Bio-climatic design is essential to all architecture because buildings consume large amount of energy to maintain comfortable indoor environments. To achieve this goal, we need a model that can be a source of inspiration as well as knowledge to motivate and help architects in creating such architecture.Many designers have taken inspiration from nature and explored various ways of mimicking its models. In this creative project, I looked at various entities in nature to understand how they acclimatize to respective climatic settings. Based on several observations, I extracted Nature's design principles and applied those to the bio-climatic design of buildings. These principles are helpful in developing a general understanding for making our buildings responsive to climate. / Department of Architecture

This document is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Masters of Architecture [Professional] at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2015 / The focus of architecture in South Africa is often centered on intense urban areas in the country. However, important though these areas are, they represent only one facet of the greater country. The rural areas around South Africa are repeatedly overlooked. Added to that, our rich heritage and increasingly unique and threatened relationship with the natural systems around us is often sidelined. Our relationship with the natural world is a complicated one. Humans, perhaps the only species on earth able to do so, have the opportunity to decide whether to live symbiotically with nature or parasitically. Unfortunately the choice is often the latter. One of the areas where our rather strained and openended relationship with the natural world is most apparent is in the impoverished rural Bonjaneni Community of the Amazizi Tribal Authority located in the Okhahlamba District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Mankind’s negative impacts on this regions natural mechanisms are being felt locally and nationally in three particular areas that form the key points of focus for the thesis: grasslands, water systems and the decline of the Cape Vulture population. Grassland is of utmost importance ecologically, economically and socially for the region, without healthy grassland community livestock cannot survive, thatch cannot be gathered and the landscape will become prone to severe erosion during the rainy season. Erosion negatively affects the Tugela River water catchment basin too. Without healthy vegetation cover the landscape and community will become prone to flooding. Silt from the erosion will impact numerous dams further downstream that supply water to KwaZulu-Natal and the economic heartland of South Africa, Gauteng. The repercussions of a threatened population of Cape Vultures are also of concern. Without the specialised scavenger animal corpses will be left to fester in the sun, developing carrion borne diseases that can negatively affect the health of pets, people and livestock. These problems result in a considerable financial burden to the community and the government, yet these are all problems that can be addressed through responsible stewardship of the land and an awareness of our position in the natural world. / EM2017

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

Thesis (MTech (Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / This research study investigates the level of awareness of, and engagement with Design for Sustainability (DfS) among three categories of actors within the Cape Town communication design fraternity: design educators, design students and design professionals. It focuses specifically on the degree of application of DfS within three selected Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Cape Town, while also interrogating the local industry’s need for students who are knowledgeable and skilled in this subject. To successfully practice DfS, communication designers need to be responsive to the possible environmental, social, cultural and economic impacts of their work. This study argues for the early incorporation of principles of sustainability into communication design curricula in order to promote the uptake of DfS. An extensive review of literature facilitates the showcasing of practical examples of how communication designers can positively address sustainability through their design solutions. Further, it also unpacks the barriers and solutions to integrating DfS into both education and practice. The study employs a qualitative research approach. Using purposive sampling, rich data is gathered from the key informants through focus groups and semi-structured interviews. Activity Theory is used as an analytical lens through which to examine the dynamics between the three different actors who are involved in the activities of teaching, learning and practicing DfS in communication design. The findings identify major gaps in the teaching of DfS as the subject is typically considered to be applicable to environmental issues. There is also limited understanding of how to practically apply principles of sustainability. Along with proposing appropriate strategies and tools to enrich the education around DfS in a more holistic manner, the study highlights the need for proactive re-curriculation so as to effectively sensitise students to the responsibility of communication designers to tackle sustainability issues. A set of adaptable guidelines is proffered as a way of making DfS more accessible to students while training them to channel their unique skill set and enhance attributes of agility and resilience in preparation for professional practice and an ever changing world. Educators are seen as playing the most crucial role in effecting the proposed guidelines because they interface with both students and industry; as well as straddle the critical domains of research, pedagogy and professional praxis. Additionally, this study recommends establishing more robust, responsive and meaningful connections between academia and industry in order to develop contextually relevant industry standards that will promote and advance DfS best practice among the Cape Town communication design fraternity.

As the world's energy demand increases, it is generally known that conventional energy systems will not sustain future civilizations without repercussions to human and environmental health. Transitioning from current energy systems to those with renewable sources will be challenging and will potentially alter landscape aesthetics. However, the design of renewable technology can minimize adverse effects and can even improve the quality of living in addition to producing electricity. Wind turbines located so that landscape quality is preserved, electricity generators embedded in play equipment, or the use of solar panels to shelter people are examples of how renewable technology has been aesthetically used to improve the quality of life. To test these new ideas, this research thesis searched for examples of how landscape architects can use aesthetics to integrate renewable energy into three types of locations: regions, urban areas, and university campuses. In chapter one, analyses of methods from the Western Renewable Energy Zones (WREZ) initiative in the United States and the South Limburg project in the Netherlands reveal examples of how landscape architects can use aesthetics in visual impact studies and scenarios, which help integrate renewable energy into regions. In chapter two, an analysis of urban renewable energy projects resulted in a series of strategies for using aesthetics and amenities that landscape architects can apply to urban projects which utilize renewable technology. Chapter three presents results from a study of a design for the Ball State University campus in Muncie, Indiana, which produced a method for how landscape architects can use renewable energy products as aesthetic and unique sources of energy generation for a campus community. The subject of renewable energy is developing in the field of landscape architecture, and this research asserts that the use of aesthetics and amenities is a viable method for integrating renewable technology into landscapes. Using readily available products or customizing technology to fit the needs of a project are two options for designers who work with renewable energy to provide aesthetics and amenities. The consideration of both regional and urban scales is important to developing reliable renewable energy systems and a better quality of life. / Renewable energy, aesthetics and landscape architecture -- Aesthetics in regional renewable energy planning -- Strategies for aesthetic applications of renewable energy -- Design method for using renewable energy products -- Conclusions on using aesthetics in renewable energy design. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Landscape Architecture

Thesis (DTech (Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / This thesis is an investigation into environmental sustainability in the South African fashion industry, with a particular focus on the role of design therein. The fashion and textile industry is a significant contributor to the South African economy and a major user of human and natural resources. It is through the use of resources – natural, constructed and human – that the industry is also supposedly damaging to the natural environment and the people working within it. Notable authors on environmentally sustainable design and, in particular, environmentally sustainable fashion design, seem to suggest that a holistic approach to environmental sustainability is fundamental to the implementation thereof. Design has the ability to direct change, and thus design and designers have the potential to drive holistic sustainable practices in the fashion system.The question this research therefore poses is what the role of environmental sustainability should be in a design-driven approach in the South African fashion industry; interrogated through an exploratory and descriptive case study. The case study consists of three purposively selected sub-units that operate within an environmentally sustainable focus in their fashion businesses, and that design, produce, and retail fashion products. The aim of the research was to explore, through a snapshot of the South African fashion system, the implementation of environmental sustainability in the fashion industry in South Africa, in order to determine what role fashion design practice can have in developing environmental sustainability in the fashion system.The most notable finding of the research highlights the immense difficulty of operating as a fashion business from an environmentally sustainable focus in South Africa due to the lack (and unsuitability) of resources that can be considered environmentally sustainable. The declining textile industry of South Africa makes it either almost impossible, or very costly, to work within an environmentally sustainable framework, and is a major impediment in the implementation of environmental sustainability in praxis. Therefore, those businesses that decide to operate within an environmentally sustainable framework do so because of inherent personal values and ethics.The second aspect identified in the survey of scholarship and underpinned by the findings, is a need for a transformative approach with regard to design praxis and how design praxis can influence consumer eco-consciousness. The research concludes with a recommended framework that suggests a holistic and integrated approach to design-driven environmental sustainability in the South African fashion industry, and elaborates on the role of the fashion designer in the implementation of environmental sustainability in the fashion system. The holistic and integrated approach should extend into fashion design education, requiring a fundamental shift in current fashion design education in South Africa. / University of Johannesburg

Industrial design is a profession almost entirely dedicated to the design and development of physical goods and material culture. It is a practice that has thrived since industrialization, when the mass production of goods allowed average people the chance to afford products that improved their life style. Industrialization has chosen the path of least resistance and focused on the sheer volume of growth and high net profits without regard to efficiency or conservation on a macro level; especially in regards to energy use including fossil fuels. Companies are likely to choose to focus efficiencies in production and supply chain management on a micro-level within the company itself in order to help improve their bottom line profits. Nature has mastered the philosophy of doing more with less in order to survive, and soon designers will be encouraged to follow suit. With population increasing, energy prices rising and non-renewable resources being consumed at higher rates designers will have to adapt their industry to fit a more conservative, responsible model. The power of designers is catalytic and the impacts of our decisions multiply exponentially with every manufactured product. Unfortunately the decisions we make are not always focused on the welfare of the environment, in fact they rarely ever are. This research project aimed to determine the effectiveness of design guidelines and a product evaluation tool in helping to facilitate environmental design principles for practicing industrial designers.

Esta dissertação trata das relações cliente-projeto-profissional que se estabelecem entre as questões de sustentabilidade e as ações projetais de design de interiores. Partiu-se da hipótese de que pode haver descartabilidade de material em função de projetos que não atendem, de fato, os interesses dos clientes. Acredita-se que tanto o profissional quanto o cliente possuem projetos mentais pré-definidos (latentes) e é no momento de expô-los um ao outro que as decisões podem tender para o sucesso ou não, para a durabilidade ou o descarte. Para estudar o tema, foi usado o instrumento metodológico questionário, a fim de levantar as percepções dos profissionais da área sobre as relações cliente-projeto-profissional. O objetivo do trabalho foi averiguar a compreensão da importância da duração dos projetos de ambientes nas decisões de descarte, reaproveitamento e sustentabilidade. Concluiu-se que as relações cliente-projeto-profissional são relevantes para a tomada de decisões quanto à sustentabilidade dos ambientes. Um projeto que satisfaz o cliente tende a ser mais durável na medida em que ele cumpre as prerrogativas de funcionalidade, estética e tipos de materiais. Todavia reconhece-se que há produtos oferecidos no mercado para negociação que ainda não atendem às questões de sustentabilidade e reduzem as opções de escolha fundamentadas na responsabilidade socioambiental. / This dissertation deals with the client-project-professional relationship, established between sustainability issues and interior design actions. We started from the hypothesis that there may be disposability of material due to projects that do not meet, in fact, the interests of customers. It is believed that both, the professional and the client, have latent predefined mental designs and when the time to expose them to each other arrives is when the decisions may tend to succeed or not , to show durability or disposal. To study the question, we used a questionnaire as a methodological tool in order to raise the perceptions of client - project - professional relationship. The objective of this study was to evaluate the understanding of the importance of the duration of the project relating to decisions regarding disposal, recycling and sustainability. It was concluded that the client - project - professional relationship is relevant for making decisions about the sustainability of the environment. A design that meets the customer needs tends to be more durable once it fulfills the prerogatives of functionality, aesthetics and materials. However it is recognized that the market still lacks in products that meet the sustainability issues, therefore reducing the options of choice based on environmental responsibility.

Esta dissertação trata das relações cliente-projeto-profissional que se estabelecem entre as questões de sustentabilidade e as ações projetais de design de interiores. Partiu-se da hipótese de que pode haver descartabilidade de material em função de projetos que não atendem, de fato, os interesses dos clientes. Acredita-se que tanto o profissional quanto o cliente possuem projetos mentais pré-definidos (latentes) e é no momento de expô-los um ao outro que as decisões podem tender para o sucesso ou não, para a durabilidade ou o descarte. Para estudar o tema, foi usado o instrumento metodológico questionário, a fim de levantar as percepções dos profissionais da área sobre as relações cliente-projeto-profissional. O objetivo do trabalho foi averiguar a compreensão da importância da duração dos projetos de ambientes nas decisões de descarte, reaproveitamento e sustentabilidade. Concluiu-se que as relações cliente-projeto-profissional são relevantes para a tomada de decisões quanto à sustentabilidade dos ambientes. Um projeto que satisfaz o cliente tende a ser mais durável na medida em que ele cumpre as prerrogativas de funcionalidade, estética e tipos de materiais. Todavia reconhece-se que há produtos oferecidos no mercado para negociação que ainda não atendem às questões de sustentabilidade e reduzem as opções de escolha fundamentadas na responsabilidade socioambiental. / This dissertation deals with the client-project-professional relationship, established between sustainability issues and interior design actions. We started from the hypothesis that there may be disposability of material due to projects that do not meet, in fact, the interests of customers. It is believed that both, the professional and the client, have latent predefined mental designs and when the time to expose them to each other arrives is when the decisions may tend to succeed or not , to show durability or disposal. To study the question, we used a questionnaire as a methodological tool in order to raise the perceptions of client - project - professional relationship. The objective of this study was to evaluate the understanding of the importance of the duration of the project relating to decisions regarding disposal, recycling and sustainability. It was concluded that the client - project - professional relationship is relevant for making decisions about the sustainability of the environment. A design that meets the customer needs tends to be more durable once it fulfills the prerogatives of functionality, aesthetics and materials. However it is recognized that the market still lacks in products that meet the sustainability issues, therefore reducing the options of choice based on environmental responsibility.