M.Arch.(Professional), Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, 2010 / The world’s oceans, seas and coastal areas are today, in a critical state of distress, facing a greater array of problems and dangers than ever before imagined. With over half of the world's population living along coastal areas, there has been unprecedented commercial and residential over development. Pollution from cities and industry, anthropogenic waste disposal, oil spills, and intense over fi shing, increasingly threaten living and non-living resources in the coastal and ocean environments - adversely impacting and fundamentally changing natural ecosystems, and even threatening human health. Marine life and vital coastal habitats are straining under the increasing pressure of deteriorating sea water quality and the cumulative eff ects of excessive human use. The ability of marine ecosystems to produce the economic and ecological goods and services that we desire and need, have been substantially reduced. In some instances there has been a signifi cant decline of ocean wildlife and even collapses of entire ocean ecosystems. It is clearly evident that what we once considered to be inexhaustible and resilient is, in fact, fi nite and fragile. It is however, only through a high level and intense form of research and understanding, that we as human beings can begin to understand the ways in which we can help conserve such a system. Only once we understand the eff ect we are having on such an ecosystem, can we begin to understand the ways in which we need to change. It is only through research, and consequently conservation, that we will be able to identify how a relationship between human beings and the natural world can exist in a sustainable and symbiotic relationship. This thesis will explore how a man-made artifi cial intervention can and must have a signifi cant impact on the environment in which it sits, both directly and indirectly. Through the establishment of a rich research and conservation hub within a bio diverse ecosystem, a symbiotic relationship, whereby two completely diff erent systems work together to ensure the sustainability of the whole, is established

No description available.

In this thesis project I try to make visible the complex problems behind the plastic pollution crisis, the skewed ideas of synthetic plastic and recycling we as consumers are taught, and in what way architecture can help make these systems visible. This is achived through a design method of growth and transformation using plastic waste to create a building that uncovers what would otherwise not bee seen.

Et si l’architecture pouvait être vécue comme élément d’intercession orienté entre l’homme et son environnement ? Cette idée a été soutenue par un mouvement architectural cohérent, l’architecture organique, formant une tradition constructive alternative traversant tout le XXe siècle et repérable dans le monde entier. En considérant qu’une pratique architecturale adaptée favorise une relation apaisée entre l’homme et son environnement bâti ainsi qu’une reconnexion entre l’homme et son environnement naturel, l’organicisme peut véritablement être considéré comme une architecture environnementale. Cependant, en dépit de ce que nous pensions à l’origine, cette tradition architecturale ne se définit que difficilement par sa forme. Il faut plutôt en passer par la théorie architecturale pour voir émerger une vision commune à un ensemble de théoriciens ou d’architectes. Cette manière de pratiquer ou d’envisager l’architecture est lisible dans les idées de Kenneth Frampton ou de Christian Norberg-Schulz, dans les positionnements sur la question centrale de la fonction en architecture ou à travers la théorie de la pure visibilité et son corolaire, la connaissance corporelle. Bruno Zevi, entre autres, apporte également sa pierre à l’édifice théorique mais c’est Frank L. Wright qui est le grand bâtisseur de l’architecture organique au sens propre comme au figuré. Il n’en est cependant pas le seul pratiquant et les carrières d’autres architectes majeurs comme Eladio Dieste, Hassan Fathy, Gaudí, les époux Griffin, Hundertwasser, Alistair Samuel Knox, Rudolf Steiner ou Gustav Stickley notamment, peuvent être examinés avec intérêt sous l’angle de l’architecture environnementale. / What if architecture could be lived as an oriented element of intercession between human and his environment ? This idea was supported by a coherent architectural movement, organic architecture, forming an alternative building tradition through the entire 20th century and noticeable throughout the world. Considering that an appropriate architectural practice promote a peaceful relationship between man and his built environment and a reconnection between man and his natural environment, organicism can truly be considered as an environmental architecture. However, in spite of what we thought originally, this architectural tradition is not easy to define by its formal aspect. Rather, it is necessary to go through architectural theory to see the emergence of a common vision to a group of theorists and architects. This way of practising or considering architecture can appears in the ideas of Kenneth Frampton or Christian Norberg-Schulz, in the opinion on the key question of function in architecture, or through the theory of pure visibility and its corollary, physical knowledge. Bruno Zevi, among others, also contributes to the theoretical edifice but it is Frank L. Wright who is the great builder of organic architecture both literally and figuratively. However, he is not the only proponent of this type of architecture and the careers of other major architects such as Eladio Dieste, Hassan Fathy, Antoni Gaudí, the Griffin’s, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Alistair Samuel Knox, Rudolf Steiner or Gustav Stickley, especially, can be analyzed with interest from the perspective of environmental architecture.

L’architecture change parce que le monde change. L’impact des enjeux environnementaux sur la pensée de l’architecture, sur les idées et sur les formes architecturales est le sujet de cette recherche. Le secteur du bâtiment est aujourd’hui considéré comme un levier important pour résoudre la crise environnementale. Cependant, des décalages s’affirment entre des impératifs urgents et règlementaires d’atteindre des objectifs quantitatifs précis, et la nécessité pour l’architecture d’être pensée en lien avec une nouvelle culture environnementale. Transition énergétique. Transition environnementale. Transition architecturale ? Dans quel processus de néomorphisation sommes-nous ? Ce travail de recherche concerne la période de transition engagée à la fin des années 1990 et dont les scénarios se construisent à horizon 2050. L’objectif est de définir des concepts et des outils, pour caractériser de façon ouverte et pluridisciplinaire la transition architecturale vers une architecture environnementale et fournir matière à penser. Les concepts de néomorphisme architectural et de Potentiel Néomorphique (PN) sont créés, pour répondre au contexte d’une transition en cours. Par analogie avec le néologisme désignant un mot nouveau qui renouvelle et enrichit le langage, le néomorphisme architectural désigne une forme nouvelle. Il est de la même façon issu d’un processus morphologique créatif, expérimental, riche et complexe, propre aux périodes de transition. Les Potentiels Néomorphiques de l’architecture environnementale qui en découlent, désignent les nouvelles idées à l’origine des nouvelles formes architecturales. La spécificité de ce travail de recherche repose sur une approche originale de la pensée de l’architecture, des idées aux formes et des formes aux idées, et sur la création d’espaces analogiques. Les espaces analogiques sont constitués à partir de la confrontation de trois corpus : un corpus d’idées (les PN), un corpus de formes architecturales manifestes et un corpus de formes artistiques subversives. Ils sont conçus pour nourrir le débat, questionner la notion de justesse et pour stimuler la pensée de l’architecture, la soustraire au prêt-à-penser et permettre l’impensé. Ces éléments théoriques sont réinvestis dans la réalisation de la maquette d’un thésaurus. Le « Thésaurus de l’architecture environnementale, des idées aux formes et des formes aux idées » est un outil de veille et de connaissance. Il permet de découvrir, s’approprier et penser l’architecture environnementale à travers un nouveau cadre descriptif et des espaces analogiques. Proposé sur le principe d’un outil collaboratif en ligne, il invite à une approche pluriculturelle de l’architecture et permet le partage d’un savoir vivant et réactif. La maquette du Thésaurus de l’architecture environnementale ouvre la voie à des prolongements pédagogiques orientés sur l’identification de nouvelles références. Son ambition est de contribuer à la construction d’une histoire contemporaine des idées et des formes de l’architecture environnementale. / Architecture is changing because the world is changing.The impact of environmental issues on the way of thinking architecture, and also on architectural ideas and architectural forms, is the subject of this research.The building sector is now considered as an important tool in order to solve the environmental crisis. However, discrepancies are increasing between, on the one hand, urgent and regulatory requirements to achieve specific quantitative targets and, on the other, the need for architecture to be thought of in connection with a new environmental culture.Energy transition. Environmental transition. Architectural transition?How to define this neomorphisation process.This research concerns the transition period that started in the late 1990s and where the scenarios are projected up to the 2050s. The objective is to define concepts and tools, to characterize the architectural transition towards an environmental architecture, in an open and multidisciplinary manner, and to provide food for thought.The concepts of “architectural neomorphism” and “Neomorphic Potential” (PN) are created, in response to the context of a transition in progress. By analogy with the neologism which designates a new word that renews and enriches language, architectural neomorphism indicates a new form. In the same way, it results from a morphological process, creative, experimental, rich and complex, specific to transition periods. The resulting “Neomorphic Potentials” of environmental architecture describe the ideas which are behind the new architectural forms.The specific quality of this research work is based on an original approach to architectural thought, from ideas to forms and from forms to ideas, and on the creation of “analogical spaces”. They are composed as a result of the confrontation of three corpora : a corpus of ideas (PN), a corpus of manifest architectural forms and a corpus of subversive artistic forms. They are designed to active debate, to question the concept of accuracy and to stimulate our thinking about architecture, to escape standard ways of thinking and to promote outside-the-box thinking.These theoretical elements are reinvested in making a model of a thesaurus.The "Thesaurus of environmental architecture, from ideas to forms and from forms to ideas" is both a monitoring tool and a resource centre. It gives the opportunity to discover, to take on board and to think environmental architecture through a new descriptive framework using analogical spaces. Offered on the principle of an online collaborative tool, it calls for a multicultural approach to architecture so that knowledge can be shared in a lively, interactive way.The model of the Thesaurus of environmental architecture opens up the way for new teaching methods directed towards the identification of new references. Its ambition is to contribute to a contemporary history of ideas and forms of environmental architecture.