Ivor Cedric Prinsloo (ICP) was born on 17 April 1935. He was awarded the BArch degree in 1966, and the MSc (Town and Regional Planning) degree in 1976, both from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). In 1981 the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) awarded him the PhD degree (Urban Planning).
His formative experience encompassed work in a number of countries: as a student with Max Kirchofer in Johannesburg, Pancho Guedes in Mozambique, Alison and Peter Smithson in London, and Shadrach Woods in Paris. Through these architects he became acquainted at first hand with Le Corbusier and the ideas, projects and personalities of “Team X” in Europe.
From 1968 to 1972 he was head of the design office of Rand Mines Properties (RMP) in Johannesburg. After being placed in an international competition for the redesign of Santiago, Chile, he worked for the Allende government until work was stopped by the military coup of 1973.
Ivor Prinsloo held the Chair in Architecture at the University of Cape Town (UCT) from 1974 to 1998, and during that period also served several terms as Director of the School of Architecture and Planning. As a registered architect (1967) and town and regional planner (1986) he maintained a successful private practice. In 1982 he was a founding member of the firm Parker Prinsloo Flint Elliot van den Heever, which later reconstituted itself as the multi-disciplinary GAPP Architects and Urban Designers. His buildings and projects have received numerous awards.
Ivor Prinsloo was a Council member of the African Union of Architects (AUA), served with the Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA) as Chairman of the Board of Validation, and “in-Region” representative for the inspection of schools in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. He became an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1987. He was a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Research Centre, Cities on Water, Venezia. His interest and expertise in waterfront developments have a lasting legacy in Cape Town’s Victoria and Alfred (V&A) Waterfront development, of which he was an early visionary. He was an editorial board member of the journal Aquapolis published in Italy and of The South African Architect. Throughout his career he published numerous articles, reports and monographs, and was guest editor of Architecture 2000: a review of South African architecture. Among his main interests were the works of Terragni in Italy and Dom Hans van der Laan in Holland.
In March 2002, at the age of 67, Ivor Prinsloo died after a fall while hiking at Gifberg near Vanrhynsdorp.