Cities attract large numbers of people because of economic opportunity. Inner city housing demands increases and the lack of affordable housing leaves the urban poor to live in slums on the periphery of the city, contributing to urban sprawl. Settlement patterns often indicate that the poorest inhabitants have to travel the longest distances. According to the Tshwane Metropolitan Spatial Development Framework (2012), the aim is to achieve compaction through infill development that promotes high residential density and mixed land uses. Marabastad, situated to the North West of Pretoria, is a vibrant place with a diversity of people joining the daily commute to and from the city and surrounding areas. A once close-knit community was crushed due to forced removals in 1940-1970 and Marabastad lost its residential component. Despite this devastating past, the daily flux of feet in and out of Marabastad has resulted in a vibrant place that is dominated by retail and transport networks. However a number of damaged structures, vacant lots and abandoned areas throughout Marabastad threatens the safety of the precinct and has left the urban fabric of Marabastad in a state of decay. The project investigates the potential the strong heritage character of Marabastad holds for an architectural intervention that demonstrates a truly integrated and sensitive urban infill¬. This dissertation proposes a mixed-use residential development to increase density and re-establish a permanent community in Marabastad. The project will consist of a variety of housing models to accommodate the diversity of people identified in Marabastad. The existing activities on site are integrated in the design proposal to maintain the vibrancy and sense of place. The theory of Open Builidng is explored in search for an alternative approach to the current state provided housing model. The dissertation s aim is to revitalise the dilapidated area of Marabastad. The architectural language explores the expression of the new that exists harmoniously within the heritage context of Marabastad. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

Behind the Curtains is an exploration into the introverted and indeterminate space as a place of activity. The dissertation investigates and compares the spectacle of the everyday and reality by means of a theatre stage and a semi-public courtyard / plaza, which is situated opposite the State Theatre in Pretoria s CBD. The theatre is focused on the awareness of reality through the spectacle of performance while the semi-public courtyard / plaza can turn the artificiality of everyday situations into theoretical situations and bring life to the streets (Brenner 1994:97). Everyday life is put on display. The programme forms a new back of house for the State Theatre with the theatre stage, rehearsal studios and back of house programmes intertwined with the activities of the everyday. The project explores whether it is appropriate to intervene and re-appropriate an introverted site, characterised by its indeterminate left over spaces, and whether the re-appropriation of indeterminate space could reactivate Pretoria s CBD. The dissertation seeks to advocate an alternative approach to removing the existing, by investigating the possibility of working within the dynamics of an introverted and indeterminate left over space. The dissertation explores finding new possibilities and opportunities to transform the site into dynamic social spaces that maintains the uniqueness and quality of the spaces, without destroying the space s character and memory / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

This dissertation will investigate Marabastad's resilience and how its loose urban fabric and informality has enabled it to survive despite the continuous strain placed on it by physical, social, economic and cultural change. Its autocratic domination by transport and retail networks has resulted in its transitory nature. Marabastad's connection between Tshwane city and its surrounding informal settlements has been the reason for its existence and success as a transport node and retail hub. The increased growth and establishment of informal settlements has resulted in the development of mini economic, social and cultural nodes on the outskirts of the city and this decrease in economic reliance on Marabastad as a transport node has placed strain on its economic viability. The dissertation will investigate how architecture can be used as a tool in generating catalysts within Marabastad -reducing its transitory nature and encouraging its permanence. Through the spatial and functional observation and investigation of existing networks and the potential of these, architecture can provide variety and permanence within Marabastad, strengthening its urban fabric and enabling it to sustain itself and be resilient in the future. Marabastad, rather than being a place of temporality, should be a destination and an anchor point, ensuring its relevance and necessity by identifying and activating new opportunities and in doing so strengthening existing networks. Independent from that of the CBD and the surrounding informal settlements / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

This dissertation approaches the concept of city as object as experimental ground for exploring, understanding and expressing an architectural process that might define and delineate the reading of place as conductor of narrative and memory. The developed process is utilised in order to understand and interpret memory of the object , and becomes a tool for exposing the absence of presence. The intention of with the proposal is to employ the complex historical context of the city of Johannesburg, as manifested in the built fabric of the city, in order to transcribe the city as object into the city as memory through the use of fiction and narrative. In order to create an effective description of the city as memory, multiple layers of narrative must be expressed at different scales and converted into a tectonic proposal which represents the arrangement and ordering of those narratives. The three structural relationships which pervade the narrative of The Secret Garden (1909) can be found to exist on a physical level in the city of Johannesburg, and the book is seen as a metaphor for the dynamic and often unstable ur¬ban conditions of Johannesburg. The structural relationships in the fiction are used as basis for the architectural investigation, which will present the recurring themes of The Secret Garden in an architectural form at the site of the Cosmopolitan Hotel. PRESENCE, ORIGIN and AESTHETIC OBJECT are questioned through the application of Peter Eisenman s theory of scaling, in order to determine how the understanding of memory can inform the reoccupation and continued fiction of the Cosmopolitan Hotel. This action is explored with the intension to connect the city of Johannesburg, the object , to those projecting the action, the reader , in order to instil the city of Johannesburg as memory. The role of the city as memory questions whether the Johannesburg building fabric is an appropriate relic . More specifically it questions whether heritage buildings located in a city such as Johannesburg can be reused in such a way so as to transcend the present and future developments which surround them. The proposed programme will attempt to locate the place of architectural speculation with regards to the city context, and explicate the relationship between the speculative act of architecture and representational inquiry. The proposed architectural intervention will translate the fiction into a more detailed spatial experience, with the purpose of emphasizing an approach to the reuse of heritage buildings, so that they become the catalyst points within a city which transcribe the object into the whole. Therefore an architectural process is developed which transcribes and reacts to the pre-existing, present and implied elements (PAST, PRESENT and IMMANENT), whilst also emphasizing and understanding of what those elements are. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

This dissertation is rooted in the premise of stitching together and creating relationships between components and conditions that define a place and its essence. Through architecture, the project focuses on the creation of interconnections between these and subsequent reciprocal complementation and animation. The town of Bela-Bela developed radially around the Warmbaths fountain, which served as the settlement genesis and origin. Due to the water s mystical, mythical and medicinal allure, favourable weather conditions and the serene natural environment, recreational facilities were envisaged and developed here to accommodate the intersection with the water and natural environment enveloping it. The recreational facilities and the town were conceived to be inseparable entities but have evolved to operate independently through privatisation and insulation of the physical and metaphysical nucleus to the place: The central gardens and fountain. The site of investigation is the eastern boundary condition of the Warmbaths Forever Resort. The CBD and major transportation infrastructure ring this site and extend into the urban and rural environment. The urban intention is to create a condition that re-instils a public relationship between the nucleus and the urban context, while the programmatic intentions are to facilitate and reference the characteristics and conditions that define and make up the place, so as to interconnect and animate the town and the everyday with the extraordinary that presides. The architectural intentions are to enable an interchanging animation between architecture, the natural environment and the context, while creating a sensorial intersection with the inherent poetics of the water from the fountain and those from the natural landscape. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

More and more, consumers are buying products online as a convenient alternative to traditional shopping. This massive shift means that brick-and-mortar retail stores could eventually become obsolete (Walker, 2014). Although the concept of experience design is already entrenched in the designer stores of first world countries, the developing countries of the world are fast on their heels. As a result, retail design becomes the largest factor in governing the experience of the store, product and brand and needs to be considered carefully by everyone involved in order to create a specific image in the mind of the consumer. Branding, sensory marketing and environmental psychology principles can be used as a basis for the design of a retail roll-out program for De Villiers Chocolate that will create a memorable experience in the mind of the user / Mini Dissertation (MInt(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MInt(Prof) / Unrestricted

At the root of this dissertation is the African girl child, abundant in innate potential but lacking in affirmative girl friendly spaces that are suited to her African heritage. The study considers the design of an interface that will empower the African girl child in a traditionally patriarchal African culture. A theoretical review is conducted on the current state of African feminism and how it is realised within its African context being both dynamic and relevant. The discourse links the theoretical findings with the chosen context, the Old Pretoria Fire Station, which stands in contrast to the proposed progressive feminine intervention. The intervention is defined as being a Centre for the African girl child, incorporating activities such as teaching life skills, facilitating workshops, which centre on arts and culture while at the same time reestablishing the building's relevance to its immediate context by including functions such as an African hair salon, fashion designer and tailor and a restaurant. The inquiry into the physical expression of African feminism into a building that represented a colonial patriarchal society presents design challenges with regards to respecting the existing heritage fabric while introducing a new function. The architectural and spatial resolution of how these two issues integrate with one each other ultimately contribute to the empowerment of the African girl child. / Mini Dissertation (MInt(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MInt(Prof) / Unrestricted

The natural world consists of incredibly complex and integrated systems. Ecosystems and biodiversity all work cohesively to sustainably maintain the basis of our very existence on the planet. These interrelationships form the foundation of all living things and have zero impact on the natural environment. Mankind hugely influences natural systems through its introduction of technological systems . This influence is traceable to the unsustainable extraction of natural resources, which became wide-spread in the industrial era. Since the start of the industrial era, city borders have rapidly expanded often leaving the inner-city decentralized. Such expansion has made its mark on the central business district of Pretoria, where natural voids have been created in the city fabric. The environment in the CBD, through the impact of human activities, is in a state of decay, which is a threat to the very existence of the ecological environment. Architecture needs to return to its roots and find a spatial condition to co-exist with the natural realm in a regenerative manner. Thus utilizing nature s ability to solve problems that we currently struggle with. This dissertation focuses on regenerative architecture. The ecological environment, and certain insects in particular, provides us with countless solutions. Unfortunately, we sometimes mistake the innovation and services of insects as the aggravation of pests. The proposed program therefore centers on the research of these insects and on learning what they can provide for the greater good of humanity s future; a future where humans and nature have a mutually beneficial relationship. This project also taps into the closed-loop-system of the regenerative theory in which, nothing is seen as a single entity, but rather as a system where anything is beneficial and interrelates to everything. This theory can only strengthen and densify Pretoria s inner city, filling the voids with systems and contributing positively towards the regeneration of resources. / 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

A Political Theatre, Think Tank and School of Representation at the Union Buildings are created in response to questions regarding identity, authenticity and authority within post-1994 South African Architecture. The design is investigated by means of a journey through power, the urban and the memory of architecture. Autonomy is proposed as a more appropriate means of representing power constructions than the often-quoted riposte of transparency. The project of the Italian Rationalists is remembered and through it, the productive repetition that is an inherent aspect of typological design is harnessed in order to return power to form. All form is situated within a process of eternal return, and defamiliarisation is utilised as a strategy to ask questions about and through architecture. The interface between land and building is cast in a hierarchical role, where architecture becomes a mask to the landscape as an analogy for the political mask and the various guises assumed in the representation of identities, both personal and architectural. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2016 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted