Browsing by Author "Meyer, Tiaan"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Fluidity and time-based architecture : a community centre in Hout Bay harbour
    (2014) Pilzweger, Sven; Coetzer, Nic; Silverman, Melinda; Meyer, Tiaan
    The focus of this dissertation study is Hout Bay harbour and the fluidity thereof - dealing with how the space changes over time. There is an apparent disconnection between space within the harbour, the land and sea, the people frequenting the space, as well as between the harbour and the broader Hout Bay community. The reestablishment of a Hout Bay historical activity route and a new community centre serving as the base for this route seeks to address these issues. In addition, the proposed design will seek to capitalise and improve on the existing fluidity of the harbour's spatial experience.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Inner-city palimpsest: Building the city above the city
    (2014) Henstra, Simon; Coetzer, Nic; Silverman, Melinda; Meyer, Tiaan
    This dissertation emerged from a fascination with the rich urban and architectural fabric of dense inner-cities, the layered palimpsest, and strong sense of character as a result of the piecemeal evolution of the city over time. Retaining this character is at odds with the phenomenon of a market-driven, developer-led method of place ‘un-making’ within the city which aims to maximise utility and scale, removes large portions of the existing urban fabric in the process, but adds much needed density to the city. The dissertation attempts to understand the paradox between the positive addition of density, and the nega- tive destruction of good urban fabric and character. While vacant erven within the city are scarce, the city’s density is far less than is planned due to many existing buildings having a lower bulk than is allowed. Simply put, there is a vast amount of airspace above the existing city which is being underutilised and underdeveloped. This dissertation explores a method of placemaking less dependent on the ground plane, and able to occupy the underutilised airspace above existing blocks and erven; densifying the city, and expanding its capacity, while maintaining the unique sense of character and rich urban fabric which is a product of generations of small steps in development. The dissertation attempts to cover, as a narrative, the process of unpacking ideas as pragmatic as zoning and as poetic as what it means to contribute to the rich architectural palimpsest, and everything in between.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Urban Planning principles as mechanisms for improving informal trading opportunities: A case study of inner-city Johannesburg
    (2018) Jonathan, Lesley-Anne; Meyer, Tiaan
    The inner city of Johannesburg presents a high number of informal traders who seek to make use of urban public space in their livelihood strategies. However, the forces driving the performance of informal traders have not led to positive development of opportunities for traders. Operation Clean Sweep in 2013, was a means of strongly enforcing the informal trading by-laws and removing traders from the pavements and public spaces in the inner-city Johannesburg. Regulation of informal trade has been conducted by the progressively formulated informal trading policy, however, it possesses ineffective implementation strategies. This research addresses the driving forces that affect informal traders' opportunities and the issues that arise from these present forces. The three driving forces which are of greatest impact on informal traders and are investigated in this research, institutions, regulatory and infrastructural forces. The study shows that informal traders experience complex dual realities affected by these driving forces and their need to engage in the informal economy to meet their livelihood strategies. The research seeks to address the use of urban public space by informal traders in meeting their needs, while understanding how these spaces are shaped and determined. The study aims at evaluating the performance of three case study areas located within the inner-city Johannesburg. The performance is measured in terms of meeting the needs of informal traders and providing opportunities for their economic and social development, while ensuring that the needs of the collective public are addressed as well. The background reading and desktop study were used to establish research questions before conducting interviews. These interviews were conducted with informal traders, government officials, private sector, NGOs and civil society. Using case study and discourse analysis methods, and the previously mentioned techniques, this study addresses the issues that informal traders face in light of the driving forces. It also examines how these have shaped the performance of urban pubic space in meeting the needs of informal traders as well as the collective public. The study aims to address these issues with urban planning principles and supplements these with policy recommendations to improve opportunities afforded to informal traders. While the recommendations put forward in this study require a long-term plan, such a plan also requires improved integration between governing departments and managing bodies. This research aims to improve this integration and governing structure, through recommending that increased responsibility for informal trading be taken up by the Johannesburg City Council Development Planning Department.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    What next? : densifying suburban Brooklyn
    (2014) Vervoort, Ant; Coetzer, Nic; Silverman, Melinda; Meyer, Tiaan
    Due to the historical development of South African cities during the early 1900s, a great deal of the South African city now comprises of suburban environments. For all its negative portrayal in architectural discourse, there are also significant positive attributes to suburbia. Currently, the South African suburban condition is densifying. This process of densification means that the suburban form as we have known it is currently changing quite rapidly. We now sit in a position where we can either allow these suburban environments to evolve without architectural consideration which may exacerbate the negative aspects of suburbia, whilst undermining its positives. Alternatively, we can unpack the characteristics of suburbia with the intent of offering architectural solutions which may facilitate responsible densification whilst preserving the positives and addressing the negatives. Because such significant portions of our cities are sub urban in character - and are experiencing pressures to densify, this project asks whether it is possible to visualise a positive, healthy and responsible future suburban form. In the words of Robert Crumb, we ask ‘What’s Next?” This project proposes a simple and relatively quickly implementable architectural solution to the densification of the suburban township of Brooklyn in Pretoria over the next two to three decades. The project attempts to use the opportunity (presented by the city’s need to densify) to reconfigure the future suburban form for the better. Brooklyn is used as a casestudy through which the positive and negative characteristics of suburban environments are unpacked - and possible solutions for its future densification are proposed. Naturally, suburban environments differ from township to township. As such, this project does not look for an all-encompassing solution to the future of suburbia. Rather, it attempts to produce a critical, detailed, site-specific solution to a single suburban township. This approach acknowledges the importance of the architect in the creation of successful cities, but will hopefully stimulate the creative pursuit of solutions for - and a broader debate over the future of such enormous tracts of our South African cities - suburbia.