This thesis proposes a reinterpretation of assumptions towards material value. It is a positive argument in favour of adaptive re-use, not only as a means to divert waste but also as encouragement to reconsider our current habits of consumption. This paper promotes a discussion of our current environmental predicament rather then a one-sided statement and acts as a guide to re-evaluate our sense of value. This dissertation puts forward design solutions and alternatives to certain materials that are part of our everyday lives. The design projects herein adapt existing objects into ordinary household items, as an intended gesture of nostalgia toward the object’s previous form, while at the same time, taking on a raw elegance of aesthetic quality: the projects are raw in their material origins and elegant in their form and function. This work is intended to evolve into an ongoing discussion of salvaged material as a response to problems of consumption and waste, as well as to highlight an ongoing process of design.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad som är legitimt återbruk och användning av någon annans tidigare designat material, i nya formgivna produkter eller verk. Frågeställningarna som diskuterats i arbetet är;   Hur mycket av någon annans tidigare formgivna material får återanvändas i kommersiella återbruksprodukter? Vad är legitimt bruk av ”ready-mades” i konstnärliga verk? Anses det vara ett konstnärligt verk när konstnären inte själv åstadkommit alla delar av verket?   Dessa frågeställningar har diskuterats utifrån juridiska och moraliska perspektiv. Som metod användes en litteraturbaserad studie av juridisk litteratur som behandlar immaterialrätt, avgränsat till bestämmelser av lag i Sverige. De juridiska reglerna jämfördes sedan med etiska teorier. Resultatet av studien presenteras som en diskussion utifrån dessa perspektiv och applicerade på exempelfall.

This thesis proposes a reinterpretation of assumptions towards material value. It is a positive argument in favour of adaptive re-use, not only as a means to divert waste but also as encouragement to reconsider our current habits of consumption. This paper promotes a discussion of our current environmental predicament rather then a one-sided statement and acts as a guide to re-evaluate our sense of value. This dissertation puts forward design solutions and alternatives to certain materials that are part of our everyday lives. The design projects herein adapt existing objects into ordinary household items, as an intended gesture of nostalgia toward the object’s previous form, while at the same time, taking on a raw elegance of aesthetic quality: the projects are raw in their material origins and elegant in their form and function. This work is intended to evolve into an ongoing discussion of salvaged material as a response to problems of consumption and waste, as well as to highlight an ongoing process of design.

In light of the increasing need for affordable housing in cities, and because many city centers, especially older US city centers, are home to abandoned industrial buildings, this paper explores the potential for creating affordable housing through the adaptive re-use of such structures. Through a study of the current literature of both the current needs of affordable housing and the availability of the transition of adaptive re-use, this paper answers the questions of where this type of conversion has already taken place and explores what funding is available to make such a conversion financial possible. The paper then looks to three case studies in the United States to attempt to begin to answer under what local conditions adaptive re-use for affordable housing can succeed. Ultimately, this paper finds that under compliant circumstances, there is indeed a place for the adaptive re-use of abandoned structures to be developed into affordable housing. / text

This project is based on the realisation that there are gross misconceptions surrounding significant sites in Pretoria, stemming from the lack of cultural integration amongst differing communities. The proposed design of the Capital Exchange aims to initiate social redress amongst a divided people, through the design of an urban-friendly and contemporary Platform and Place for Cross-Cultural Exchange, developed along the idea of the recently inaugurated Reconciliation Road. The visualisation of the place as a Cross-Cultural Mediator draws on the day-to-day activities of the city dwellers, to generate an ensemble of actions that foster social cohesion. / Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

The challenge of this project is to turn a large residual empty space into a public place, a truly relational space. The site was decided upon first, and within its vastness the spirit of the surroundings arose which in turn gave birth to the development programme. At the stage where a site was chosen, no particular functional theme other than that of “adaptive reuse” existed. Located in the industrial sector of Pretoria West, the site was chosen for its ability to stun the visitor to silence with its scale and grandeur. Currently housing the Pretoria West Power Station, the visitor is confronted by structures which appear to be beyond the realm of human interaction. The dissertation explored the transformation of “urban void” to a public place where events can be held. This proposed events centre thrusts the landscape into the intervention, blurring the thresholds between inside and outside. The building itself has little regard for the boundaries imposed on it by the site. Purposely ignoring these limitations, the building extends its boundaries over the lake, creating space above untouched territory. The design aims to fragment the intervention into smaller experiences, which allows the visitor to engage more intimately with the intervention. This project addressed the issues of visual contact. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Architecture / unrestricted

Extending the sSkin(s) is concerned with the adaptive re-use of the Capitol Theatre in the Pretoria into an existing building which has been abused and neglected, not only gives the building a new lease on life, but brings about the rejuvenation of the surrounding areas too. The design attempts to blur the boundaries between interior and exterior, and to extend the fantastic nature of the interior out onto the street. In this way, the original function of the building as a theatre becomes more accessible to the general public. The theatre as a whole becomes a mysterious fantasy realm drawing in passers-by, and thereby functioning as a platform for performance. When people enter the space, they become performers in their own right - their performance is mapped out by how they interact with the spaces and each other. The existing character has been reinterpreted allowing the Capitol to regain its former elegance and sense of mystery. The Capitol is brought into the here and now; the same but changed; a new energy for an existing building… Copyright / Dissertation (MInt(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted

South Africa’s shameful migrant labor policies of the past have left a socioeconomic mark on the families of millions. The ruin in the garden has long been a fascination of many artists and poets, but in the case of an abandoned compound complex alongside Cullinan’s diamond mine, the author is left unsettled with the thought of the romanticisation of the compound falling to ruins. The anesthesia has to stop at some point. Nature and time have acted upon the compound and has allowed for a large amount to be erased from the publics’ greater memories, (partly due to its inherent isolation and its inaccessibility to the public). Nature is only doing what it knows best - to carry on and heal. The convoluted question needs to be asked, when does it become necessary for human influence to occur and stop a natural process of decay, especially in question of preserving tangible heritage? In Skelton’s poem, it is suggested that the place is ‘filled with music”. This dissertation will attempt the opposite; to fill a place with silences so as to expose and reveal the narrative of the hardships endured to the lives of so many before us. The proposed intervention manifests as a meeting point between nature and the memory embedded in the site, and allows for mediation between healing, adaptive reuse and memorialization. A dialogue must be formed between what is ruin, the new condition and its relation to the wild nature of the Highveld as well as the new introduced vegetation for consumption and research. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

The pursuit of a better life has motivated people to move and settle in different parts of Västerbotten. Traditionally, some building typologies have moved together with the people but due to various reasons some homes have been left behind. Goals have been set up to decrease the amount of construction demolishment waste in Eu and Sweden is following quickly with new regulations upon waste management and sorting. But what happens with the houses that no-one intend to deconstruct, the ones that is left to its own destiny and already is considered useless? This thesis springs from a curiosity of deserted homes, the narratives they witness, the value they hold and the lessons that they can teach. The thesis Challenged by the wall deals with the architects role in bridging past and present.Research question: How can the tracing of empty houses inform the contemporary architect? The investigation is done through a visual research method making drawings and illustrations through different medias the heart of the project. It follows two parallel paths in its search for value: emotional and physical, two different angles of research that find strength in and complement each other. Several factors have caused the houses to be abandoned, such as forestry, economical advantages and standard of living. The empty houses represent an other time and a way of living that man distanced himself from when industrialisation opened up for new levels of comfort to every day life. The illustrated observations pays attention to the obscure and aims to enlighten value in the rejected. By that it hopes to challenge the way value is put into systems. Throughout the research reflections have been made as to whether the architect can treat the romanticism of the past in a nostalgic way that is helpful for the present architecture. With the illustrated samples as evidence, it argues that the broader spectra of value has to be discussed and thus the final resolution of the thesis hope to urge that dialogue.

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