Inhabiting the ruin

Abstract

This dissertation addresses the loss of definition of public spaces within the urban enviroments due, in large part, to increased privatisation. Using the Baixa of the city of Maputo, Mozambique as its laboratory, the alienated amd abandoned spaces within the urban fabric which result in these voids will be explored. Critical theory relating to the manner in which we appropriate and define sapces within our urban enviroment will be explored as this dissertation seeks to establish a connection between the architectural realm and its surrounding public landscape. An architecture which explores the reconnection of place to space will be saught through the investigation f the series of thresholds that occur between the two. Specifically, this exploration will be through the lens of the adaptive re-use of a historically significant landmark within the urban core and its ability to be re-integrated into a contemporary urban landscape.