The world according to Graaff

Abstract

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.