Hidden, 12 km from Middelburg, lies the historic mission village Botshabelo. Named Botshabelo, meaning “place of refuge” in the Pedi language as a symbol of a place that became a refuge for the people who fled from Sekhukhune land because of their faith. Within 10 years of its establishment, Botshabelo was self sustainable and it served as a trading post throughout the surrounding farmlands. Education was also seen as one of the driving factors behind the success of Botshabelo, however, the education system was severely affected by the Bantu Education Act, implemented in the 1950s. The apartheid legislation had many negative effects on Botshabelo, whose population predominantly consisted of Bapedi and Bakopa people, and eventually led to the forced removal of 100 families from the site. The site was then turned into an open air museum. In 2005 the families who were forcibly removed won a land claim in relation to Botshabelo and since then the site has been unused and its future is still uncertain. This dissertation addresses the reintroduction of the Botshabelo Community Trust1 to the site, thereby creating a new narrative for the site, while evoking memories of the past. The intention of this project is to protect Botshabelo’s value for the future, while creating continuity of experience between the past, present and future by using its narrative as a research method. / Versteek 12km buite Middelburg lê die historiese sendingdorpie Botshabelo. Benoem “Botshabelo, plek van toevlug” ‘n simbool van ‘n plek van toevlug vir die mense wat van Sekhukhune-land gevlug het weens hul geloof oortuiging. Binne 10 jaar van sy vestiging was Botshabelo selfonderhoudend en het dit ‘n soort handelspos geword in die omliggende omgewing. Onderwys was ook gesien as een van die bestuursfaktore wat die sukses van Botshabelo behels, maar die onderwysstelsel is ernstig benadeel deur die Wet op Bantoe-onderwys, wat in die 1950’s geïmplementeer is. Die apartheidswetgewing het baie negatiewe gevolge vir Botshabelo gehad, waarvan die bevolking oorwegend bestaan uit die Bapedi- en Bakopa-mense, wat uiteindelik gelei het tot die gedwonge verwydering van 100 gesinne van die terrein. Die werf is daarna in ‘n opelugmuseum omskep, maar in 2005 het die gesinne wat tydens die Apartheid era verwyder is, ‘n grondeis in verband met Botshabelo gewen. Sedertdien is die terrein ongebruik en die toekoms daarvan is nog onseker. Hierdie proefskrif handel oor die hervestiging van die Botshabelo gemeenskap na die terrein, met die skep van ‘n nuwe narratief vir die terrein, wat herinneringe uit die verlede terugroep. Die bedoeling van hierdie projek is om Botshabelo se toekomstige waarde te beskerm. Deur gebruik te maak van n narratief navorsings metode is kontinuïteit van ervaring tussen die verlede, hede en toekoms geskep. / Mini Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

This thesis examines the relationship between water and the winemaking industry through an integrated architectural approach to the landscape. The emphasis is on the refinement of water use for vineyard irrigation and wine processing, and the promotion of the value of water by celebrating a productive landscape. The proposition is explored through the design of a winery and its associated grapes to produce the wines.

This dissertation investigates how a productive landscape can increase the carrying capacity of the land, by analysing and responding to the existing site and a proposed post-industrial development of the site done in 2010. The aim is to effectively communicate the influence of man’s highly consumerist nature on resources and the ecology on the user group. The chosen site is located in the highdensity urban context of Pretoria West, Tshwane, South Africa. The motivation of this dissertation is for the landscape to be the synergy between the existing productive entities. The strategy was to design holistically, with the objective being to include the larger systems at play. Systemic thinking, in terms of production, increases resources and the variety of resources’ deliverability. The only way that a productive landscape can be resilient is to instil positive meaning in the user and, consequently, indefinite stewardship. To achieve resilience, biophilic urban design guidelines were followed to have a positive psychological effect on the user. This dissertation aims to re-address age-old theories, such as biophillia and the “Web of Life”, as crucial guidelines to inform interventions for the current, real time, global and African issues relating to increasing resource demands. / Dissertation (ML(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Architecture / ML(Prof) / Unrestricted

This dissertation will focus on revitalizing and adapting an abandoned mining Compound on the outskirts of Cullinan. Through this journey of uncovering and understanding this lost, abandoned and deteriorating site, one starts to fall in love with the beauty of these ruins within an unrestricted landscape, where the natural has started infiltrating into all areas of this site. It starts to evoke emotions of a romantic lost time although this is not the case. This environment has lost its identity of a harsh working lifestyle where many of the workers died in extremely uncomfortable and inhuman conditions. Uncovering this intangible narrative of the past has led to the idea of contrasting these two very different conditions, the harsh past environment with the vision of a new productive landscape where there is an opportunity for healing. Healing through exposing and appreciating the past; healing the people of Cullinan by providing new skill and opportunities during this decommissioning transition and healing this abandoned and neglected land. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

Landscape had significance to society once. The significance of these landscapes was associated with agronomic practices, a spiritual connection to nature, and a platform for social interaction within the community. To date, the sense of significance landscapes once had to human culture, has been lost. In the spirit of time, man has actively exiled himself from nature and its productive processes. This dissertation focuses on the adaptive reuse of an urban drosscape. The decommissioned Cotex Ltd. textile mill is located in a densely formed urban environment, where the process of de-industrialisation and rapid urbanisation has transformed the rural environment into an ever expanding informal settlement. The concept of a landscape machine represents the possibility to return a productive programme to a formerly functional and industrious land use, while at the same time reassuring that economic, social and ecological components establish in the urban setting. The concept of public industry becomes evident. The aim of the project is to design a productive landscape that functions between man, the remaining post-industrial relics of the textile mill and the urban landscape of Chumbuni. The design integrates the existing industrial heritage to feed new social and educational programmes through means of a productive landscape, which in turn will address urban issues and propose rehabilitation strategies for the area. The landscape intervention will act as a hybrid landscape, encouraging the exiled man to return to ‘nature’ and to research, as well as test, sustainable landscape machines which are appropriate and functional to the urban environment. The landscape design investigates the potential to integrate the agricultural and recreational experiences, in order to generate a new landscape typology for urban wastelands. The proposed programme celebrates the productive heritage of Zanzibar and incorporates this into the processes and experiences of crop cultivation, regional culture, social interaction and ecological development, as proposed products. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

The Stockholm Archipelago has a unique natural landscape - rugged nature that blends with wooded islands, rocky cliffs and sandy beaches enriched by cultural and ecological values. The islands, dating back to the Viking Age are faced with a progressively uneven growth compared to the city developing an inevitable socio-economic dependency on the city core through infrastructural connections. Emigration from already diffusely scattered settlements made life unaffordable on the islands for both permanent residents and municipalities. According to official surveys and analyses, the islands claimed to lack a live-work-play balance and social potential that could be developed better for the residents. This struggle is loaded with the seasonal influx of tourists who exploit the landscape, leaving the responsibility for care onto those who live there. This situation added to climate change, strains energy and (water) resources causing summer droughts. All these struggles raise a question for the future - “How can urban planning and design help re-imagine the potential of existing systems to adapt to a more sustainable Archipelago?” The project envisions to transform the fragmented, protected landscape of the Stockholm Archipelago into a continuous productive landscape, bringing meaning to the scattered and dynamic context. With an approach that closely integrates fields of planning, landscape and design, the goal is realised through a three-layered strategy - (1) continuous blue-green systems of resource capture and nutrient circulation, (2) building local economy through collective production and diversification through exchange, and (3) community exchange through robust networking and production as a way of life. For design possibilities on the local scale, the island of Runmaro is explored with the aim of building synergies with the existing context of landscape, mobility networks, food production, resident villages, local businesses and popular landmarks. The idea is to strengthen existing socio-economic nodes while developing new ones through programs offering shared production and exchange, a year-round activation and continuous accessibility (circulation and systemic) that bring continuity to the overall experience.