The study investigates the relevance of public, historic buildings in an urban context with specific focus on the old ZAR Staatsmuseum in Pretoria. The project aims to find a way, to re-establish the Staatsmuseum as a significant b uilding, a b uilding with dignity, through making it relevant within the urban context, once again. The heritage response that will be investigated is an adaptive re-use approach, which refers back to the statement of significance of the building, as formulated as part of this study. The programmatic response is associated with the initial program of the building, as a Life Sciences museum will be introduced in the building. The concepts of plinth, entrance, exhibition (including light and movement) and courtyard are specific design drivers, that will be investigated and responded to as part of the design process. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

The following project aims to demonstrate how interior design can improve the efficiency of South African Shoprite supermarket interiors. This entails designing specific parts of an interior model for South Africa's largest retailer's most valuable brand, which balances utilising the minimum amount of resources and maximising the user experience in order to achieve efficient interior design. This is to relate the interior space to the brand promise of providing the lowest possible prices in a satisfying and convenient first world shopping environment that is conducive to a comfortable and enjoyable shopping experience. Utilising the minimum amount of resources demonstrates the impact of interior design on energy, water and material efficiency as well as the indoor environmental quality, which are the four interdependent regions which have the biggest impact on the interior environment. An appropriate interior design for Shoprite, which considers their core target market as key, further maximises the user experience by improving shopping convenience, productivity and comfort within the supermarket. Together, these aspects aid in representing the brand promise within the interior space, which is the interior designer's biggest contribution to the retail sector. This indicates the possibility in increasing Shoprite's financial turnover by lowering the supermarket's operational costs and increasing customer loyalty towards the brand. Operational costs are lowered through lowering electricity consumption by specifying appropriate lighting solutions, equipment, materials and finishes; lowering water consumption by specifying low flow water fittings; and by using appropriate materials and construction methods within the new design. Customer loyalty is increased through differentiating the brand from its competitors beyond the products being sold, by establishing an appropriate brand identity in store which the target market can relate to and which fulfils their aspirations for a satisfying shopping experience which is convenient, healthy, comfortable and enjoyable. In so doing, the positive impact of interior design on everyday retail environments is revealed, proving that interior design is not simply a luxury, but a necessity. The project results in a set of interior design guidelines, informed by theory and driven by the interior design problems identified within the existing Shoprite supermarket design. These guidelines are illustrated in an example of a typical site, which was used to develop and test the interior components. In addition, the flexibility of the components is explored, in order for the solution to be adaptable to various existing and new Shoprite supermarkets. Focusing on that which is in the power of the discipline of interior design, only specific parts of the supermarket are designed (the interior components). The components selected are those which have the most potential to make the biggest impact in terms of minimising resources and maximising the user experience within the supermarket. These interior components are: (1) the in-store departments, which include the Deli, Bakery and Butchery; (2) the aisle navigation in store; and (3) the checkout area. They have the potential to make the biggest impact in terms of efficiency by lowering operational costs and increasing customer loyalty, as discussed above. The parts can be given to merchandisers to determine the final layout and visual merchandising of the supermarket as a combination of the parts, in order for the project to evolve into a roll-out strategy for Shoprite supermarkets. / Mini Dissertation (MInt(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MInt(Prof) / Unrestricted

Hierdie skripsie ondersoek die potensiaal van argitektuur as n geheue genererende voorwerp en die verkenning van verhaal as n ontwerp genereerder. Verhaal word as n instrument vir die ontwerper vir waarnemings wat gemaak is tydens terrein besoeke. Dit help die ontwerper om die omgewing te interpreteer en daardeur gedompel in die omstandighede te word om sodoende die terrein te definieer, beide in terme van sy informaliteit asook gebrek aan pragmatiese geskiedenis. Die gebruikers word die primêre invloede en genereerders in terme van beide program en vorm, om sodoende n gemeenskaplike na-gedenktenis en plek vir die vergete netwerke van Phomolong, in Mamelodi, Tshwane, te skep Die rede om ontwerp op hierdie manier te genereer is om toepaslik te reageer op gebruikers se behoeftes, die skaal van die konteks, sowel as om toe te laat vir die verdere ontwikkeling van die gebruikers. Deur die aanspraak en bespreking van die kwessies rondom plekloosheid, die gebrek aan identiteit en ruimte vir n kollektiewe nagedagtenis, in die eens tydelike plek vanPhomolong in Mamelodi. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

Place and identity are bound to one another. The places we grow up in and the places we inhabit in the city shape us and construct our identities. When humans are displaced from original habitat and into another, a change in mental construct occurs. This dissertation explores notions of power and identity expressed in the Union Buildings, as well as change in political regimes and the representation of buildings under such regimes over the span of the Union Buildings from their time of conception to current day. This will be investigated in terms of the initiation school ritual using the backdrop of the Union Buildings as a study into the possibility of a new programme allowing for a new image within changing cultural beliefs. Whereas the current Union Buildings is representative of the two cultural/political groups as means of reconciliation preceding the Anglo Boer Wars, the proposed programme opens a new collective memory; one which represents unity amongst all people in South Africa. The architectural intent seeks to explore the relationship of Self and Other, conceptually and physically, by confrontation or contestation of the existing boundaries and controls that occur in and around the Union Buildings. Furthermore, the architecture seeks to disrupt traditional notions of the plinth and the boundary and introduces a third space in which the users of the space can inhabit. The project moves beyond representation of conflicted pasts in current museum typologies, and enables the platform for a new identity to be formed, both architecturally and in the selection of the programme. The proposed programme of the political school facilitates the interception of the structure into the Union Buildings by a forced interaction between the politicians and the public. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

The dissertation investigates the design of a Youth Enterprise Hub on the east periphery of Mamelodi, east of the Pretoria s Central Business district. It aims to explore the potential for the restoration of social inequality within an emerging township economy in a context that has been historically deprived of any economic infrastructure. It suggests the integration of a train station, an informal community as well landfill through the proposal of an urban vision which investigates the possibility for the bridging of socio-economic exclusion through a new industrial ethos of innovation, information access, collaboration and skills development. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

This dissertation documents an investigation of an architecture of the Feminine. It is not possible to give definite examples of the feminine and masculine in architecture. These are abstract concepts and it must be understood that notions of the feminine are highly subjective, influenced by aspects such as culture, gender, background, context and religion. Through an analysis of the theoretical interpretations of the Feminine within architecture, the ways that women occupy and decode space is examined while seeking interpretations that bypass the many literal interpretations that are often associated with the Feminine and architecture. These readings will be used to inform decision making during design. During Apartheid, the Women s Movement had a unified goal of fighting the oppressive powers of the current government. But since the fall of the Apartheid government, this movement has been fractured and has not been able to mobilise to address needs as a unified group. The proposal intends to foster an atmosphere of dialogue and identity for South African women by creating space that that gives women the possibility to negotiate spatial relationships on their terms. There are a vast number of ways that notions of the feminine can be interpreted with regards to architecture. The design approach thus interprets this information and allows the feminine to be expressed through the creation of space that gives women the possibility of negotiating spatial relationships on their terms, in the in-between or interstitial spaces in the building. Through conceptual investigations, the Void is identified as a space that creates a dimension for rewriting existing structures of social interaction. This inherent characteristic can only be explored if the Void is understood as a space that lacks strict definition in which it creates the dimension of possibility, providing women with the space to define the nature of their spatial relationships on their own terms. To acknowledge the multiplicities that are evident within (social) space is to acknowledge the other that has been ignored. Through occupying the Void that is represented by the site, and by placing focus on the interstitial and in-between spaces in the building, a place is created for negotiation of spaces as well as a place for identity and discussion within the building through the opportunity to rewrite the relationships between occupants. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

The urban environment resembles a non-static circuit that continuously records, processes and transmits information governed by human needs (Griffin & Kittler, 1996:720). This transfer of information may be compared to frequency bands mediating between man and his built environment: A high frequency of indefinite human activity and a low frequency, representational of definite built form. By appropriating the philosophical principles of Jurgen Habermas to architecture, it is proposed that indefinite activity lends animation to definite form, which enables man to critique and eventually alter his context. Where definite form overpowers indefinite activity, a disproportional model occurs, where man is made silent and alienated from his context, his needs neglected and his space trapped in time. The programmatic development of Pretoria as administrative capital over time manifests as introverted architectural assemblages and incomplete spatial narratives. The city s need for indefinite activity is made clear when an insurgent and informal urban program exploits the structure of definite built form - irrelevant of initial function. The latent potential of unprogrammed urban space as a by-product of fractured urban assembly offers un-tapped opertunity regarding the diversity of urban layering as an alternative way to read, challenge and interact with the city. By opening marginal space for insurgent urban activity, the strategy aims at establishing a sub-network of programmed marginal space clusters within Pretoria s CBD to introduce inner city sprawl (an implosion of fabric and activity). By exploiting the lack of clearly defined usefulness and in the absence of claims to ownership, opportunity for marginal urban space to associate programmatically with uncatered-for-users and neglected activities, sets the tone for architectural intervention. The intervention explores the methods of how architecture can strategically introduce marginal urban space into the city fabric by proclaiming and facilitating a relationship between marginal client and program. Through the exploitation of existing built form and the marginal space it produced, an architectural form is to be developed that may serve as a didactic catalyst towards an alternative and responsive urban experience. The main driver for function is to provide internalised built entities with appropriate public interface so as to act as a base from which to launch public activity. A marginal urban plinth, next to the North Gauteng Advocates Association, will be utilised as a laboratory to test the validity of architecture as vessel to activate public insurgency, in a strategy towards inner-city renewal. Existing built form and program of buildings contributing towards the genesis of marginal space is approached as a host to be exploited by the proposed architecture. Internalised information and function of the host is to be extracted to generate spatial drivers for new and alternative spatial conditions. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

The potential of the Apies River Corridor, and the identified site s relegation to the engineering demands of modernisation, has resulted in layers of water, built fabric, transport and energy infrastructure that presently dissect the site into rigidly controlled, isolated functions. This has consequently led to the loss of the Apies River s recreational and natural presence within the city. Its ecological potential as resource, as well as its enigmatic and symbolic existence, has been straightjacketed into a linear concrete entity. Its historical significance in the establishment and development of the city, as well as its significance as recreational identity, has been rendered anonymous. Fragmented enclaves (deadlock urban situations) have restricted the potential of underutilised, surplus public spaces. The theoretical premise of this dissertation asserts that the great divide between nature and culture of the modern paradigm, and the consequential development of industrialisation and urbanisation, controlled our cities' natural resources in independent networks of infrastructural systems, to the control, convenience and exploitation of our cultural practices. Implemented as vehicles for political, social and economic agendas, the current isolated implementation of our urban infrastructure are spatially fragmenting the public realm. The site chosen for the project has been identified as a collection of fragmented surplus sites adrift between the infrastructural edges of the historic Ceremonial Boulevard know as Stanza Bopape Street (formerly Church Street), and the Apies River Corridor; two significant infrastructural entities in the city of Pretoria. A reinterpretation of our development processes is required, that acknowledges non-human natural systems as agents and acknowledges the constraints of our cultural practices.1 By reimagining existing infrastructure as part of the production of form and space, marginalised urban voids can be regained for innovative design interventions, alternative occupation, and public appropriation. The potential of such a reinvention lies in public space that capitalises on the spatial, material and socio-economic possibilities of infrastructure to increase the area's ecological contribution, and amplify its historical significance through establishing a relationship between Stan Street, the Apies River, the proposed interventions and historical remnants, towards reinstating an enigmatic and recreational experience as well as ecological awareness beyond its infrastructural use. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

Mini Dissertation (ML(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / ML(Prof) / Unrestricted