. / This project is a synthesis of, on the one hand, the interventionist architect curiously and deliberately plotting form and visualising construction and, on the other hand, the human being often wilfully retreated and joyfully observing the uninterrupted and the conflicting. It is this dialectic - rather than immovable theoretical principles - that has informed not only my process, but also my design. In this sense this project represents what I believe to be the most important feature of my architectural education: the inexplicable joy in the constant re-evaluation of the imprecise nexus between the deliberately mediated and the uninterrupted. This impulse is also what (perhaps unknowingly at the time) attracted me to Three Anchor Bay - a site of untameable swells, impenetrable rhythms, ebb and flow. It is a site that necessitates decisiveness in a counterintuitive form; boundaries. Any frontier, however versatile and accommodating, requires commitment (few are capable of confidently kayaking beyond an otherwise parameter-defining promenade). Drawing a line is not only the problem of the architect, but the human being. Although this paper is largely a personal essay instead of a coherent treatise (I reserve the right to remain sceptical of every decision), it is important to make a few general observations. The first is supremely personal: I am decidedly fallible. Although harsh introspection is generally more valuable and courageous than the resolute defence of personal conviction, I often found myself passionately defending lines I have drawn (especially ones that I have spent a lot of time re- drawing and erasing). Redrawing can be a counterintuitive struggle and it has often been difficult to regard it as a necessary and unpredictable process rather than as emblematic of some sort of failure. Although common sense urges us to "learn from our mistakes", it is never quite that simple. This project has, in short, caused me to constantly mediate between conviction and perpetual self-criticism. Secondly, these ideas are by no means new and have been repeated (and often ignored) in various contexts. Karl Popper, for instance, believed that "any idea of Utopia is necessarily closed owing to the fact that it chokes on its own refutations. The simple notion of a good model for society that cannot be left open for falsification is totalitarian” (Taleb, 2004, p.128-129). The same is true of architecture - particularly those projects that are resolutely planted in a pre-determined style, ideology or “balance”.

Includes bibliographical references. / The increasing need to develop fully integrated spatial information systems that help improve planning and decision making have led the countries to create partnerships as to facilitate the improved sharing of spatial data and to realise the full potential of spatial data infrastructure. In this process researchers and practitioners use appropriate methods, tools and frameworks to examine, analyse and evaluate the new implemented systems after its implementation. The attempt to find suitable methodologies for evaluating the effectiveness of the system has led to extensive research to develop, identify and test suitable methods and frameworks and to apply these to case studies. This research investigates the methodologies for evaluating the effectiveness of Integrated Spatial Information Systems (ISIS) implemented in the Valuation Department of the City of Cape Town. The spatial information systems of Valuation Department and the effectiveness of ISIS implementation in this Department are investigated.

Includes bibliographical references. / Laugier’s Primitive Hut from 1755 depicts reason as a muse enthroned upon the ruins of the classical orders, pointing towards nature as a way forward. Similarly, in 1841 Joseph Paxton designed a glass conservatory at Chatsworth for the tropical Victoria regia water lily, which literally referenced the lily pad veins as structural system. This preoccupation with nature as a design generator continues in the 20th century with digital tools that derive architectural form using biomimicry, in the work of R & Sie. All these projects are based on a dialectic relationship between architecture and nature, where the particular model of nature is translated into form. This relationship in landscape architecture is discussed through the idea of the biomorphic. Applied as a guiding principle to investigate vegetation and plant form in the 17th Century Company’s Gardens arguing that the generation of the biomorphic can be adjusted to serve as a mechanism to understand plant form in terms of effect.

Bibliography: leaves 77-82.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / Cogeneration is a promising technological option for SA and the world at large. This technologypermits the combined production of two forms of energy from a single fuel source. This possibility isadvantageous in industry where electricity and process heat can be produced with outstanding efficiency. It has been shown to offer sizable energy savings and cost advantages in a wide variety ofindustries around the world. Despite these attractive benefits SA‘s use of cogeneration remainslimited. In addition the true potential for cogeneration in SA has not been properly quantified. This represents a significant shortfall in our understanding of the future of the SA energy system. The integrated resource plan for electricity (2012) presents findings that 2GW of cogeneration capacity can be realised by 2020. This figure is unconfirmed and the sources of this proposed cogenerationdevelopment have not been scrutinized. These research gaps must be explored if SA is to realise itscogeneration potential. This research seeks to investigate the potential for cogeneration in SA. A research method was developed specifically to determine what cogeneration currently exists in SA and how much capacity could be developed into the future.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-129) / Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are a new supervised classification technique that has its roots in statistical learning theory. It has gained popularity in fields such as machine vision, artificial intelligence, digital image processing and more recently remote sensing. The three commonly used SVMs include linear, polynomial and radial basis function (i.e. Gaussian) classifiers.

Includes bibliographical references / Extending sites of education is an architectural design-research project that takes a typological approach to the upgrade of existing old-stock public schools in Cape Town. The focus is on parallel linear-block type schools built in neighbourhoods in the 1960s-80s. The defining decision was to extend existing schools, both spatially and programmatically, through a set of patterns that have relevance at multiple sites of similar condition. Rather than design a model, which may compound the problem of a-contextual school buildings, the project explores an architectural strategy that balances between the generic and the particular. Thus, although the design elements may be replicable, the architectural intervention helps to ground the school in its urban context. The new programme is intended to support and broaden the existing schools to enrich their role as places of learning and create opportunity for the campus to be shared with the community. Montagu's Gift Primary School in Grassy Park was selected as a case study to exemplify this approach.

Roelof Sarel Uytenbogaardt who died in 1998 was, and remains, an important and influential figure in the disciplines of architecture and urban design in South Africa. As a prolific practitioner and academic at the University of Cape Town his influence has been far-reaching. Making use of previously unexamined archival material, this study examines - in detail - the extent of this influence. Importantly the thesis seeks to situate Uytenbogaardt’s work in relation to the rise of apartheid and speculates about the persistence of modernism in contemporary spatial practice. Through examining both the conception and reception of Uytenbogaardt’s buildings and urban plans, the work locates modernist approaches to design prevalent in architecture and urban design as products of apartheid modernity. The controversial and contested nature of Uytenbogaardt’s works provides space for critical analysis and this is evident in the uneven reception of his projects. Architects and urban designers revere him as a ‘master’ while pubic sentiment has very often been strongly negative. This is most strikingly evident in the case of the recent proposed destruction of one of Uytenbogaardt’s most controversial works, the Werdmuller Centre. Constructed in the 1970s after forced removals in Cape Town’s suburb of Claremont, since 2007 architects and urban designers have argued passionately for its retention as an example of ‘timeless’ modernist heritage. Through this and other examples, the thesis explores the complexities presented by professional practice in architecture and urban design in the context of designing buildings for designated publics under apartheid. It argues that the work of practitioners and academics such as Uytenbogaardt is intimately linked to the social crisis of apartheid and that the resultant relationship is one of the complex and interrelated crises of modernist design that persist in post-apartheid South Africa.

Bibliography: p. 160-167.

Includes bibliographical references. / This dissertation aims to engage critically with the commercial wine estate typology in the Stellenbosch wine region in the Western Cape. The social problems faced by farm workers in the region calls for a re-interpretation of the winery typology to ensure a more socially sustainable future for the viticultural industry in South Africa. In order to achieve this, the general state of the commercial wine estate in the region will be read in relation to aspects such as heritage, social responsibility and spatial relationship to urban areas and farm worker communities. To develop this new typology, a site with agricultural potential and a direct connection to an urban farm workers settlement will be used. The potential of the urban environment will be analysed in relation to the existing facilities in the community to determine a solution for a new typology of winery which will bridge the divide between community and the farm in such a way where it will be beneficial for both and through this create a new social structure for the wine estate. The possibility of an densified wine cooperative will be investigated. The design will consist of a large scale urban framework for the wine cooperative and a detailed design of the winery within the context of the new cooperative.