OpenUCT :: Browsing by Author "Coetzer, Nic"

Browsing by Author "Coetzer, Nic"

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A common heritage / an appropriated history: The Cape Dutch preservation and revival movement as nation and empire builder
(2007) Coetzer, Nic
The Cape Dutch architectural revival at the time of the Union of South Africa in 1910 points to more than just an emerging interest in building preservation and the Arts and Crafts rural ideal germane to English architectural circles of the time. Cape Dutch architecture, and the gable of Groot Constantia in particular, was used as a symbol to establish a common European heritage that could transcend the animosities of English and Afrikaans South Africans and help forge a new white 'nation'. A closer reading reveals that Cape Dutch architecture, as history and as style, was appropriated by English architects at the Cape as the contribution South African architecture could make to the British Empire.
Open Access
Action and Reaction: Developing an architecture of movement
(2014) Emery, Luke; Coetzer, Nic; Silverman, Melinda
This dissertation deals with the phenomenon of movement in relation to architecture. What does it entail to create an architecture of movement and what possibilities can this type of design offer us outside of 'conventional' architecture. The research behind the topic bases itself in the theory of Game Design as a tool to structure movement with meaning. Game Design proves itself to be a potent tool in encouraging interactivity, in turn handing over a certain level of control and design over to the players participating. The more control afforded to the players, the more they can affect the outcome and experience of a game. This means games are a medium with the possibility for high replay value as players go back to experience the multiple outcomes of a game. The theory of using Game Design as a tool in architecture is then tested through my own design located on the edge of the Grand Parade in Cape Town. The design aims to create an architecture of multiple outcomes including an 'Everyday' and 'Festival' narratives through the use of movement. Game Design is used as a tool of analysis in order to determine whether the movement is integral to the architecture and its intended function through spatializing the key principles identified in the theory of Game Design. The conclusion drawn is that Game Design is an effective tool in aiding design in architecture. Its value emerges through the fact that it challenges design decisions made within architecture based on how integral they are in relation to the social and programmatic rules and expectations the project attempts to deal with.
Open Access
Adaptive Healing: Exploring therapeutic architecture and the integration of addiction rehabilitation into the Cape Flats, Mitchells Plain
(2014) Basson, Johan; Coetzer, Nic; Silverman, Melinda
This dissertation explores therapeutic architecture and the integration of addiction rehabilitation into the Cape Flats, Mitchells Plain area. This project ultimately introduces the concept of an integrated community rehabilitation and wellness centre in one of the most notorious, unhealthy urban environments in the Western Cape, Mitchells Plain. This will demonstrate that a healing environment can be achieved in any context, urban or rural. A rehabilitation centre that engages with its surrounding community, fostering various levels of controlled interaction between patient and public. An integrated facility that gives back to its community through shared facilities. This investigation also unpacks the existing rehabilitation ecology and the gradual transition process in the formulation of a new hybrid system that combines the various stages of rehabilitation within a centralised facility. The project aims to deinstitutionalize the existing rehabilitation programme through the ‘simulation of a real life’ concept, where the facility will incorporate familiar elements, such as the house, neighbourhood and downtown to replicate the variety of environments in our everyday lives. The design uses ‘nature as therapy through architecture’ with the implementation of various concepts, which includes a raised therapeutic platform and a perimeter planter, serving as an urban filter that defuses the harsh urban context of Mitchells Plain. This project also explores the role of Architectural technology in therapy and ultimately introduces the concept of a highly localised adaptive façade system that allows for individual patient control and to filter the interactive visual relationship between patient and public. Our modern healing facilities have been designed to house apparatus for healing but not to be healing instruments in themselves. Architecture should be considered just as significant as the treatments that it houses.
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Architectural rubble : the manufactured landscape of Granger Bay
(2014) Philotheou, Christina; Coetzer, Nic; Silverman, Melinda
Throughout the process of this dissertation I have explored an architecture that can truly represent the reality of the manufactured landscape and the complexities of such a morphology. It is with this interest that I found Granger Bay and its inherently manufactured qualities. It is a landscape that is simultaneously natural and artificial. An enquiry into the shift from the natural to the artificial was explored in terms of what it means for our reading of place as well as how architecture can encompass this new terrain. In the study of this site, like an archaeological investigation, the story of ‘unbuilding to build’ arose from the ground; discovering Granger Bay’s true genius loci, which is grounded in rubble and the stories of the buildings that make up its rubble ground. It was with these ideas that I allowed the landscape to inform and generate a unique architectural language where boundaries are blurred between nature and man-made and enclosure and opening. The key informants to this design are the various geometries and forces that act on the site: Fort Wynyard’s sight lines, the buried natural landscape, the ocean, rubble ground and the memory of the Alhambra Theatre. Through design I hope to have harnessed the sites latent energies and unleash the potential of Granger Bay’s favourable location with key infrastructure and public space.
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The architecture of learning environments and community integration
(2012) Botha, Lezanne; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic
This thesis is focused on architectural theories and design concepts which will add to the discourse of the what learning environments should or could be in the 21st century. It is based on the idea that spaces for learning need to be more “alive and that architecture can stimulate positive social interaction between people. The current public education system and its related standards, requirements and policies, with regards to physical learning spaces, does not address the present needs of children as it ought to. Many schools in South Africa are not built and designed to function as sustainable buildings and they often do not cater for the economic, environmental or social needs of current and future learners, teachers and community members.
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Architecture of the Machine
(2013) Gild, Talia Orli; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
A dissertation born out of the fascination of largescaled infrastructural engineered/architectural projects, where the individual human is absent from its initial architectural and programmatic goals, rendering built form/architecture that is free to explore scale and form. A project where the architecture is formally governed by a process that is mechanical and systematic. This dissertation that has been entitled Architecture of the Machine as I have chosen to explore the machine of our future water supply, that of a desalination plant. 2013 marks the year that we, South Africa, are no longer water "secure", in other words, the population of the country is going to exceed the amount of water available to us. A desalination plant in Hout Bay, able to produce 30 000M ℓ/day, situated on the edge of the industrial sector, harbour, the informal settlement of Hangberg and the beginning the mountainous terrain of The Sentinel. This dissertation proposes that the brine water be used for salt harvesting, via shallow pans, where naturally, the water will be evaporated from these pans, leaving salt crystals behind to be used in industry, as well as the implementation of sustainable energy devices to help supplement this extensive energy consuming process. With great infrastructure comes great responsibility, therefore the design of this infrastructure must be coupled with public activities. Building something that helps our future livelihood must be something that people can also interact with, and identify with, thereby creating a physical and emotive landmark.
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At the edge: An exploration of the boundary condition between architecture and nature
(2016) Botha, Vivian May; Coetzer, Nic; Fellingham, Kevin; Crowder, Albertrum
An interest in abandoned and derelict landscapes as environmentally appropriate spaces for architectural interventions led my dissertation research to the theoretical concept of terrain vague. The terrain vague sites found within the City of Cape Town revealed that it is the edge condition which differentiates these spaces as being outside the realm of the normative city. The unravelling of the edge from a state of order to disorder took my research to the historical fortifications of Table Bay and specifically, the Settlement's eastern boundary demarcated by the French Lines. A combination of redoubts and connecting rampant walls which marked the boundary between the order of the European settlement and the wilderness beyond. The Central Redoubt is the only remnant of these structures and is located on Trafalgar Park in the suburb of Woodstock. Trafalgar Park is surrounded and fragmented by a variety of boundary conditions and controlled access which results in the Park being severely underutilised. The dissertation design project looks at re-activating Trafalgar Park through the manipulation of its various edge conditions. The transformation of boundaries into pedestrian routes and public space around points of interest aims to improve accessibility and encourage connections between the Park and surrounding context. The Swimming Pool Precinct was chosen as the site for the architectural intervention as it is an impacted site that offers the opportunity to increase activity and improve the connection between the north and south of the Park. The interrogation of the boundary condition between architecture and nature through the design of edges and thresholds is the driving concept behind the architectural design. The dissertation design project aims to demonstrate that appropriate architectural interventions are able to increase activity in public areas within the City of Cape Town without the need for fences and controlled access.
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Bellville public transport interchange
(2014) De Klerk, Stephan; Coetzer, Nic; Silverman, Melinda; Meyer, Tiaan
Public Transport has played a fundamental part in my personal life as it was the mode of transport used to get to friends, part-time work and ultimately university campus over the span of eleven years. Using the South African public railway service on a daily basis for the past six years, it has made me aware of many fundamental architectural problems within this arena, with the biggest concern lying within the public transport interchange precinct; at the coming together of the different modes of public transport. Staying in the Northern Suburbs my entire life, attending Bellville High school and later the University of Cape Town, meant that the Bellville Public Transport Interchange has had a big impact on my idea and conceptions on the functioning of a public transport interchange. Subconsciously studying the Bellville Public Transport Interchange and understanding its functioning over the past eleven years has made me aware of the absence of architectural contribution within its current operational system and has lead me to the investigation of the relationship between architecture and the Bellville public Transport Interchange. The dissertation document that follows seeks to improve the current relationship between architecture and the Bellville Public Transport Interchange through the use of vertical and horizontal architectural layering systems.
Open Access
Between nature and culture: a stone masonry school and walking path at the Strand Street Quarry
(2015) Rolando, Jean-Sebastian; Fraschini, Matteo; Silverman, Melinda; Fellingham, Kevin; Coetzer, Nic
The dissertation design seeks to make present and enhance the inherent qualities of the Stand Street Quarry in order to reintroduce its heritage narratives into the public realm. The proposed intervention aspires to, if anything, subtlety. It seeks to make the value of the histories of the site evident to the user in such a way that they are compelled to find meaning individually, to interact with the site and the landscape in a meaningful and personal manner. Minimalistic design solutions were sought out in order to produce a product scheme that embeds another layer of human intervention in the palimpsestual narrative of the Signal Hill territory.
Open Access
Blind Man's Bluff - cruel revelations through the study of architectural artefacts
(2019) Berlein, Darren; Coetzer, Nic; Fellingham, Kevin
This dissertation is an attempt to understand the Bluff Headland of Durban by uncovering its hidden systems and ideas. By studying the abandoned built fabric visible on site including a whaling station, the ideas that once embedded themselves within those structures reveal much larger societal notions and hidden systems. The Bluff is of a particular interest in its relation to modernity as it is framed as a blind spot hidden in the development of Durban. Many of the artefacts found on site today are abandoned and owe themselves to particular epochs that have faded such as the abandoned World War 1 bunkers and the abandoned whaling station. However, Durban Central Sewage Treatment Works nestles itself in between these abandoned structures away from any engagement with the city anonymously pumping sewage into the ocean. This dissertation explores the horrors that once nested themselves in these structures through multiple modes of making, in particular the use of the camera and the body, as method of engaging with site artefacts cross-referenced with archival-research. The design project attaches itself to the ruined whaling station and manifests itself as a space of remembrance for the past systems that have once occurred. It also looks to the future of human impact on its environment by initially opening a counter memorial that allows the building to later mature into a museum through the passage of time. The natural action of the waves wash away the sand formwork that is used to cast the museum. Additionally visitors to the counter memorial are also invited to flense and wash some of the sand away to understand timescales of the natural world. These erosive processes will then allow the space to open to its full capacity, in time, taking direct influence from the process of whaling.
Open Access
Building the spectacle : breaking the wall : project for a civic sports precinct at Trafalgar Park, Cape Town
(2014) Moronell, Catherine; Coetzer, Nic; Silverman, Melinda; Wentworth, Gemma
This design dissertation follows a narrative process of research and design speculation. The report defines the subject of the project and is the first part of the dissertation. The subject can be divided into the two major themes of: historically defensive territory and voyeurism or peoples' desire for publicness. The project is initiated through this pairing of seemingly antithetical themes. The second part and final outcome is a building proposal. Its function has been formed through my engagement with themes. The resultant programme is a civic sports precinct at Trafalgar Park and Baths in Woodstock, Cape Town. I chose this site for it concealed a hidden narrative in the city. The ruin of an 18th century Dutch defence system in the park was a catalyst for the investigation. Creating a civic recreational space in this guarded public territory (both historically and at present) became the object of my project. The narrative of keeping-out emerges as a socio-historical reading of the site. The possibility of seeing-in between sites of activity and how this informs publicness became the first spatial informant for the design project for public space.
Open Access
Building walls, breaking boundaries : a study of difference and inclusion at Deer Park, Cape Town
(2014) Jankes, Taryn; Coetzer, Nic; Silverman, Melinda
‘Building Walls: Breaking Boundaries’ is based on the manner in which difference and diversity meet in the city and how architecture and the built environment can be used as a tool to either facilitate interaction or hinder it. Cape Town is a vibrant multicultural city, endowed with a monumental natural landscape that defines its edges. Despite this, the visual language of the city is one of spatial separation; a result of the enduring legacy of Cape Town’s colonial past and modernist city planning, and further perpetuated by the segregationist programme of the Apartheid regime. Cape Town is a place where a variety of natural features and diverse landscapes and persons are concentrated, but each remains isolated and segregated, resulting in the potential of this diversity being lost. My interest lies in the exclusion of both people and animals from the city. Through contradiction and confrontation, this dissertation investigates what happens when these previously excluded groups are reintroduced back into what society deems normal or acceptable. It explores what changes occur when our neatly compartmentalised lives are injected with the unfamiliar, where the boundaries we define are traversed, and where the walls we built to keep ourselves separate are broken down. In this dissertation report, I will explain how people with mental illness and nature are included through an architectural intervention that reconciles the contrasting programs of a halfway house, a sanctuary for neglected city animals and a gateway building as a public interface for Table Mountain. While I have chosen a specific site and designed a building particular to that site, several other comparable sites have been identified within the city where this concept is relevant and can be applied within site specific opportunities and constraints. However the focus of this dissertation is not an urban scaled intervention but an architectural solution to a site which allows the fullest exploration of the conceptual framework underlying this project.
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A Centre for Design: Catalyst for Urban Regeneration in Salt River, Cape Town
(2013) Viljoen, Tanya; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
Our cities are plagued by "lost spaces," left over as a result of the modern movement and extensive mobility routes. These spaces result in negative areas of the city, and are associated with vagrants, pollution and crime, rendering the area and its surroundings unsafe and undesirable. This dissertation shows how, by means of acknowledging, considering and reprogramming space these areas can be reconsidered to be positive places The aim of this dissertation is to address the architectural problem of neglected space and show how, through revitalisation and insertion of functions and programs which respond to site, historical context and culture, the inherent potential of a space can be unveiled. The design and research develops a theoretically informed and sustainable approach to regenerating"lost space" and convert it into a positive architectural experience of place.
Open Access
Church - Club: A study in cross programming as a means of survival for the church in the contemporary urban environment
(2014) Welz,Thomas Marcel; Coetzer, Nic; Silverman, Melinda
This dissertation sets out to discover a new of mode of being for the Pentecostal church which will ensure its survival and continued existence in the contemporary urban environment of the Claremont Central Business District. It is argued that the institution of the church is under threat in the urban context. The church is in decline and urban land is in demand. The dissertation argues cross-programming the church will ensure its survival within this context by introducing new and diverse revenue streams which reduces dependence on dwindling membership contributions, opens up new dialogues between the church and its context, thus justifying its place within the context by filling gaps within and building on the existing contextual programmatic mix. Central to this programmatic problem the space of the church still needs to hold onto and express the essence of what it is that makes it a sacred space. The initial data gathering was done by site, programmatic and statistical analysis; this data was gathered on site and through various publications. In addition, theoretical and technical research was gathered through various peer reviewed texts and publications. In the process of gathering information, common themes, patterns and connections between the different analyses were made which in turn led to further research or conclusions which assisted the argument and informed the design development of the project. In conclusion, it was found that the central idea of cross-programming the urban church was workable. Here there would undoubtedly have to be some compromise as each programme presents different requirements, but ultimately the application of the key theoretical theme of verticality brought unity to the scheme. Additionally, there was also need for some unconventional construction techniques to achieve comfortable internal environments. Finally, the result of the incorporation of diverse programming proved to yield greater and more diverse interactions between the church and its context which ultimately ensures its place, role and survival in the contemporary urban context.
Open Access
The combine harvester: defining a new food retail typology
(2014) Kuiper, Sarah; Coetzer, Nic; Silverman, Melinda; Beattie, Jennifer
The project developed out of a theoretical inquiry into the use of food as a design tool to facilitate urban regeneration. The need for change arises from the loss of public space due to corporate control over food and food retail taking place in privatised environments. This socio- spatial polarisation becomes visible when mapping the change from historic marketplace to supermarket. The two primary concerns which arise from this socio-spatial polarisation are that of food being viewed as a utilitarian commodity, which allows routine shopping to take place in a supermarket rather than a market, and an evacuation of the public realm with the disappearance of food from public marketplaces. Spatial and infrastructure analyses of existing food retail models within the existing food system in Cape Town identify an appropriate supermarket-market hybrid that facilitates the flows of people and produce while regenerating public space.
Open Access
The Contemporary Cape Winery: A Wine Cooperative for Jamestown, Stellenbosch
(2014) Bernard, Anthonie; Coetzer, Nic; Silverman, Melinda; Beattie, Jennifer
This dissertation aims to engage critically with the commercial wine estate typology in the Stellenbosch wine region in the Western Cape. The social problems faced by farm workers in the region calls for a re-interpretation of the winery typology to ensure a more socially sustainable future for the viticultural industry in South Africa. In order to achieve this, the general state of the commercial wine estate in the region will be read in relation to aspects such as heritage, social responsibility and spatial relationship to urban areas and farm worker communities. To develop this new typology, a site with agricultural potential and a direct connection to an urban farm workers settlement will be used. The potential of the urban environment will be analysed in relation to the existing facilities in the community to determine a solution for a new typology of winery which will bridge the divide between community and the farm in such a way where it will be beneficial for both and through this create a new social structure for the wine estate. The possibility of an densified wine cooperative will be investigated. The design will consist of a large scale urban framework for the wine cooperative and a detailed design of the winery within the context of the new cooperative.
Open Access
(DIS)JOINING (DIS)JUNCTURE
(2016) Rawoot, Maashitoh; Coetzer, Nic
This project began with an encounter with a place, an ambivalent place of disjunction between a mountain and a wasteland in the city. The subsequent uncovering of untold stories, traces of memory, about that place, reveal a site laden with a history of a deep connection between a people and their natural surroundings. Ensuing events of disjunction and displacement has indented into it layers, which has left it a severed site of strange contradictions. This paper explores the fragmented nature of the memory of a place; that it cannot simply be recreated, and in fact should not be. Rather, the dissertation research looks at ways in which art and architecture are manipulated to disrupt the way think we perceive a place and reframe our presumptions, such that latent layers of an existing place can be awakened and brought into presence in a new way. The project departs from the position that the disjunctions of a place can in fact be the site of shifting perceptions and unexpected connection, as is asserted by Stuart Hall in "Maps of Emergency: Fault Lines and Tectonic Plates": ..."Of course, fault lines… are also productive. Those escaping the vertical lines of force forge new lateral connections. New formations appear where older ones disappear beneath the sand. Borders, which divide, become sites of surreptitious crossing. Separate and inviolable worlds meet and collide. Where only the pure, the orthodox, were valorised, a new universe of vernaculars and creole forms comes into existence." This particular design process was one of actively harnessing all the layers of the site, past and present, strange and ordinary, connections and disjunctions, to bring about a new, shifted experience of the place.
Open Access
Empowering Power Town : a contextual study that ascertains social and architectural sustainability
(2010) Beyers, Nellis; Carter, Francis; Coetzer, Nic; Noero, Jo; Steenkamp, Alta
My thesis investigates the ability to generate social and architectural sustainability from the surrounding context of a specific site- Power Town. A thorough analysis of the changing social conditions, cultural values and natural processes are done to be part of, and inform, this hypothesis. My architectural interventions are thus informed by the existing and will be a reflection of Power Town's vernacular. The first part of the document introduces Power Town to the reader, where it is situated and how it came to be, and why it is an unproductive settlement. Part two, 'a landscape enthused architecture', explores cultural, productive and responsive landscapes and their implication in architecture. Methods are investigated that help to uncover the complex layers of site and landscape. This thorough understanding Bird' s eye view of Power Town (Wildlife Expressions, Power Town) of the landscape will inform the design proposal. It will illustrate that Power Town has much potential to develop and evolve within its environment. In part three, 'adaptability', I discuss the potential of reusing structures, as they are, instead of demolishing them, clearing the site, and constructing new architecture. In many situations, manmade structures already exist in the context of a site and the adaptive reuse of them will be a productive addition to the context. New architecture must also be able to adjust and accommodate the unpredictable needs of the future. The fourth part, 'sustainable materials', is an investigation of a productive use of materials. Using materials originated from the context is the key initiative here. It makes for a sustainable construction that reflects the context and blends in with the landscape. This includes possibilities such as materials produced or harvested on site and the reuse of demolition- and industrial waste. All topics are discussed as interrelated issues that could contribute to the restoration of Power Town's dignity. Part five, 'design', is the synthesis of all these opportunities. A site making strategy that allows for unpredictable incremental phasing is designed initially. A number of design principles are implemented in this place making that would contribute to ascertaining social and architectural sustainability. The main idea here is to exploit the existing farming, fishing and construction abilities in the community and initiate a productive landscape. The place making plan lays the foundation for the design of a production centre. I propose to adapt and reuse the existing derelict power station. This new public building will form the heart of Power Town's productivity. It will house a number of facilities that offer, mainly; skills development workshops in different forms of production; a multi-usable auditorium; a production nursery; as well as flexible market, storage and work space for the processing and distribution of foodstuff in the community.
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Engaging homelessness: Facilitating change through architectural intervention
(2018) Louw, Christopher; Fellingham, Kevin; Coetzer, Nic
This dissertation engages with the issue of homelessness in the City of Cape Town. It makes use of existing literature and research on homelessness to frame the severity of the issue. Furthermore, it surfaces the lived experience of homelessness through first-hand accounts of living on the street, highlighting the challenges faced and survival strategies implemented by homeless individuals. The response focuses in part to meet the immediate needs of homeless individuals by creating a safe zone in which the activities of the home can be carried out. Furthermore, the intent is to engage with the homeless population across a range of thresholds, allowing them the autonomy to filter into a newly facilitated network that works with existing infrastructure to guide individuals on a journey off the street. The Dissertation culminates in a speculative design project near the fringe of Cape Town's CBD. The project deals with an undeveloped parcel of land, as well as the addition to and alterations of an existing Salvation Army building.
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Exploring ‘place-making,’ city squares & other places: Cape Town’s pre-apartheid spatial politics
(2008) Coetzer, Nic
This paper explores the theoretical problems, contradictions and limits that architecturally-oriented 'place-making,' and the 'city square' typological thrust of place-making, evokes. The first part of this paper is a sketching out of some of the key architectural theorists and ideas in relation to form, space and place. It points to the limiting understanding of place-making essentially as an act of enclosure whose centring spatiality purports to be a 'healing' instrument through which the excesses of modernism and apartheid's 'space' might be redressed. As a counterpoint to the humanist positions of Norberg-Schulz and Kevin Lynch, the potential for 'place' to be the nexus of asymmetrical power relations is also investigated; place is set in contrast to the possible liberating potential of 'the city'. The final section of the first part of this paper looks at Deleuze and Guattari's conceptual schemas of 'smooth' and 'striated' space in considering the conservative function of architecture in society. The second part of this paper examines three pre-apartheid places in Cape Town, namely, Wells Square in erstwhile District Six, the Roeland Street housing scheme, and the Cape Dutch manor house Groot Constantia. These case studies demonstrate the limits and efficacy of place-making theory in dealing with the complexities of ideologically-loaded contexts. Groot Constantia's 'object building' imageability produced it as a flattened place that was filled with normalising and conservative identities such as nation and race. On the other hand, the spatially fractured Wells Square was erased from District Six because of its dangerous potential as a Deleuzian 'smooth' space. Finally, the Roeland Street scheme confirms the power that modernist space had in limiting the liberating potential of the spatiality of the pre-apartheid city. I conclude by using the ideas in both parts, as well as ideas about power and visuality as a means to reflect on what I think are important issues when it comes to form, space and place.