of those who were inside. Our father was a mechanical engineer, hands on man of steel, who worked on military airplanes in South Africa during the Second World War. Later he ran an engineering firm, specialized in precision tooling, now run by our eldest brother. He felt the nature of steel in his hands, like a carpenter. There was an outside workshop in our home with a lathe and beautiful old tools, the germ of our creativity came from there, or working at his factory in school holidays. Our mother was patient, loving and with an incredible sense of humour, raising six children with a weak heart, no mean feat. Memories of days chasing each other around the garden with home-made catapults, shooting red berries, sometimes in the roles of Cowboys (Andre & his best friend Gavin) and Indians, (myself as the youngest with a Dutch friend Piet). Hiding behind trees and mostly being the hunted, but so much joy in simple things that I wouldn’t want to go inside after dusk. Andre’s Kettie had a special wolf head carved on the end, his signature weapon. We shared the same room in a large family, he had rigged up a cable to send signals to Gavin, the Scottish neighbours’ son next door. As the same gang of four we had small battery powered toy boats, using the steps of our pool as the harbour. Andre gathered all the small wooden offcuts in the workshop and sold it to us as cargo for a few cents each. He was a business entrepreneur from the word go. Later years we built go-carts with scraps from the workshop, Andre was the engineer, the inventor I often ended up as the designated driver. A more advanced pedal steel cart was his high school piece de resistance, beautifully assembled by my fathers’ magic hands. Once Andre left high school to study architecture I was fortunate to inherit this beautiful toy, in a large family things were passed down. His inventive skills rose to new levels, inspired by University culture. In one holiday he built a weaving loom, resident at my eldest sister’s home in Barberton, a second home for us during times when our mother was not well. He studied weaving patterns of Navajo & Hopi Indians, I remember treasuring a (very short) scarf woven by his hands and wearing it for years after. He also built a basic darkroom in an old store room at my parents’ home, painted out in seventies orange and brown, in the retro style of modernist Pretoria. Though I wasn’t allowed in there, I “borrowed” his key and learned how to process my own film from a primitive Olympus Trip 35, and bought old paper to make first analogue prints while he was in Pretoria during my high school days. Andre graduated as an architect from Pretoria University, almost as I returned from a year of study exchange in Iowa, torn between studying fine arts and eventually choosing architecture at Wits. In the early eighties, while our country was torn apart by political unrest, Wits fired the spirit of change more than the rest of our family, and we started drifting apart. Andre started a practice in Pretoria with Sieg Schmidt and Henk Boogertman, with an incredible sense of business acumen, as the first era of digital drawing on computers reached architecture. His lightning fast mind took to this new technology like a fish to water. He was quick to learn and adapt as technology expanded, the practice grew, later known as Boogertman Krige with Henk Boogertman and other partners. He started running a new Johannesburg office, growing from strength to strength. His love for complex technology drove him to other small ventures, the most adventurous was learning to fly his own helicopter. Complex aviation skills suited his incredible understanding of 3-dimensional orientation. True to his ambition, he dreamed of owning many helicopters, plus the service facility, but too many business ventures caused a lot of stress and distraction. I recall being asked to design and manufacture a 24 seat table with black BMW leather over a steel frame for boardroom sessions with virtual reality headsets around the early 90s, with an 8 day delivery condition! The table was assembled just on time for a large presentation, he was a hard taskmaster, but the air of challenge and excitement followed him throughout his career. Our paths separated, as he migrated through various modes of successful commercial practice while I chose an academic route after post grad studies in Frankfurt. I realized that my love of photography came from the earliest stolen hours in his darkroom, my early 3d CAD skills came from his pioneering inspiration, except that he knew instinctively when to move on the next wave of technology while I pursued a few passions obsessively. We were different but still alike. After many years of distance, a few months ago he called and spoke like the brother I had grown up with. He was facing serious health problems with complex surgery, but even in this severe challenge there was a sense of fascination with technology that he understood so well. He went to visit his youngest son Adolf at the turning point of a PhD in Sweden, flying a drone to capture sleigh rides in the snow. His older son Andre followed in his footsteps, a successful young architect. He loved his sons and his wife unconditionally, speaking about them for hours in the few conversations we had. Sadly the second complex operation did not turn out well, he was in ICU for 2 months before the end. In his last video call to my daughter and myself, his only dream was to go home and cycle, to try the new exercise machine that arrived, but this dream was not realized. He will be sorely missed and greatly loved. “In our dreams we fly.. ” Joni Mitchell. L. F. KRIGE _____________________ A personal Obituary for André Corneille Krige by his friend. Andre Krige: revelation and celebration Being part of a group of four formed with the first project in our first year at University, mostly tasked with the writing up part in days before word processing [a task that the other three gladly swapped for gathering information, taking photographs, making coffee, having to go out to replenish the beer / burger collection or whatever seemed more important] it never crossed my mind that it would extend to the writing of an obituary for one of us. That future did not exist. Now it is becoming a reminder of the eccentricity of fleeting time. When friends with whom you have shared most of a lifetime are suddenly not there, one cannot help pondering the distinction between obituary and reminiscence. An obituary, as I came to realise at the passing of another of our friends and colleagues not too long ago, inadvertently signals an end. For all us who knew him, Andre had a presence that does not end in an obituary. He is present in the memories of abundant times of joy and the sharing of excitement about architecture and life that will live on and stay with those who knew him. As student, he was an unassuming top performer in all facets of our studies. From the dreaded Physics I through History and Construction to Design. Never in the competitive way sometimes present amongst peers in architectureschool. Always willing to assist those around him who struggled with the magical mystery tour of Structures II-IV, or a detail, or a design decision. Still having enough time to indulge in a passion for photography and the adventures of off-road motorbikes. And difficult to keep up with. An architect in the true sense of embracing life to the full. Intelligent, adventurous, determined and fearless in approach to architecture and life, somehow always managing to find a way to make things happen (and pay for them), spurred on by anything that remotely presented any form of challenge. After a short spell of working together at Oscar Hirsch, Buffler & Partners as interns, he joined Peter Hattingh, whom we all at the time admired as design doyen and aspired to work for. This is where he got to know Henk Boogertman, and where, I suppose, that fearless determination, adventurous spirit, and the challenge spurred him to be a founding partner with Henk of what has become one of the most successful large practices in South Africa. But not without first having to overcome the struggles and hardships that beset most fledgeling practices. Eventually leaving a mark on cities, towns and skylines in South Africa and beyond. As architects we tend to admire and remember those who excel with pencil and line. Few are aware of Andre’s comparable talents in a different domain. One where he can only be described as a pioneering genius. Without hesitation or the fear of hyperbole he can be described as a Piranesi in the use of computing and software in architectural practice. Working in virtual reality when the majority of us viewed the latest Kuhlman machine on our drawing board, a Rotring Scribe and an electric eraser as the epitome of technology. Being a very private person he was sometimes mistakenly experienced as being aloof. For those of us who were fortunate enough to really know him, he was a person with both the smallest and biggest heart simultaneously, and a generosity that was sometimes embarrassing if you were on the receiving end. Literally. Not only on the material side, but also in the knowledge he pioneered and shared with all those interested, in the time he would find to share his unbridled enthusiasm in everything, and the joy he derived in letting someone else experience it as well. We have lost one of our unsung heroes in architecture. I have lost a friend. My wish is that I could have had a last opportunity to share these thoughts with him. Siegfriedt Schmidt