Ludwig Hansen (Dr)

Director, Property & Infrastructure Management Division
Wits University

Ludwig Hansen teaches and practices architecture and urban design. After qualifying as architect at the Pretoria University in 1990, he worked for numerous companies in South Africa, Namibia and Germany before completing his Master Degree in Human Settlements at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium in 1996. 

On his return to South Africa together with Paul Wygers established Urban Solutions which completed numerous  award winning buildings and urban design projects, including the Constitutional Court and Hill projects, Coega, the DTI Headoffice in Pretoria, the Street Trader Management Plans and their implementation and Baragwanath Spatial Framework . 

In 2010 Ludwig Hansen Architects and Urban Designers (LHA+Ud) was established. The company has a focus on issues of urban regeneration projects, housing and the urban development of higher education institutions and their architecture. His association with the University of the Witwatersrand and his appointment as Campus Urban Designer introduced him to the spatial challenges facing universities in South Africa. Apart from the Wits Spatial Design and Development Framework, the primary focus from 2012 onwards, has been the design of the first two new universities to established since 1994. Apart for being responsible for the coordinating and design of both the Sol Plaatje University (SPU) in Kimberley, and the University of Mpumalanga( UMP) in Nelspruit, LHA+Ud has advised and completed campus spatial plans for many South African universities and has completed a survey and recorded of all 26 university campuses. 

LHA+Ud has also been responsible for the design of a number of academic buildings on these campuses, of which some have received architectural merit awards. These include the New Science Laboratories, Student Residences and Dining Hall amenities at the University of Mpumalnaga. Currently LHA+Ud is involved in the development of two new university colleges to be established in Hammanskraal and Boksburg. Current architectural projects include a 1200 seater Great Hall at UMP. Since 2021 LHA+Us has established an office in the Western Cape, with a focus on commercial developments, spurban design and residential projects. 

Ludwig has been an academic at the University of the Witwatersrand, School of Architecture and Planning since 2008. The role included leading the Masters of Urban Design Programme between 2017-2021. He has lectured and acted as examiner extensively at universities across South Africa and abroad, including a four year stint as visiting professor at the Catholic University of Leuven. 

Ludwig completed his PhD at the University of the Witwatersrand. His Ph.D thesis,  Post-1994 South African University Infrastructure: a Critical Study of the Framework and Spatial Principles to guide future developments, is an innovative practice-based research based on his extensive architecture and urban design professional work for Wits University and the Department of Higher Education and Training in the design of numerous university campuses in South Africa over the period 2009-21. His conclusions and methodologies provide the basis for future good university campus design, practicable for all build environment professions. The study has also been adopted in the creation of a Research Unit called the Campus Innovation Laboratory in collaboration with Prof. Nnamdi Elleh at the Wits School of Architecture & Planning.