Civil Engineering March 2022 | Vol 30 No 2

Struc tural eng i neer i ng S ince its inception in 2015, the Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking (d-school) has been temporarily located at the UCT Graduate School of Business V&A Waterfront campus. Now, a new building for Africa’s first school dedi- cated to design thinking is officially under construction on UCT’s middle campus near Rondebosch, with the project team having broken ground in October 2020. The Hasso Plattner Foundation of Germany is funding the new building, which will play a strategic role as part of UCT’s Vision 2030. Only two other insti- tutions worldwide – Stanford University in the United States and the University of Potsdam in Germany – have similar d-schools located on their campuses. The d-school approach is a move away from the traditional lecture theatres to developing spaces and teaching environments that drive co-creation, International collaboration on the School of Design Thinking free-form roof at UCT Andrew Spottiswoode Pr Eng Managing Director LEAF Structures andrew@leafstructures.co.za Jack Mghie Owner and Director Fluid Project Management Gregory Skeen Pr Eng Director: Programme Management UCT Properties & Services greg.skeen@uct.ac.za Design thinking is a globally recognised creative approach to solving complex problems. The process draws on collaboration in diversity while aiming to foster a deeper understanding of problems to ensure impactful responses. This approach has been embraced in the innovative design and construction of the Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking at the University of Cape Town (UCT). This building provides the impetus for the d-school to grow continuously to become the African centre of excellence in design-led thinking. It aligns with UCT’s Vision 2030 to position itself as a global university in Africa, focused on unleashing human potential for a fair and just future. – The Hasso Plattner Foundation 10 March 2022  Civil Engineering The new UCT School of Design Thinking nearing completion