Urban [i]scape : information centre

Abstract

Though constructed less than 60 years ago, the Berrals building, situated in the Tshwane Inner City has been identified as a place of historical and national significance. Its importance can be attributed to the designer, Wynand Smit of the architectural firm Smit and Viljoen, who contributed to the establishment of Pretoria Regionalism in the Transvaal (Gerneke 1998:216) and the fact that the building is one of only a few remaining examples of the Brazilian influence on Pretoria Regionalism during the 1950’s. At this point in time the structure is in dire need of an intervention due to its deteriorating state. The strong modern heritage of the building required recognition in the proposed intervention and a study of modern principles and its regional mutations became paramount in determining a suitable design intervention. The study functions as a tool to determine which components of the building, as a modern icon, requires preserving, as well as what the design approach will need to consider in terms of interacting with the modern structure when a suitable new program is inserted into the building. Copyright 2008, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Bezuidenhout, L 2008, Urban [i]scape : information centre, MInt(Prof) dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-11262008-222534 / > C137/eo