This dissertation addresses the relationship between life, time and architecture. It places the notion of memory within a changing landscape that stimulates remembrance; manipulating physical, functional, and sensorial experiences. As time changes and memories blur; there is a nostalgic longing for the creation of place to be used as a tool which both captivates and exhibits history and memory – a mnemonic machine exuding adaptation over time. The conceptual exploration sets a platform for celebrating the beauty and delight found in the poetics of the dairy production process, employing architecture as a tool to physically manifest the mystifying realm of the engagement between man and beast. The proposed site is identified within the historical precinct of Zwartkoppies, on the original farmstead of Sammy Marks, located on the eastern periphery of Pretoria. Situated in the life of the everyday - the site offers a platform for transformative practice within a mutable and flexible landscape. Through superimposing a highly mechanised process within a historic and weathered fabric of industrial memory, the programme intends to highlight the notion of a model farm typology, allowing the farmstead to once again be activated as a platform for training and experimentation. / Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

The lyrics of Sammy Cahn played a dominant role in shaping the Golden Age of American light music. He remains the most successful lyricist in cinema history, in terms of Academy Awards and Nominations, yet he has received little acclaim for his achievements. This thesis explores the diverse constituents of his creative genius, focusing on his ability to “romance the vernacular”, and write “bespoke” material on request. The argument follows a chronological path, tracing the major influences on Cahn’s life: vaudeville and musical theatre, the growth of the film industry, and the collaborators and performers who helped him achieve a level of mastery that he sustained for nearly fifty years. Particular emphasis is placed on his relationship with Frank Sinatra, on both a personal and professional level. Cahn had an acute awareness of the human condition and his ability to convey a range of emotions to match mood and moment displayed consummate craft and intellect, with a self-confidence that bordered on bravado. His contemporaries in the Golden Age of popular song have received due recognition, yet little has been written about Cahn, whose appreciation of the interaction between spontaneity and creativity remains unsurpassed by fellow lyricists. He had an intuitive understanding of the vernacular and an instinctive ability to write to order. The imagistic texture of the lyrics coupled with the prosodic intonation demonstrate an intimate correlation between personality and composition which is supported by biographical content. The argument, augmented by an audio-documentary, develops systematically through a study of the lyrics, focusing on the cultural and musicological significance of Cahn’s oeuvre. The material for both the written text and the two accompanying CDs are from personal archives and the Margaret Herrick Library in Los Angeles, which is the repository for the Sammy Cahn Collection, bequeathed to that institution after the death of Cahn in 1993. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

The study will investigate a design intervention that attempts to respond to the condition of spatial indeterminacy in the Sammy Marks precinct of Pretoria, where this condition is heavily pronounced in the form of disused public squares, inactive edges and inner-block voids. The study suggests that developing these spaces as cultural interfaces can provide a foothold for emergent city life and cultural activities. The specific project intervention will take the form of a theatrical interface that will serve as a platform for public interactive theatre events and a theatre school. The client is the State Theatre, in collaboration with the Department of Public Works. The site of the intervention is located in close proximity to the State Theatre. An investigation of the site and its surrounding context will generate opportunities for specific intervention. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Architecture / unrestricted

During his sojourn on earth man leaves traces behind. Subsequent generations can follow these traces through research in order to find out more about his forebears. The term document can be interpreted much wider than referring to written material so that different types of material can serve as source from which this knowledge can be drawn. Pictorial sources is one subsection underneath which photographic material in turn resorts. This study looks at the use of historical photographs as source from which the cultural historian can draw information .. Historical photographs are often merely seen and used as illustration material while they are sources in own right. It is the only source which captures and eternalises a moment in time visually. Unfortunately it is still a human with all his faults and deficiencies who stands behind the camera. That means that although the photograph as source is generally speaking very reliable and objective, historical criticism still has to be applied. To err is human, over and above wilful misrepresentation. Furthermore there are certain pitfalls and limitations inherent to the photograph. At the Sammy Marks Museum just east of Pretoria, a large collection of photographs has been preserved which shows the everyday life of the Marks family over a long period of time. By examining these photographs a clear picture can be formed of the everyday life of a well-to-do Victorian family in the Transvaal during the period 1890 to 1920. The actual images captured by the camera tell the story of these people's weal and woe like words cannot do. No source can be all-revealing .on its own. The photographs and the information drawn from them, are supported and confirmed by references and quotations from the personal correspondence of the family of which much has also been preserved. It is kept at the University of Cape Town. The biography of Sammy Marks by Richard Mendelsohn (Cape Town, 1991) as well as other literary sources has been studied and applied. The study also contains a broad background sketch of the period and its spirit. By making comparisons between the findings about the lives of Sammy Marks and his family and what is known generally about the people of the time, one can see to what degree they conformed or differed. The development of photography itself is also. briefly discussed. The historical photographs which were preserved by the Marks family, serve as example of how valuable such photographs are for our knowledge and the eventual reconstruction of the past. Without them the task of the physical restoration of the house, outbuildings and garden to their original shape would have been much more difficult. At the same time and even more important, they breathe life into the house through the information they contain about the people who used to inhabit it. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 1996. / gm2014 / Historical and Heritage Studies / unrestricted

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2006. / Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 186 p. Includes bibliographical references.

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