This dissertation addresses the loss of definition of public spaces within the urban enviroments due, in large part, to increased privatisation. Using the Baixa of the city of Maputo, Mozambique as its laboratory, the alienated amd abandoned spaces within the urban fabric which result in these voids will be explored. Critical theory relating to the manner in which we appropriate and define sapces within our urban enviroment will be explored as this dissertation seeks to establish a connection between the architectural realm and its surrounding public landscape. An architecture which explores the reconnection of place to space will be saught through the investigation f the series of thresholds that occur between the two. Specifically, this exploration will be through the lens of the adaptive re-use of a historically significant landmark within the urban core and its ability to be re-integrated into a contemporary urban landscape. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Architecture / unrestricted

“We shape our buildings: thereafter they shape us.” (Churchill 1940, cited in McLuhan 1995, p.62) In the same manner; we have shaped our cities, and accordingly they have shaped our lifestyles into bustling hubs of activity. Networks of roads and trails direct movement with dense high rise structures defining space. The Interior Architect enters this complex scene to become part of a duet rather than a solo, working within existing structural skins and initiating harmony between the desired new and the existing. The aim is to restore a “sense of place” within the existing city fabric through processes of restoration, renovation, preservation and adaptive re-use, extending a building’s lifetime, while preserving its history and character. The objective of this thesis is to propose a way of improving the experience of the public domain within the inner city of Pretoria. A series of communal spaces is proposed that will provide essential public amenities within the city. These interventions guide experience via the senses. The partially abandoned Transvaal Provincial Administration (TPA) building is selected as study area. The intervention is proposed to enable the building to realise a new era in its lifetime by acknowledging it and celebrating it as a modern icon within Pretoria’s Central Business District (CBD) while, at the same time, helping it to shed itself of its negative political association. This is proposed through the adaptive re-use of the structure to accommodate various functions including a conference facility and a new home for Pretoria’s Art Association. / Dissertation (MInt(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted

Considering the permanent nature of the built environment, this dissertation investigates an alternative approach towards static architecture. Allowing the building’s users the ability to alter and determine their own environments due to ever evolving social needs. This architectural approach is thereafter metaphorically condensed to formulate a programme between isolation (prison) and freedom (society), where parolees are temporarily housed and given the opportunity to implement the production skills that were developed in prison. Allowing these parolees a second chance for redemption and the opportunity to ‘give back to society’ through the production process of recyclable waste into new sustainable products. The architectural concept should be understood in various different time scales over which the building changes, thus designing for disassembly by utilising a modular and kit-of-parts approach. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Architecture / unrestricted

Near the end of a building's lifecycle, many times when the building is no longer deemed useful, decisions are made whether to wait out a new tenant for the structure or to destroy it to make way for new construction. If the latter, while the building waits, its materials are left to the elements to decay away through natural weathering over time. To give these environments new life would not only reinvigorate the surrounding area with a renewed purpose, but is also a much more sustainable process of construction than simply demolishing and creating whole new structures. To be able to capitalize on the structure, material, and identifying characteristics of an existing building is the goal of a well performed adaptive re-use project. This project outlines steps and the process in which an architect should complete as they go through the phases of construction for this process. The steps that I developed to complete this process are Observation, Preservation, Renovation, and Activation. Through the completion of this process a respectful interchange of ideas, character, and structure is shared between the old and new. The host of this process of adaptive re-use is a Catholic school located in Pittsburgh PA, originally built in 1875. Over its long history it has seen many changes and additions to its original construction but has since been abandoned for over ten years. This thesis takes this building and explains the process of re use for taking this abandoned Catholic school and creating an artist residency and community complex. / Master of Architecture / As the defining edge of human expansion raises our population to a critical point, to house and provide for this continuous growth requires the construction of spaces to grow with it at a comparable rate. As newer spaces get created, older spaces become emptied to hopefully be filled by another entity. Brand new buildings, as exciting as the notion can be, will continuously become less prevalent in the world of architectural design as our method of conservation and architectural preservation gets better to match this rise in density. This thesis outlines the process one should complete when renovating or adding onto an existing structure. The host of this study is a catholic school from 1875 that is being adapted and re-used to become an artist residency and cultural art space.

In winter-cities such as Saskatoon there exists a significant potential to improve cold-weather walking conditions for most pedestrians. To realize the walkability potential of a winter-city downtown, by necessity automobile traffic must be reduced. However, when surface parking lots are permitted to operate in abundance, isolated and uncoordinated, and detached from overall planning and transportation policy, automobile traffic reduction downtown cannot be efficiently achieved. In many winter-cities, Saskatoon included, downtown parking lots in fact are oversupplied. Vital space for housing, employment and public space is thereby reduced and pedestrian winter exposure to wind chill and sidewalk ice is increased by breaks in the urban fabric. Systematic conversion of surface parking lots into mixed use would not only enhance incentives to walk, but simultaneously would reduce the incentive to drive. The question thus arises whether and how can we screen a large number of surface parking lots for a limited number of candidate-sites that could be earmarked for infill redevelopment. A screening methodology that prioritizes potential parking lot sites ought to account for a wide range of criteria that address urban design, development-potential, proximity, and microclimate. In a case study of parking lots in downtown Saskatoon, a screening methodology has yielded one priority site out of an inventory of twenty-four sites. Integrated within public transit policy the proposed methodology has generic applicability to downtown areas elsewhere, and can advance the goal of safety and higher residential density downtown.

This thesis proposes a reinterpretation of assumptions towards material value. It is a positive argument in favour of adaptive re-use, not only as a means to divert waste but also as encouragement to reconsider our current habits of consumption. This paper promotes a discussion of our current environmental predicament rather then a one-sided statement and acts as a guide to re-evaluate our sense of value. This dissertation puts forward design solutions and alternatives to certain materials that are part of our everyday lives. The design projects herein adapt existing objects into ordinary household items, as an intended gesture of nostalgia toward the object’s previous form, while at the same time, taking on a raw elegance of aesthetic quality: the projects are raw in their material origins and elegant in their form and function. This work is intended to evolve into an ongoing discussion of salvaged material as a response to problems of consumption and waste, as well as to highlight an ongoing process of design.

This thesis proposes a reinterpretation of assumptions towards material value. It is a positive argument in favour of adaptive re-use, not only as a means to divert waste but also as encouragement to reconsider our current habits of consumption. This paper promotes a discussion of our current environmental predicament rather then a one-sided statement and acts as a guide to re-evaluate our sense of value. This dissertation puts forward design solutions and alternatives to certain materials that are part of our everyday lives. The design projects herein adapt existing objects into ordinary household items, as an intended gesture of nostalgia toward the object’s previous form, while at the same time, taking on a raw elegance of aesthetic quality: the projects are raw in their material origins and elegant in their form and function. This work is intended to evolve into an ongoing discussion of salvaged material as a response to problems of consumption and waste, as well as to highlight an ongoing process of design.

In light of the increasing need for affordable housing in cities, and because many city centers, especially older US city centers, are home to abandoned industrial buildings, this paper explores the potential for creating affordable housing through the adaptive re-use of such structures. Through a study of the current literature of both the current needs of affordable housing and the availability of the transition of adaptive re-use, this paper answers the questions of where this type of conversion has already taken place and explores what funding is available to make such a conversion financial possible. The paper then looks to three case studies in the United States to attempt to begin to answer under what local conditions adaptive re-use for affordable housing can succeed. Ultimately, this paper finds that under compliant circumstances, there is indeed a place for the adaptive re-use of abandoned structures to be developed into affordable housing. / text

This project is based on the realisation that there are gross misconceptions surrounding significant sites in Pretoria, stemming from the lack of cultural integration amongst differing communities. The proposed design of the Capital Exchange aims to initiate social redress amongst a divided people, through the design of an urban-friendly and contemporary Platform and Place for Cross-Cultural Exchange, developed along the idea of the recently inaugurated Reconciliation Road. The visualisation of the place as a Cross-Cultural Mediator draws on the day-to-day activities of the city dwellers, to generate an ensemble of actions that foster social cohesion. / Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

The challenge of this project is to turn a large residual empty space into a public place, a truly relational space. The site was decided upon first, and within its vastness the spirit of the surroundings arose which in turn gave birth to the development programme. At the stage where a site was chosen, no particular functional theme other than that of “adaptive reuse” existed. Located in the industrial sector of Pretoria West, the site was chosen for its ability to stun the visitor to silence with its scale and grandeur. Currently housing the Pretoria West Power Station, the visitor is confronted by structures which appear to be beyond the realm of human interaction. The dissertation explored the transformation of “urban void” to a public place where events can be held. This proposed events centre thrusts the landscape into the intervention, blurring the thresholds between inside and outside. The building itself has little regard for the boundaries imposed on it by the site. Purposely ignoring these limitations, the building extends its boundaries over the lake, creating space above untouched territory. The design aims to fragment the intervention into smaller experiences, which allows the visitor to engage more intimately with the intervention. This project addressed the issues of visual contact. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Architecture / unrestricted