OpenUCT :: Browsing by Author "Louw, Michael"

Browsing by Author "Louw, Michael"

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Open Access
Architecture and/in place: Studying the physical and contextual connection between buildings and landscape
(2023) Kok, Johannes; Louw, Michael
This dissertation explores the relationship between people, architecture, and landscape. The theoretical research studies the relationship between people, their culture, and landscape as defining elements of place and how it informs architectural design. The aim of this is to relate the character and structure of place as defined by landscape and culture to create in-place buildings. This theory is then applied to the design of a museum for the San hunter-gatherers that dwelled in Elands Bay in the Western Cape thousands of years ago. The early history of the San hunter-gatherers mainly exists in university collections and museums outside Elands Bay. This contrasts with the surrounding landscape having numerous archaeological sites showing the rich history of the San living there. This includes the Elands Bay caves and campsites discovered to the north of the town. There is currently no place in Elands Bay where this history can be portrayed. To give further credibility to the development of a museum, the Department of Art and Culture released a report in 2013 setting out the development of a National Khoisan Heritage Route in which Elands Bay is included. The design places the museum as a threshold between the natural- and man-made landscapes in Elands Bay. This allows the design to explore a connection between the building, the town, and the natural landscape. The building is located along the main road leading into the town to create a sense of arrival and place while a public park leading to the museum uplifts a dead zone along the road. The building form developed by framing views and extending the building into the landscape, ultimately forming a route linking the museum to the historic sites mentioned earlier. In doing so, the design considers what in-place architecture could be by incorporating culture and landscape.
Open Access
Architecture for performance - exploring the relationship between architecture, dance and the city
(2023) Manhiça, Luana; Louw, Michael
The focus of this investigation is the relationship between architecture and dance. The main concern is the challenge of translating dance to enhance architectural design, questioning how dance can inspire and unlock a potential in architecture through scale and movement of the body at various scales. Dance can be seen in two ways which relate and are parallels to architecture: for its interiority, the entertainment (escapist) value of dance which relates to architectural privacy; as well as for its exteriority, an activist (commentary) approach which relates to the public nature of architecture. The method I use to address this is a speculative design proposal of a dance school and theatre to test the ideas, which has Jazzart Dance Theatre as its imagined main stakeholder. The main topics are challenging the relationship between private and public space, architecture as performing art as well as an interest in accessibility (right to the city) through the movement of bodies from private entertainment into the public realm bringing connections. There is a tertiary interest in adaptive reuse which has the potential to create unique interiority and is sustainable. The key literature is ‘The Right to the city' by David Harvey, ‘The Production of Space' by Henri Lefebvre and ‘Architecture and disjunction' by Bernard Tschumi. The site where this design takes place in is the East City in Cape Town City Centre, at the corner of Harrington and Albertus Street. The site offers opportunities for claiming public space through activist performance in Harrington Square, which is re-imagined as public space; adding the nearby Fugard Theatre as an extension of the campus as well as a unique inner world with old and new buildings. The design provides escape whilst also creating a constant dialogue with the outside world.
Open Access
An architecture of support - Investigating ways small insertions within the informal act as catalysts that support the existing practices and networks established by the residents of Imizamo Yethu
(2023) Halfpenny, Macarron; Louw, Michael
Informal ways of living have become the new norm in response to our rapidly urbanising world. The logic used in the making of self-built cities is poorly understood and therefore poorly supported. Many of the communities that live in these self-built cities face extreme hardship by having inadequate access to basic services, public space and educational support. As architects, our influence in the built environment is powerful and therefore these issues need to be challenged by using our skills to better the lives of the collective people. The architectural inquiry looks into how the theoretical ideas of informality can be implemented into a design which attempts to weave collaborative responses within an existing self-built environment. This metaphoric idea of weaving is used to guide my studies and test ideas through the design response research. The process of design is used to describe and analyse how the existing environment can be supported in ways which encourage positive change. This dissertation examines the need for sustainable and productive space for the youth of Imizamo Yethu as well as adequate service provision for the community at large. The project seeks to investigate ways small insertions within the existing environment of Imizamo Yethu act as catalysts that support the existing practices and networks established by its residents. The design proposes an architecture which offers support in terms of expression , play and learning as well as access to adequate service provision
Open Access
Art and Architecture: Democratising and Conceptualising Artistic Space in Cape Towns De Waterkant
(2023) Maritz, Grethe; Louw, Michael
This investigation focusses on the relationship between art and architecture, as investigated through conceptual and social lenses, to culminate in the design of an inclusive arts centre in Cape Town's De Waterkant, as a gentrified, layered urban context. Firstly, the relationship between art and architecture is considered in terms of the potential to utilise artistic principles and ideas in architectural space-making. I explore the translation of several stages and elements of the artistic process as architectural informants. I investigate not only how the conception, production, consumption, and representation of art can inform architectural design, but also, from a more literal standpoint, the theory and making of collaborative programmes, spaces, and elements through engagement with artists that utilize different mediums and techniques in their work. Secondly, the elitist nature of the commercial art industry prompts the investigation into the social and public properties of art, with the investigation into public art and its relation to the building envelope and the city as a whole. The integration and role of art in the metropolitan context are studied to lead into the construction of a programmatic response that facilitates a more accessible, inclusive, and sustainable counterpoint to the conventional, exclusionary model. Artists and the local public are proposed as primary stakeholders of a programme and space that serves the public as opposed to the elite. All these investigations culminate in the development of an experimental architectural response that, in crafting the spatial and material, aims to consider both the conceptual and social relationship between art and architecture.
Open Access
Building Nurture: Care and Protection of the Growing through the Built Environment
(2023) Dill, Alexandra; Louw, Michael; Isaacs, Fadly
South Africa's tumultuous and oppressive past has given rise to a ubiquitous inequality in the country. This inequality has manifested itself in disparate access to essential needs including but not limited to adequate housing, education, sanitation, job opportunities and child care amongst others. Limited access to the aforementioned, on top of the exponential growth of South Africa's population, has left many in extremely undesirable living conditions and immense poverty. These ubiquitous issues have not gone unnoticed and there have been many attempts to better these conditions through a top-down approach – for example, provision of housing and affirmative action through employment opportunities. However, what these topdown approaches fail to tackle is the problems at their conception. The betterment of the country lies in the nurturing of its growing communities, especially its youth. Nurturance as an attempt to care and protect that which is growing both at the community and individual scale. This project aims to find a way in which to achieve nurturance through the built environment and tests ideas of integrative design that protects and cares for the growing impoverished population and the children that are born into it through physical intervention. It will be an attempt to lift people out of the cycle of poverty at its root through empowerment of both impoverished communities and the children born into them. This intervention will be designed and tested in the community of Vrygrond, one of the Western Cape's oldest informal settlements, which is a prime example of a continuously growing settlement with a very large young population. The site is located in the nucleus of the settlement as a symbolic embedding of a child-centred programme into the informal urban environment. This acknowledges the imperative need for child-centred spaces by weaving it into the pre-existing built fabric.
Open Access
Connected by Nature: The mediation between biology and technology, history and modernity, and nature and humanity
(2023) Golding, Clementine; Louw, Michael
In this study, I explore methods of weaving in nature and in traditional vernacular construction to uncover how these construction methods and their social connections can be translated into modern construction technologies whilst preserving the ecosystems they inhabit. I aim to investigate the theoretical and technical method of manipulating ancient building materials to act in varied occupations seen in the construction of natural materials. I then attempt to amalgamate ancient methods such as weaving with 3D printing and digital modelling to achieve a greater resolution, minimising material waste while exploring the spaces they offer. Intricate to the making of space and materials is the process of their maintenance or decomposition. I explore how materials can return to the earth to feed the growth of its successor. Recognizing architecture as impermanent allows the craft and knowledge of building to become permanent; allowing the next generation to learn and improve, sustain and advance.
Open Access
Exploring Opportunities for 3d Printing Construction in Emerging Contexts: Through the Design of a Vocational Training College in Philippi
(2023) Snyman, Marie; Louw, Michael; Tumubweinee, Philippa
The dissertation aims to emphasize the connection between methods and materials of construction and architectural design. How construction leads to design and design can lead to construction. Secondly, the work aims to highlight how architects can boost innovation in the construction industry through design. Speculative designs of local projects that showcase the potential of 4th Industrial revolution (IR) technologies can accelerate the local development and adoption of modern methods. The new manufacturing technologies promise great potential in the South African context as they are more sustainable and effective. The project focuses on 3D printing construction and investigates the potential and limitations of the technology in the local context. It also looks at how the capabilities and restrictions of the technology influence the language of the architecture it produces. The research is done within the context of a struggling economy in the developing city node of Philippi, Cape Town. The value and implications of introducing a revolutionary technology, such as 3D Printing construction in a place like Philippi are investigated through the design of a Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college. The college's main objective is to educate and promote the use of 3D printing manufacturing. The school building, workshops and public facilities are not only built using 3D printing construction but also train locals in the craft to give them useful and modern skills that will soon be in high demand as the technology matures to become a mainstream fabrication method internationally and in South Africa.
Open Access
Heart of culture
(2023) Steyn, Selwyn; Louw, Michael
If the urban landscape is the body politic made inertly manifest, then cultural and civil space acts as the heart. Cultural space allows for the societal corpus to gaze into itself. Cultural space however is commonly made to act as gilded cages -held aloft within ivory towers- with a negation of its civic value. A cultural heart, an institutional anchor, tying the past and future is most prescient within the context of Cape Town's Foreshore, simultaneously addressing the complex urban needs of an unstitched Modernist landscape and anticipating rapid developmental flux that will see the city change explosively. This dissertation scheme aims to reinterpret the art museum typology which typically generates an insular and monastic aesthetic experience in which one is removed fully from the world. Here rather, the program questions how public functions and museum functions can be interspersed and dynamically overlayed so that maximal conversation and cross pollination may occur with public life influencing the experience of art.
Open Access
MAIDAKUTIBVISA - Developing networks of permanence and impermanence within Mbare, Harare, Zimbabwe, through the preservation and adaptation of informal infrastructure.
(2023) Mashiri, Tadiwa; Louw, Michael
Why? This thesis investigation addresses the issue of dilapidated infrastructure within the informal trading network of Mbare, Harare, Zimbabwe and the informal markets that exist there. This issue of dilapidated and inad - equate infrastructure comes as a hindrance to the struc - tures and spaces that vendors occupy and rely on to make a living within this context and because of this issue, this context has faced problems such as congestion, constant threat of losing trading structures to fire and harassment from government and police forces because of the state of the trading spaces. How? To address this issue this thesis investigation looks at precedents of existing market spaces within the global south such as the Warwick Junction in Durban, South Africa, (amongst many) to understand and create functional market spaces with adaptable, affordable, and sustainable infrastructure within the context of Mbare. The creation of robust physical prototypes, such as stalls, furniture, façade elements and outdoor recreational spaces, using the avail - able materials and knowledge within this area is another step that is taken to address spatial and infrastructural issues in the areas of Mupedzanhamo, Magaba and Mbare Musika markets within this context. This thesis investigation also looks at the application and investigation of spatial theories such as the Metabolist theory and critical regionalism to solve the spatial issues that currently exist within this nomadic and ever-changing context. What? To test these the results of my dissertation investigation, the design and creation of market spaces that deal with the issues of congestion and dilapidated infrastructure within this area will take place. These market spaces will not act as replacements for the existing Mupedzanhamo, Magaba and Mbare Musika but will instead act as an extension of their existing spatial networks thus providing vendors with more space to trade and doing so, making a living. programs that did not previously exist allowing the creation of employment and training for the informal traders and vendors. Conclusion. The aim of this investigation is to assess whether the existing knowledge within the informal context of Mbare can be used to address some of the infrastructural issues that currently exist. This investigation also aims to see whether the role of the Architect as a collaborator within the design of the informal market context can allow traders to improve the means in which they make a better living.
Open Access
(re)Constructing the way we build - Skills Development Centre in Delft
(2023) Soeker, Imaad; Louw, Michael
Identity can be associated with a person, group or place and is defined as the sense of belonging. Thus, a person who doesn't belong and an architecture of placelessness both lack an identity. It can be shaped by history or by the current day. This design dissertation proposes a more situated architectural identity by exploring the relationship between the social and the material in Delft, Cape Town. The strong themes of the temporary and the permanent and formal and informal create a conflict of identity within Delft. The theory of Critical Regionalism will be the foundation for creating an architecture of identity within the context of Delft. An architecture of place will be achieved by being critical of the context and current construction practices and making use of readily and locally sourced materials. Sandbag construction and local vernacular practices will be combined to create an architecture of permanence, place, and identity within Delft. This design dissertation tests these themes through the speculative design of a Skills Centre, as there is a strong culture of making and learning within Delft. The Skills Centre will revolve around the idea of making, from alternative construction to the growth and preparation of food. The main concept of the Skills Centre is to act as a catalyst in the upskilling of the community and thus create a new identity for them. The Skills Centre will embed itself within the concept of a circular economy through construction and operation. Sandbag construction will act as the first economic driver; once the Skills Centre is completed, it will act as a catalytic economic driver. Creating an architecture of permanence that is rooted in place should start creating a positive identity and sense of belonging within Delft.
Open Access
The City's Surplus - Architecture + waste
(2023) Malan, Maria; Louw, Michael
Waste. The stuff we throw away, the spaces we forget about, the buildings that have lost their initial purpose. The wasted human lives that had to make way for something or someone new. Living along with and within waste has become our reality. The way that we deal with it has the potential to impact the future of our planet and of the beings that inhabit it. Something which was once of high value has become surplus. This dissertation aims to flesh out the ideas of the surplus in order to expose its layers on an urban, architectural, material and human scale and the opportunities it holds within a cityscape. The exploration of the surplus is approached through using methods of collage, unpacking palimpsest, and looking toward the theories of re-urbanism, adaptive reuse and repurposed waste as construction materials as ways of dealing with the surplus on an urban, architectural and material scale. The main method of exploration is a speculative design proposal in order to translate theories into a threedimensional contextual response. The surplus, which is inherent in every layer of the city and this site, enables the proposal to manifest in the form of a mixed-use program (industrial, commercial, tourism, community focussed). A dynamic space that punctures into the wasted scape of the Hout Bay harbour, in the derelict Oceana Fish Meal Plant buildings. An adaptive reuse urban and building project which builds with, into, on and for the surplus – it intends to become both a place for dynamic programs and to become dynamic in itself. The architecture explored in this research looks at simple, durable, almost factory-like construction. The complexity of layers found in the site results in an intervention that is born out of the site in order to ultimately serve it and the surrounding community of Hangberg and Hout Bay since, with the loss of fishing quotas and employment opportunities in the harbour, they have also begun to be regarded as a form of surplus. Through the lens of waste this proposal aims to spark and/or continue the conversation around dealing with waste and the surplus in order to address the importance of changing our relationship with it.

Browsing by Author "Louw, Michael"

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