This dissertation investigates the accessibility of public architecture. The aim is to illustrate the relevance of accessibility by establishing a theoretical premise and applying it in design. The theoretical analysis defines inclusive design and examines the relevance of the topic within the South African context. It explores written theory on the topic and how it has evolved. The aim is to understand the implications of an inclusive design approach in architecture and to assess the inclusivity of recently completed buildings. The design investigation explores an exclusively inclusive approach in the design of a public building. The intent is to create a building that is inclusive; one that can be used by all. Currently, there is a lack of accessible public facilities in the Burger’s Park precinct, thus the Burger’s Park Opportunity Platform is proposed. The Opportunity Platform is a building that provides and facilitates the necessary resources for a community to prosper. It facilitates much needed community programmes and facilities such as literacy and skills training and access to books, the Internet and other media. The public nature of this building type implies that it is to be used by the entire community, which provides appropriate conditions to explore inclusive design in Pretoria. The study, through theoretical, empirical and contextual enquiry, provides an understanding of the principles pertaining to inclusive design and how it manifests in architecture. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Architecture / unrestricted

An adaptive mesh redistribution method for efficient and accurate simulation of multi dimensional hyperbolic conservation laws is developed. The algorithm consists of two coupled steps; evolution of the governing PDE followed by a redistribution of the computational nodes. The second step, i.e. mesh redistribution is carried out at each time step iteratively with the primary aim of adapting the grid to the computed solution in order to maximize accuracy while minimizing the computational overheads. The governing hyperbolic conservation laws, originally defined on the physical domain, are transformed on to a simplified computational domain where the position of the nodes remains independent of time. The transformed governing hyperbolic equations are recast in a strong conservative form and are solved directly on the computational domain without the need for interpolation that is typically associated with standard mesh redistribution algorithms. Several standard test cases involving numerical solution of scalar and system of hyperbolic conservation laws in one and two dimensions are presented in order to demonstrate the accuracy and computational efficiency of the proposed technique.

This dissertation examines Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter, Rachel Zadok’s Gem Squash Tokoloshe, and Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing. It focuses on the development of each of the protagonists’ identities in three realms: the individual, the familial and the societal. Additionally, it is concerned with the specific socio-political contexts in which the novels are set. It employs psychoanalytic and historical materialist frameworks in order to engage with the disparate areas of identity with which it is concerned. The introduction establishes the analytical perspective of the dissertation and explores the network of theoretical frames on which the dissertation relies. Additionally, it contextualises each of the novels, within their historical contexts, as well as in relation to the theory. The first chapter examines Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter. It focuses on the protagonist’s assertion of an identity independent of her father’s role as a political activist, and her eventual acceptance of the universal difficulty in negotiating a life which is both private and political. The second chapter, on Rachel Zadok’s Gem Squash Tokoloshe, examines the relationship between the protagonist’s traumatic experiences as a child and her inability to assert an identity as an adult. The similarities between the protagonist’s attempts to address her traumas and thereby create herself anew and South Africa’s employment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a means to acknowledge and engage with its traumatic history is of import. The third chapter which deals with Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing traces the life of its protagonist, whose identifications remain childish as a result of having witnessed her parents’ difficult relationship. Her understanding of the world is informed by a rigid, binary understanding, which is ultimately disrupted by her relationship with a black employee. She is incapable of readjusting her frame of reference, however, and ultimately goes mad. I conclude that, while my focus has been on personal, familial and social identifications, the standard terms in which identity is examined, namely, race, class, and gender, are present in each of the three tiers of identity with which I have been concerned.