Browsing by Author "De Jager, Rob"

Now showing 1 - 14 of 14
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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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    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.
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    Forgetting To Remember : Remembering To Forget: a space for reconciliation and transformation in post-apartheid South Africa
    (2013) Gevers, Katja Barros; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
    This dissertation discusses the origin, development and implementation of the design project - a reconciliation memorial in the Schotschekloof quarry in Cape Town. The project aims to illuminate the opportunity for architecture to engender reconciliation, and therefore contribute, however subtly, towards the transformation of a society. It is applied to the South African post-Apartheid context through the lens of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but deals with universal themes of memory, loss and forgiveness. The project critically explores reconciliation resulting from the interplay of memory and forgetting within the spatial confines of the memorial. It explores the functional aspects of both processes expanding on the traditional definition of commemorative space in art and architecture.
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    Inclusive & rehabilitative environment : the application of universal design principles to rehabilitate mainstream society's attitude toward disabilities & access
    (2013) Bawa, Hiten M; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
    This "Inclusive and Rehabilitative Environment" dissertation focuses on the application of Universal Design principles and changing attitudes toward people with disabilities in the built environment. The choice of research subject is partly influenced by my disability as a profoundly deaf person and as a bilateral cochlear implant user as well as from my exposure to the spatial challenges people with disabilities face in the built environment. Cape Town’s built environment was designed and constructed with no reference to the needs of people with disabilities and the ageing population (Davies, 2013; Thompson 2013). It continued to perpetuate the social and attitudinal barriers toward disabilities despite recent attempts and policies at improving accessibility (Daniels, 2013; Opperman, 2013, Mycroft, 2013). There are few buildings in Cape Town that are accessible but most of them are restricted to institutional typologies. In addition, the research focus is further motivated by the following points: * There is a lack of relevant and updated resources on Universal Design in South Africa compared to First World countries (Davies; 2013; Lehohla, 2005; Opperman, 2013; Thompson; 2013). * The recently updated section of the National Building Regulation SANS 10400, Part S: Facilities for persons with disabilities, is a significant advancement for the rights of people with disabilities. Granted, the legal frameworks, policies and guidelines are theoretically in place. They are seldom applied in practice and are often not enforced (Thompson, 2013). * There is a lack of understanding on applying accessibility features to suit the local context compared to international examples (Daniels, 2013; Davies; 2013).
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    The Lion Couchant - Architecture of the ontological landscape of Lion Mountain
    (2013) Botha, Charlton; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
    This dissertation is focussed on the natural and cultural landscape of the 'Lion Mountain', comprising of Signal Hill and Lion's Head, Cape Town. Based on the earlier theoretical analysis of reading place through a phenomenological approach to landscape of memory, as well the technological analysis of contemporary methods for architectural mapping, both studies serve as a pretext to the dissertation, in so far as to provide tools of engagement and interpretation of the study area to be identified as the "overall site". The resultant findings uncover a rich, highly complex layering of place and the relationships that permeate the various stages of human inhabitation here. These findings provide the platform for tracing the present day evidence of their respective adaptations, and as such, identifies that the role of the landscape, primarily a seasonal place of recreation – in contemporary culture - dissolves within itself muted and often absent representations of its multifaceted history. Thus, the overriding architectural problem questions whether perhaps the true value of this landscape lie in its ability to be understood by its user as much as it is to be enjoyed, beyond its often chaotic usage. The project challenges the customs of both historical narrative and active natural landscape as inherently separate archetypes and proposes the establishment of a framework upon which key significant elements of the narrative, spread across the broader landscape, get developed as a series of spatial episodes with unique supporting programs. The neutrality of everyday life is suggested as the common factor that brings these archetypes into discourse. A network of inter-leading routes then incorporates these interim destinations and their respective histories into a dynamic present. The architectural design of each of these destinations gets expressed through the intimacy of the sensuous qualities of the built fabric and the fragility of natural ecology and its temporal authority. At times delicate influence simply reinforces existing conditions, and at others more extensive persuasion is required to realise the special qualities of each location. Adaptive reuse plays as big a role with programming the existing as it does with modes of production - emphasizing the situatedness of place and experiential embodiment. Such valency in the proposal shifts the prominence of normative associations of "nature reserve" maintenance and management into qualitative public engagement at a much deeper level than what is presently experienced.
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    Living on the edge : Nature & Society - Re-imagining architecture through Thirdspace
    (2013) Artz, Pim; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
    This design dissertation report investigates the paradigm of Thirdspace theory through explorations within the tensions between nature and society, directing the focus of site towards Cape Town's city bowl urban edge. Thirdspace is adopted throughout the development of this dissertation and investigated at different architectural scales within the design process: from the initial conceptualised stage through to spatial programming towards realisation of the construction process and materiality. Nature is under attack by urbanism, where architecture may act as a mediator by providing a platform for a new kind of urban form to manifest through coexistence. Where a neglected firebreak periphery once enforced a disconnected nature from society, it now presents an opportunity for a productive firebreak strategy integrated into an architectural layer, merging public space into the natural landscape. Designing opportunity for crossprogramming in the realms of residential architecture, generates a mixed use matrix, a space where cultures and traditions merge together to form a neutral social framework, where in the urban edge condition, an architecture coexists between the realms of nature and that of the city.
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    An oasis for the urban nomad : public transport interchange as an advocator for publicness
    (2013) Virahsawmy, Kurvin; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
    The construct of the urban landscape is made up of different spaces consisting of diverse typologies and various tones from public to private. These spaces, irrespective of their traits, play an important role in the life of a pedestrian, a commuter, the 'man on the street': An urban nomad. Publicness, complemented by ideas of cultural configuration and the concept of third space, forms the core literature for the architectural enquiry. The dissertation looks beyond the notion public and private spaces and rather sees those spaces as a platform that may favour social interactions, often referred to as 'public spaces'. The architectural agenda was to create a soulful space that allows a criss-crossing of an array of different cultural configurations. The site, being a key determinant to the enquiry, helped to crystallise the idea and thus emerged the creation of the Oasis for the Urban Nomad. The Mowbray Public Transport Interchange, being the ideal location for the oasis, led to the formulation of the architectural intervention: A transport hub that transcends the conventional notion of a transport utility. The built form helped to bridge the divide caused by the railway line and thus create a better fusion of the fragmented parts of Mowbray. The Transport hub/Oasis of the Urban Nomad, besides becoming an integral part of the Urban Nomad's daily journey, may be seen as a primer for an incremental [re] development of the area.
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    OpuntiaGenesis: The hybrid generating plant
    (2013) Aquadro, Gabriellle; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
    This design dissertation explores the possibility of creating a piece of architecture from a singular biological parameter (the Opuntia ficus-indica/Prickly pear), that is both the fuel and the generator of the architectural programme, materiality, spatiality and structure. The main intention of this architectural investigation is to explore a range of alternative processes, strategies and facilities that can be used to uplift the community of Sutherland as well as the greater Hoogland municipality. The key programmatic feature is a result of the viable and celebrated capacity of the Opuntia species to be used as the main digester feed during anaerobic decomposition (biogas generation). This characteristic of the Opuntia species has informed the development of a sustainable closed-loop programmatic system that consist of the production of biogas as well as the generation of all the Opuntia by-products, including; medicinal, food, liqueur and alternative building materials. Whilst the programme is driven by the physical attributes of the Opuntia species, the architectural interrogation is a result of a series of biomimetic, parametric and materialecological investigations of both the Opuntia species as well as the site at a macro and micro scale. With this in mind the product of such a system hopes to become an Energy Lab that is not only based on the production of energy, but a lab that’s very layout, fabric and structure is fuelled by the animation and optimisation of Opuntia matter. Moreover it is essential to recognise that Opuntia matter is a product of ambient energy, making the treatment of light the essential tool in the development of this architectural design dissertation.
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    The place beyond the bent pines - designing through exploration, making and discovery: an alternative design methodology through an exploration in timber for an imagining of its use
    (2013) De Klerk, Charlotte; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
    This dissertation demonstrates an experiment in an alternative design methodology, beginning with structural and material exploration rather than conventional design processes where detailing plays less of a role in the design process. The dissertation project is driven by informants discovered through technical research in timber construction through tactile experimentation and the 'act of making'. Timber remains the material of choice for the length of the dissertation. Timber's particular inherent properties, capabilities and hindrances therefore form the parameters for creative design potential. The dissertation thus aims to demonstrate the importance of understanding materials and tests whether an alternative design process can lead to a more tectonically expressive form. The dissertation focuses on the use of standardised building components to demonstrate the way in which a timber compilation of standard components can be used to create an extremely varied building form. Additionally, it emphasises the use of localised technologies in order to show that craft still has a place within the context of contemporary South Africa where high unemployment rates and unskilled labour is experienced. The dissertation further demonstrates the way in which a designed structural timber system, designed purely through informants learnt through the 'act of making', can be applied in a contextualised setting with an appropriate site and programme in accordance with the structure's spatial potential. The final design aims to form perceptual structure through its tectonic expression in perceiving it as meaningful. Ultimately, the project strives towards depicting an architectural tectonic story where the building is contextualised, Hout Bay, South Africa, and seeks to express a narrative in which one can construe one's own tale as to the mystery of its making.
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    The productive landscape : wetland rehabilitation at the lower reaches of the Liesbeek River
    (2013) Bhikha, Preetya; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
    This dissertation explores the relationship between architecture, nature and the machine. It aims to investigate the potential for architecture to serve as a catalyst for site regeneration, specifically in a landscape that is undervalued in its current condition. The design, located at the lower reaches of the Liesbeek River, explores wetland rehabilitation and agricultural production, by viewing architecture as a soft machine that becomes a part of dynamic systems in ecological landscapes. The boundary has been selected as the means for architectural engagement, and the layers of the site are explored for their potential to create identity.The proposed programme comprises of an architecture of inhabited site works, that embodies the process of natural water filtration, using water from the Liesbeek River. Natural ecosystems are restored through the cultivation of endangered wetland plants in controlled growing beds for wetland rehabilitation on the site. Filtered water from the constructed wetlands is then used in hydroponic farming, supported by a water research facility. The conventional typology of landscapes of production is augmented through public interaction, which is facilitated through the provision of public amenities. These include a healthy-food café, public pool and change facilities, as well as a public wetland recreational park. The dissertation shows that through the creation of a productive landscape that facilitates public interaction, value can be given to an under appreciated site, by establishing identity through activation.
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    Re-presenting Groote Schuur: Exploring phenomenological notions in architecture and landscape
    (2013) Davids, Thaufir; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
    This dissertation is about the re-presentation and appropriation of a contrived culturally manipulated landscape, the decaying and neglected site of the old Rhodes Zoo. It uses the phenomenological notions of boundary, horizon, transparency and memory to re-appropriate the site as a literal and metaphoric gateway, a park and an experience. While the project attempts to appropriate the landscape into a park, it does so neither by demarcating or restricting its surface, nor by gardening or loading it with anything superficially related to the programme or convention of an urban park. Instead, as an acknowledgement of the landscape’s inherent complexity, the project utilises familiar archetypes; the wall, steps, a pergola etc., to reconstitute the site through the act of describing. It is a strategy which depends on articulating differences between the familiar and unfamiliar, and making the variety of layers inherent in a site legible and resonant. The project attempts to execute architectural gestures which are complex or generative in a metaphoric sense but attainable with limited means. Their simplicity and familiarity gives each archetype a powerful tectonic, material and poetic presence. While each element strikes a specific relationship to the terrain, mapping the histories and topographic changes that have shaped the site. The richness and complexity of these devices comes from being essentially relevant to the site, as adjectives and maps describing its variations, measuring its slopes, noting its inflections and underlining its folds. While their complexity, like that of the landscape, means they cannot be described solely in terms of their function or syntax: strolling, respite or leisure. The project, always careful to stimulate the visitor’s attention and signal various strata rather than materialise them, engages the landscape’s phenomenal memory. Thanks to the project’s articulations, the landscape of the zoo site, although barely touched by the project, is transformed into a generative metaphor of its own substrate. The single univocal ground plane of the existing site is changed into an active terrain. Endowed with a certain depth through transparency and dignity as an instigator of the architectural process, the landscape is converted into a vehicle for the imagination of the site-seers who adventure there.
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    Rompslomp en Soutstories (Helter-Skelter and Salty Yarns) : Creating place for meaning in a forgotten bay
    (2013) Kellerman, Beatrix; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
    This dissertation examines the creation of public place that is rich in experience. The design project is located at the Small Fishing Harbour of Saldanha Bay. The research was based primarily on the following: Topics around place character and meaning were investigated and the use of poetry as a phenomenological method to illuminate the character of place was researched. The significance of recovered landscapes and peripheral sites was also investigated. The possibility of uncovering different spatial identities of site by investigating space at different scales was researched. New technologies that are suitable for application in the specific context such as fog catchers and Integrated Multi-trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) practices were also investigated. Through theoretical research the conclusion was reached that it is important to create place in such a way that it is rich in experience and has unique character. Places that are rich in experience have the potential to carry meaning in the minds of their users. Place needs both character and meaning for people to be able to identify with it and have a sense of belonging. Urban analysis showed that the Small Fishing Harbour is a peripheral site which is very important in terms of its physical location in the town of Saldanha Bay. It provides access to the water's edge to a segregated community. It was concluded that re (claiming) the Small Fishing Harbour as public place, through remediation of the site and an improved urban link to the town centre, is necessary for it to become a sustainable public place. It was illustrated that understanding existing context in terms of history and different spatial identities is important. Site specifics inform how existing experiences can be celebrated and/or reinforced in the design project.
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    The Watched Towers : Creating disjunction in a river of movement
    (2013) Begg, Imraan; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
    This dissertation is on how architecture can heighten the experience of a route through disjunction and weathering. My motivation for the route is driven by my fascination with movement along an existing spine, which stretches 700 metres from Woodstock station to the harbours edge. The route crosses eight different types of private and public transport modes offering different options. The route is made up of a series of existing 'disjunctions', which incorporates, inclines and declines including a 360 metre continuously raised footbridge. The approach uses the principles of Tschumi's 'superimpositions' to create disjunction in the architecture, together with the effects of natural and social weathering, to heighten the experience of the route. The project approach combines the existing layers of movement (the route), points (moments of intensity) and surfaces (weathering, social and natural) to activate the existing spine. Furthermore, it draws from the historical reference of the 'French lines' which once existed as fortifications separating Woodstock from the CBD. A series of pavilions designed to work within respective locations, using natural and social interaction to generate character through the architecture over time. Each pavilion acts as a regular moment in the landscape with typical and specific functions providing security and infrastructure over the entire route. The result is a route driven essentially by commuter movement, but disjoined at points to allow for physical and social interaction and alternative experience in the spaces. Moments of delay, rerouting, stopping etc. exist, at the same time allowing for the architectural experience of the route to manifest character over time. These moments further use the effect of environmental weathering on the buildings aesthetic as a continuous generator of character.
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    The world according to Graaff
    (2013) Bowen, Robert; Noero, Jo; Coetzer, Nic; De Jager, Rob; Carter, Francis
    This design dissertation report describes the narrative approach to the design of a district cooling facility for the Cape Town foreshore. The project attempts to grapple with architectural ideas around the re-scripting of buildings. The role buildings play in the constructing of narratives and particularly the fictionalisation of ruins is a central theme to the investigation. The project also experiments with cross-programming, Neil Leach’s theories on assimilation and Victorian industry. The building is situated at the Cape Town waterfront and occupies the site once held by the Amsterdam Battery.