This thesis deals with the creation of holistically healthy environments in an urban context. The Pretoria Central Business District (CBD) is the focus area, as this is where many people spend their working hours in offices. This thesis proposes a vitality centre where healthy environments and healthy lifestyles are made available to these workers. This should become an urban oasis which caters to the vitality of the mind, body and spirit. The hypothesis argues that the problems associated with unhealthy environments in buildings can be alleviated through the connection of people with nature and its forces. The focus is not only on the physical, but also on the metaphysical quality of architecture and its influence on the user. The four elements of nature (light, air, earth and water) are invited into the building. Their associative qualities are exploited to create an awareness of the presence of nature, even in an urban context. On a physical level, this association implies the use of natural light, natural ventilation and contact with nature in the built environment. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted

The purpose of this study is to investigate ritual in order to establish an intimacy between architecture and its users. The lithurgy of the Roman Catholic Church is used as a point of departure, but the study is especially concerned with personal secular ritual. The intervention will function as an urban retreat. It consists of a series of contemplative spaces that facilitate a spiritual journey. The Retreat is based on ideas surrounding the traditional Roman Catholic Convent, which informed the accommodation schedule to a great extend. The study recognizes the new approach of the Roman Catholic Religion, which entails a holistic ministry that plays an increasingly critical and social role. The Retreat will therefore function as a base for religious and social organizations to work from in the inner-city of Pretoria. The retreat will also offer limited social facilities such as counselling and seminar rooms. The site is situated in the inner-city of Pretoria, in the block directly north-east of Church Square. The site consists of two properties: the northern consists of the National Library of South Africa (NLSA), with the southern being a pan-handle erf that functions as a service courtyard for commercial ventures on Church Street. The Noordvaal thoroughfare runs parallel to the site on its western edge, linking Church and Vermeulen Streets. The site exists unnoticed by pedestrians using the arcade, because of a boundary wall. Of further importance is the 2,8 m slope of the site from south to north over a distance of 140 m. The project directly addresses urban issues as well as spatial and emotional ones. The intervention is seen as part of a process of architectural proliferation. It takes the existing fabric and current conditions and rather than replacing them, creates a synthesis of elements so as to evolve a new urban condition; i.e. how to grow a piece of city rather than how you build it. Design decisions were influenced by Pallasmaa's ideas on fragile architecture: it is concerned with real sensory interaction instead of conceptual manifestations. Problems and opportunities are identified on a small scale and the response is focussed on these: it is an architecture that grows and opens up. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Architecture / unrestricted

In our modern world, a signifi cant number of traditional values have been dramatically manipulated, taking on new meanings and definitions quite diff erent from their original or natural signifi cance. Moreover, these traditional values are being replaced by new ones deemed more suitable to today’s world. Ideas such as selfl essness, humility, and longing, among others, have seemingly lost value as a consequence of the frantic pace of modern life and replaced by self-centredness, greed,aridity, exteriority, which will have a direct impact on our surrounding environment. Let’s imagine a land in which selfi shness is not a priority. Instead, replace it with a society driven by humane preferences. Would the architecture of that society still look like ours does today? Would it be as unsociable as it is in our so-called advanced civilization? This thesis investigates this query through a juxtaposition of the traditional values of a Persian art with the demands of modern life. It is a study of the calligraphic art of Iran as a transcendental practice, highly intertwined with strong emotions, wherein the intention of the research is to discover the relationship between Persian calligraphy and architecture. Presenting calligraphy as a context for understanding architecture has the potential to get beyond ourselves in the spaces we author. This research aims to allow the essence of Persian calligraphy into modern space as a means to revive the true essence of architecture: reunion of feeling and space, a concept that is given too little attention in our current architecture.

In our modern world, a signifi cant number of traditional values have been dramatically manipulated, taking on new meanings and definitions quite diff erent from their original or natural signifi cance. Moreover, these traditional values are being replaced by new ones deemed more suitable to today’s world. Ideas such as selfl essness, humility, and longing, among others, have seemingly lost value as a consequence of the frantic pace of modern life and replaced by self-centredness, greed,aridity, exteriority, which will have a direct impact on our surrounding environment. Let’s imagine a land in which selfi shness is not a priority. Instead, replace it with a society driven by humane preferences. Would the architecture of that society still look like ours does today? Would it be as unsociable as it is in our so-called advanced civilization? This thesis investigates this query through a juxtaposition of the traditional values of a Persian art with the demands of modern life. It is a study of the calligraphic art of Iran as a transcendental practice, highly intertwined with strong emotions, wherein the intention of the research is to discover the relationship between Persian calligraphy and architecture. Presenting calligraphy as a context for understanding architecture has the potential to get beyond ourselves in the spaces we author. This research aims to allow the essence of Persian calligraphy into modern space as a means to revive the true essence of architecture: reunion of feeling and space, a concept that is given too little attention in our current architecture.

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