The City of Tshwane is currently facing many challenges in terms of economic development. It continues to underperform when compared to other local cities. As a capital city, it’s meant to be the heart of a thriving government system but this is seen as absent to many. In order to combat the above, a framework has been put into place by the City. It sets out spatial and sectoral strategies for interventions that will diversify, repopulate and regenerate the inner city. Within this framework, tourism has been identified as a component that could play a vital role towards achieving the above. The tourism sector within Tshwane has the potential to thrive and contribute substantially to the city’s economy. Reasons for this large gap between the tourist offer and the tourist demand may be as a result of a lack of marketing and good infrastructure around the various tourist attractions. All of the notable tourist attractions require a driving force behind them that spurs on a greater demand for such an outstanding offer. Apart from this, the city must be marketed as an urban tourist destination. Urban tourism, for many, may be seen as an intangible incident. This is due to its abstract nature - cities are not built specifically for the pleasure seeking tourist. Urban tourism does, however, exist as a component of the city’s functioning. It finds itself intertwined with the day to day activities of the city. Services and facilities available do not make a distinction between residents and tourists. Being a capital city, Tshwane’s identity is meant to be synonymous with government presence. However, many problems are faced in this regard such as government departments shunning itself away from the public behind high fences. By further establishing the city’s identity as a centre of government activity, visitor numbers to the city can increase. The presence of government must not remain inaccessible to the public. Rather, through architecture we can create a system of noticeable government whereby government officials, residents and tourists begin to share common platforms of interaction. Our buildings must stand as symbolic signs of a thriving and open government in a democratic society. They must become representations of the city’s contemporary identity - an identity that is composed of a multitude of cultures, races and social classes. Ultimately, the urban environment shaped through government presence must become a must-see destination for the urban tourist. With the above in mind, a catalyst can be formulated that seeks to drive a greater demand for tourism in the area. At the same time, a stronger and more noticeable government presence can be formulated. Eventually, the city’s goals of urban, economic and social regeneration can be achieved.

Living in a country plagued by high crime rates and negative perceptions of the South African Police Service, South Africans are relying more and more on devices such as siege architecture and fortification to attain a sense of safety and security. However, these fortified enclaves do not just provide people with a sense of safety, they also serve as manifestations of Apartheid memory: intensifying segregation and ‘othering’, discouraging the growth of community and working against the development of healthy and inspiring civic spaces. At the same time, society’s obsession with police criminality, intensified by the influence of the media, has made policing one of the most contentious topics in post-Apartheid South Africa. Consequently, the relationship between the police – the state’s strong-arm of power – and the people is fragile, tense, and unpredictable, symptomatic of the palpable divide that separates the state and the people, a divide which is reinforced by a lack of spatial justice and a relic architecture which neither the state nor the people can identify with. As a tangible tool of cultural expression and a discourse of time and place, architecture embodies a nation’s shared history, its present, and its future aspirations. Architecture is also fundamental to the cause of change, serving as a catalyst and an interface through which the divide between the state and its people may be reconciled. However, the police station as an institutional building – a social incubator – remains apathetic to the ‘everyday’. This archetype demands a drastic rethinking of both parti and contextual setting. Such a reform could potentially transform the police station into an integral, effective, and active facilitator of relationships and make possible the goal of ‘community policing’.

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, 2016 / To make and to utilise. These two actions effortlessly encapsulate a fundamental quality of human beings. Ever since the dawn of industry, humans have developed a necessity to manufacture various items and systems in order to achieve a more efficient and enjoyable lifestyle. The nature of manufacturing has always been defined by the concept of input and output and over time has resulted in the unsustainable extraction of Earth’s natural resources in order to produce. Additionally, consumerism has exponentially increased the rate at which society manufactures and has consequently led to by-production of discarded waste. The presence of solid waste is adversely affecting the environment due to the fact that a large majority of it is non-biodegradable and thus pollutes today’s cities and natural ecosystems. In the context of Newtown, Johannesburg, the issue of discarded solid waste is of growing concern. As a result of the seamless coexistence of industry, commerce and culture and its proximity to important urban zones, this historic area of Johannesburg is attracting more and more people from various social demographics. In turn, this has led to higher levels of productivity and exploitation. As seen in most third world nations, such characteristics inevitably lead to an overabundance of unmanageable waste. Even with the implementation of various recycling schemes as well as the informal waste collecting movement, the issue in Newtown and greater Johannesburg still stands, due to the fact that waste management services lack the efficiency to transport collected waste to the relevant recycling and landfilling facilities. Without an efficient waste management system, various collection depots and scrap yards across the city remain under a constant state of waste overflow. This will only further tarnish the notion of waste recycling on an urban level. Therefore by reimagining the term ‘recycle’ and perceiving it in the sense of transformation, one may begin to rationalise a contemporary solution to the issue of waste in our cities. Through the study of waste on a global scale and some of the advanced technologies in an age defined by fabrication and making, this research report works to conceptualise a system in which discarded waste can be ‘transformed’ and used for the fabrication of any conceivable object. The establishment of a framework which allows direct, on-site trading of collected waste and its consequent transformation for fabrication, would aid in addressing the issue of overflowing waste yards across the city and would in turn improve the social awareness of waste management on an urban level. The incorporation of transformed waste with digital, nano and prefabrication technologies will ultimately result in the realisation of an architecture that will offer society the opportunity to re-create. A social place where waste is the vital resource and where the maker’s creativity is the limit. / XL2018

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering, Johannesburg 2017 / This research sought to identify the key success factors associated with industrial brownfields site redevelopment projects in urban areas of South Africa. Nine such success factors were identified from international and local literature. Through documentary research, three brownfield case studies in Johannesburg were investigated. These included the Newtown Cultural Precinct, the Egoli Gas site and the AECI Modderfontein site. Commonalities includes location within the urban edge, original industrial land use, and the redevelopment intent of the landowners. Aspects differing among the sites include distance from the inner city, size, the certainty of contamination and redevelopment success. Based on the findings of the three case studies, the nine success factors were refined. The factors are no or low contamination, brownfields policy maturity, certainty regarding liability for remediation, risk-based land use options, favourable market conditions, quick funding access with rapid statutory approvals, readily available municipal services and transport infrastructure, and strong political and community support. The case study findings provide indications towards generalisation for success factors that may apply to future brownfields projects. Further research required includes a larger database of brownfields redevelopment case studies to be developed for South African, in order to further test associated success factors. / XL2018

M. Tech. Architecture (Professional) / This thesis encompasses the research and subsequent building design of a Design Centre in Sunnyside Pretoria that specializes in the Applied Arts. This educational training facility will form part of a larger arts precinct. This can be achieved by integrating the immediate surrounding areas in a similar manner as that of Arts on Main in Johannesburg. The proposed project is located in an existing (but not fully developed) arts and design precinct in Sunnyside known as Oeverzicht Arts Village. The anchor facility of this complex will be the Design Centre, offering training and education in Industrial and Product Design, Fashion and Footwear Design, Cabinet making or Joinery, as well as other related arts for approximately 240 students. In light of the above approach, the project also entails the design of the surrounding public spaces, as well as the design of the complex as a precinct within the urban context. The site is located on a prominent corner where Berea, Sunnyside and the Central Business District intersect; it is located on the Nelson Mandela corridor which is one of the main arterial routes that feed the city. There is a cluster of residential buildings that were retained from the 1950's when most of the Sunnyside residential buildings were demolished to accommodate high-rise residential developments. These houses have a unique character within the urban context, which is currently obscured because of their scale compared to the surrounding buildings. The placing of the new development on the corner of the site gives it the necessary historical prominence within the current urban context.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Architecture)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2011.

M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / In a small opening by the edge of a ridge a solitary worshipper– dressed in her full uniform – kneels. Her hands clasped tightly together and lips vigorously moving in prayer. A cluster of people - dressed in white - sit atop a rocky outcrop. One man stands addressing his followers: women on the right and men on the left. Over time his speaking ceases and the sitting people stand and join together in song, clapping hands stretched to the sky. There are numerous ‘frontiers’ – gaps - in the City of Johannesburg where people gather for different purposes. Some gatherings are religious, some social, some a combination. This dissertation will attempt to describe the narrative and spatial story of the Highlands Ridge as a ‘frontier’ site, while investigating the possibility of how an architecture could interact with these sacred anomalies.

M.Tech. ( Architecture) / With a lack of recreational and sporting facilities in Alexandra, the lkasi Gym (founded by local resident Tumi Masite) is one of very few establishments which promote health, in a variety of ways, in a setting where space is valuable and, heart disease is a serious concern 1. The gym has become a strong focal point for Alexandra residents in recent years. Adjacent to the lkasi Gym sits the Alexandra Interpretation Centre, designed by South African architect Peter Rich, incomplete and un-used in this prime township location ...

M.Tech. (Architecture) / This research interest stems from observing at close range (and researching historically) a seemingly impermeable cycle of occupation, violence and abandonment within the inner-city, whose roots stretch back over the past 130 years 1. The cycle has culminated in the 'writing off' of a number of inner-city buildings as 'bad buildings' not fit for habitation or study. This dissertation is both an architectural response and a research inquiry into how design, in its broadest sense, might contribute to an inner city 'vertical settlement' ...

M.Tech. (Architecture) / To heal- to make whole (Heal 2014: [sp]). The journey to good mental health is a multi-faceted one, and one which involves more than solely medical or institutionalised notions of treatment. This research proposal explores a phenomenological approach to understanding space, recognising that our embodied experiences of our environment can inspire, balance and heal the human spirit, to the same degree that can oppress and harm it ...