Due to considerations for sustainable development and urban sprawl we have to address the growing concern of abandoned buildings and cities. Underutilised buildings and urban spaces are the development sites of the future. This dissertation investigates the problems of underutilised buildings and cities, and by doing so aims to contribute to a good urban environment, “the good city” according to Stern (2003: 21). As a further challenge, many of these underutilised buildings were designed with abrupt thresholds and inward orientation, instantly divorcing them from the public domain. Therefore not only is the re-use of an existing building explored, but is the extension of the public realm into the building also investigated. The project addresses this extension of the public realm through layering as a tool and a design generator. The layered tectonic is applied through spatial, componential, material and transitional layering. The building chosen for the dissertation is the old Pretoria Central Fire Station. The new proposed programme is a Centre for Architecture. Site information: Programme: Centre for Architecture: includes exhibition space, auditorium, conference facilities, offices, library, archives, bookshop and restaurant. Site description: Old Pretoria Central Fire Station, 1912 Client: Client body consisting of SACAP and voluntary associations within the architecture profession Users: Professionals and students in the Built Environment industry, tourists and the general public Site Location: Erven 913 + 914 Address: 449 Bosman Street, c/o Minnaar Street, Pretoria CBD, South Africa Between African Window and City Hall GPS coordinates: 25°45’12.99”S, 28°11’8.61”E / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Architecture / unrestricted

Le progrès scientifique et technologique n'est pas sans faille – les conséquences imprévues de son application peuvent causer de nouveaux problèmes. Tel est le constat machiavélien sur lequel est fondé le projet En imparfaite santé : la médicalisation de l'architecture du Centre Canadien d'Architecture (2011-2012), présenté sous forme d'exposition et de catalogue. Ce mémoire étudie comment les deux plateformes, la première étant expérientielle et la seconde théorique, formulent une critique du processus de la médicalisation actuelle, lequel est entré dans le champ de l'architecture contemporaine. L’exposition est approchée comme discours et comme installation d’objets pour un public; une attention particulière est alors portée à la scénographie et au parcours du visiteur. D’autres réflexions ont pour objet le graphisme, un outil soutenant le leitmotiv de confrontation. Dans l’étude du catalogue, l’accent est mis sur l’essai d’introduction, qui est implicitement traversé par le concept fondamentalement ambivalent de pharmakon. Le péritexte, l’encadrement physique du contenu principal de l’ouvrage, est aussi examiné. Ensuite, l’analyse comparative propose que chaque plateforme véhicule un propos différent, une stratégie rendue possible par l’ambivalence de la notion de corps, entendue littéralement et métaphoriquement. La conclusion finale du mémoire esquisse une courte proposition de contextualisation, autant de cette dualité que de la remise en question de l’autorité du discours techno-scientifique. Bien qu’En imparfaite santé dirige sa critique envers la persistance de la vision moderniste de l'architecture, nous avançons que le projet concerne tout autant, sinon plus, l'omniprésence actuelle du numérique. Ce dernier, à l’instar de l’architecture moderne, ne modifie pas seulement la conception du corps humain et architectural, il renforce également une croyance positiviste dans la technologie qui n'est pas toujours contrebalancée par la pensée critique. / Scientific and technological progress is not without fault – the unforeseen consequences of its implementation may cause new problems. This is the underlying Machiavellian observation of the project Imperfect Health: the Medicalization of Architecture by the Canadian Centre for Architecture (2011-2012), presented as an exhibition and a catalogue. This dissertation studies how both platforms, the first being experiential, and the second theoretical, put forward a critique of today's medicalization process that has entered the field of contemporary architecture. The exhibition is approached as a discourse as well as an installation of objects for the public. A special focus is directed towards the scenography and the path of the visitor through it. Another aspect considered is the role of the graphic design, which serves as an instrument supporting the leitmotif of confrontation. In the study of the catalogue, the emphasis is put on the introductory essay, in which the fundamentally ambivalent concept of the pharmakon, while never stated, continually runs through it as an implicit theme. The peritext, which designates the physical framing of the catalogue’s main content, is also examined. A comparative analysis follows and concludes that each platform communicates a different message, proposing that this strategy has been made possible by the ambivalence of the concept of the body, understood literally and metaphorically. The conclusion of the dissertation presents a brief opening towards a contextualisation of this dual interpretation and of the questioning of the authority held by technical and scientific discourse. Even if Imperfect Health directs its critique towards the modernist vision of architecture that still prevails, we infer that the project is as much, if not more, about today's omnipresence of the digital. The latter, like modern architecture, does not only impact the understanding of the human and architectural body, it also reinforces a positivist belief in technology that is not always counterbalanced by critical thought.