Rex Distin Martienssen

ARIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

CIAM (26 February 1905, Queenstown,

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

– 23 August 1942,

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

) was a South African architect who was greatly influenced by

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...

and spearheaded a modernist architectural movement in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Because of his early death while training as a lieutenant in the

South African Air Force The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Martienssen was unable to implement many of his ideas, but he left a rich legacy of writings to posterity. He studied at the

University of Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The university has its roots in ...

and obtained a B.Arch. in 1930, an M.Arch in 1940 and a D.Litt. in 1941. He also became an Associate of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

in 1930 and in 1939 was elected President of the ''Transvaal Institute of Architects''. He became a senior lecturer in architecture at the

and acted as temporary head of the department. He became a member of the Engineering Faculty in 1937 and of the Architecture Faculty in 1940. He travelled to Europe quite frequently to stay abreast of changes and new ideas. On one of his trips abroad in 1934 he met Le Corbusier, which was to be the start of an enduring friendship. In the same year Martienssen established a practice in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, and designed his own home House Martienssen in Greenside – a house quite remarkable even by current standards. He became co-editor of the ''South African Architectural Record'' in 1932 and published some 40 articles on Greek, Renaissance and modern architecture. His thesis, ''The Idea of Space in Greek Architecture'', was published posthumously in 1956. In 1937 he was nominated by Le Corbusier and became a member of

Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ad ...

. Rex Martienssen was married to architect and historian Professor Heather Martienssen of the Witwatersrand University Fine Arts Department – the first woman professor at the university.

Sources

*Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa vol.7 (Nasou, Cape Town 1972) {{DEFAULTSORT:Martienssen, Rex Distin Modernist architects Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne members 1905 births Associates of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1942 deaths 20th-century South African architects South African Air Force personnel of World War II South African Air Force officers South African military personnel killed in World War II