M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / This book is based in, and begins with, dialogue. This is the exchange between author and reader, as consumer of its narrative. Portions of this work are interactive in order to extend and capture this dialogue between each of us and the ‘material’ content that “constitutes the city, as lived experience, encounter and representation. The book is an imagining of the city. It is a visual-textual craft anthology that develops over time as a collection of artefacts that point to an alternate future reality. This is done through the process of design. [0.1] The dialogue is interlaced with cross-stitched personal histories[G] of both author and the site. There are many personal reflections about place, image and experience of space comprising the presented material. These are woven into the subject matter. The book sews together these patches of the experiential, the visionary and the idiosyncratic nuances of the existing and future city, and site. The format and composition of the pages that follow resemble material ‘things’ as the manifestations of city. Using montage and collage as devices of visual narrative, the subject and design process is suggested, developed and compiled. The ‘image of the city’ is derived through collection and accumulation of textile-tectonic narrative. This is presented as assemblages that can, at any point, be read as past, present or possibility.

M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / This research aims to explore the ways in which offering media and architectural facilities to protesters might contribute to a healthy culture of protest and dissent in Johannesburg. It looks at the rich and complex history of activism and protest in both South Africa in particular but also drawing on recent global protests and their spatial ramifications. It proposes a new facility on the site of one of the city’s most (in)famous protest and incarceration sites, Constitution Hill, and proposes a programme of information and education aimed at encouraging all interested citizens and activists to both understand their options, rights and responsibilities in a young democracy, and crucially, a platform to enact them.

This dissertation document began as a journey of discovery of a new city, filled with many hidden historical treasures, some sadly forgotten about, left abandoned and neglected falling to ruins, misused and unappreciated. Relocating from Durban to Johannesburg, my eyes where opened to a completely new city scape, sparking an interest in the layered history of it development and growth over the years. Through my journeys of the many streets of Jo’burg I began to notice the abundance of charmingly crafted architecture, quietly resting between the busy streets, many neglected and unused, creating a sense of sadness amongst the vibrant and multicultural movement surrounding them. I began to question the possibility of reviving such buildings to included them back into the city where they can once again be filled with life and no longer simply passed by without a care. The aim of the document was to research the many opinions and approaches surrounding preservation of historic architecture, resulting in a formal strategy of rehabilitating the old structures and breathing new life into them. The strategy adopted was to imagine the life of a building as a book of many chapter, with the view that building need not reach their final lines, through the continued writing on new pages, adding in whole to the layered tapestry of uses, events and years through which it was witness to. The new chapter proposed for the building became that of a safe house for victims of trafficking where the process of rehabilitating their identity and image of self became possible within a building which too had undergone a process of rehabilitation. Through research of statistical information and theoretical theories, strategies are formed to create a building in which layers of time are woven together and architecture is created allowing for users to feel safe whilst remaining connected to the city, regaining a sense of identity through contact with the building witnessing it transformation from once being in a state of disrepair to that of becoming a striking example of persevered architecture and history.

Johannesburg is a melting pot of people from different walks of life who have come to the city on the pursuit of happiness. Hillbrow is a neighbourhood infamous for its criminal activities. It is the point of arrival for many of the people who travel to Johannesburg looking for work, making it a very hostile environment for the vulnerable. Human trafficking is a highly lucrative business in South Africa. The global market for human trafficking is at $42, 5-billion (about R317-billion). In the Children’s Act 38, Section 194 of 2005 one of clauses refers to the needs of young women affected by human trafficking, (Mahery, Jamieson, & Scott, 2011). There is a clear need for a re-imagined approach to the typology of shelters provided through welfare structures. Young women need shelters in the inner city that are tailored for their specific needs especially the vast majority who are forced into the city through prostitution and human trafficking. This thesis deals with the design of a new typology that best addresses the needs of a shelter for young women in the city.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Fine Arts by Dissertation. Johannesburg, 2014. / This practice based research project engages with the theme of safety and security through the conceptualisation and production of sculptures and drawings. The exhibition takes the form of an installation which is the primary source of interrogation into the broad topic of increasing securitisation in the contemporary urban environment. The components of this research project include 1) a body of practical artwork which explores the theme of safety and security in Johannesburg and 2) a dissertation which locates this exploration in theoretical, critical, historical perspectives. There is a particular focus on two other securitised cities namely São Paulo and London in relationship to the work of artists Marcelo Cidade and Mona Hatoum respectively, specifically sculpture/installation, which engages thematically and materially with notions of power, surveillance and security that responds to their immediate surroundings. The Johannesburg security context and works by the design team Dokter and Misses are analysed and finally a documentation and critical reflection of my own creative work produced in the context of this study.

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Architecture (Professional) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / The end of apartheid signalled the need to reinvent and re-configure South African cites not just spatially but economically as well, to be more inclusive of the people it once marginalized and excluded. South Africa’s urban identity is intrinsically intertwined with the history of apartheid to the point where it is impossible to have the one without the other. Johannesburg much like all the other cities in South Africa is and was an Apartheid project; the city was a tool used to perpetuate and enforce a system of economic exclusion which later developed into social and cultural segregation. Despite its nearly complete re-population after 1994, the city today, as dynamic and vibrant as it is, still poses remnants of the apartheid era. The people who had not been allowed into the city have become its primary residents, yet not its owners. And because the city was never designed for them, they have had to make, re-make and reconfigure the city for themselves. Through this process of making, re-making and re-configuring innovative solutions to everyday problems are tried tested and developed to integrate the urban African into the city. The changing demographics manifested growth through informal infill to create the Johannesburg we know today. It is by the process of negotiation between the formal and the informal economy that Johannesburg assumes its identity. The resilience of the informal economy could be attributed to the social networks that govern its relationships. The combination of social networks and the process of re-making the city suggest the informal as a strategy for urban regeneration that heals the city in its entirety by intervening in sensitive points in the urban fabric. This thesis investigates the shifting role of the informal in, the need for a change in approach when dealing with the informal and looks at the informal as a skill and form of knowledge. / MT2017

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Architecture (Professional) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / The memories associated with mining are vastly contrasting; ranging from nostalgic recollections of the fortune on which Johannesburg was built to the torturous conditions the miners had to endure both above and below the surface. The essay by the author entitled “Memory retention and cessation in the historical and present context of South Africa and abroad” aims to engage with critically, and explore, the field of memory in relation to mining and broader issues. It is of great importance when establishing a heritage project that the people who engage with it must be able to do so without causing distress or emotional anguish. Can a contextually relevant space be created for the housing and display of such memories? This research report views remediation through a holistic lens that is an approach to the project in its entirety. Remediation is viewed as an approach to solving the fractured nature of Benoni, separated by mining and Apartheid planning, creating ‘buffer zones’ between previously racially orientated areas. The site is a previous ‘buffer zone’ and has not changed its function since it was constructed in 1888. The toxic, disused land offers an opportunity to reclaim what industry has taken away from ‘nature’. Can this ‘buffer zone’ be activated to connect the segregated suburbs of Benoni further? Remediation will also be used as a vehicle for the regeneration of the site, with the aim to return it to a similar ecological state as it was before the mining industry began to alter it. The site has been scarred by the mining industry for over 128 years, polluting both the surface and the sub-surface environment. Can the effects of the temporary environmental degradation be neutralised? The reprocessing of the mine dump has initiated the remediation process, removing around 40 million tonnes of waste (“Transvaal Has Largest Dam In the World” 1950, Vol 56, No. 15 731) from the site, re-mining it, and sending the waste to selected dump sites across the Rand. The Remediation of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) will reduce the associated noxious effects on the local biosphere, induce a ripple effect further downstream the Blekboskpruit and further on towards the Vaal Dam, where we obtain our drinking water. This example of passive AMD remediation aims to stand as a watershed project that may be adopted and adapted at other sites with similar needs. Is the use of a low-tech, passive wetland system appropriate for AMD remediation and the site? This project aims to be a cultural precinct to objectively display the history of mining in Johannesburg. It does so while being a functioning centre for AMD remediation, in pursuit of solutions for the damage that our mining legacy has had on the landscape and the environment. The Urban Mining facility seeks to create a flagship electronic waste (e-waste) recycling centre that will not only have a positive impact on the local environment but reduce the amount of e-waste being transported illegally to developing countries around the world. Keywords: Acid Mine Drainage, Urban Mining, Remediation, Mining Museum, Benoni / GR2017

Thesis (M.Arch. (Professional))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, 2016. / Forests, and the products we harvest from them, are vital to our economy and built environment, yet we have spiritual and emotional connections to trees which are at odds with these economic realities. This thesis explores how architecture can act as a filter between the real and ideal worlds by looking at the nature of indigenous forests in South Africa, the abundant plantations so necessary to construction and trade, and the problem of invasive trees which act as destroyers of our fragile ecosystems. The building is a centre for sustainable forestry in the Outeniqua forest outside Knysna - progressively removing invasive trees, turning them into useful wood products, and re-planting with scarce indigenous trees. In a social context of high unemployment this didactic building aims to connect ancient woodworking craft to modern fabrication technology for the purposes of skills training, reforestation and economic upliftment. The woodcutter kills the tree, but brings us wood - a material of infinite uses: pliable, strong, beautiful in its variety – a material for the craftsman to shape, sand, and join. The tensions between destruction and creation, natural and man-made, and industry and craft are brought to the fore in the search for the diverse, the specific, and the beautiful. / EM2017

This thesis is submitted to the School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand in fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Architecture (Professional), 2016. / There is a strong argument for a space within the heart of Johannesburg that offers a contemporary yet uniquely African response to the traditional practice of slaughtering of cattle that would frame and advance social, cultural and spiritual imperatives, while honouring animal ethics and ecological concerns through the creation of a forum that facilitates transparency, fosters understanding deepens connections between people and their broader environment. / XL2018

Maboneng displays an interesting approach to urban regeneration being driven by a single developer vision. Central to this approach has been the establishment of a new economy in support of an increasing property market which is being encouraged through a dominant branding and marketing strategy identifying the ‘neighbourhood’ and community as intrinsically artistic. This study aims to juxtapose this structure of urban regeneration and city based development as defined by the City of Johannesburg and to track the evolution of the precinct from an informal and innovative approach toward a more structured and conventional upgrading mechanism. Addressing the question of creating space within the inner city by exploring what the spaces are, who is using them and how the manifestation of a new identity affects the pre existing reality. The report thereby presents a discourse around the evolution of the Maboneng approach within the context of Johannesburg and determines the potential transferability of key principles that the City could draw upon in informing future growth and development agendas within the inner city.