[ex] CHANGE : an architecture of experience : a train station and intermodal freight warehouse in Pretoria West

Abstract

The thesis is about the programmatic exchange and confluence between production processes, public transportation and people. The proposed intervention would be developed to fit in with the City of Tshwane Spatial development framework and an industracity vision and framework for the location in Pretoria West, developed by the framework group. The new intervention will deal with both production process and public activity in the design of a train station and intermodal freight warehouse. The site location is in Pretoria West, a mixed use suburb with restricted industry, business, retail, flats and single residential areas. The site is the Pretoria West Power Station an intersect fir existing infrastructure and public transportation routes. The aim of the investigation is the integration of public functions with industrial functions in ways that contest monotonous urban environments, preserving the heritage of the site in the outcome. The research questions what can be done to facilitate the return of lost production, increase the interaction of people and processes and address the decaying historical fabric of the Pretoria West Power Station. The study examines the history of production and railway stations, uses descriptive survey methods, precedent studies and architectural and urban theory to inform the intervention. The aim of the design is to transform an industrial site into a vibrant integrated environment, introducing programmes that will attract people , but keep the industrial character intact. The character of the site will be conserved through the introduction of new light industries, keeping the memory of process. The design concept links into the idea of electrical input and output exchanges of a power station. It focuses on the exchanges of energy, physical and visual exchanges between heritage, people and products, service exchanges and exchanges in function between freight and passengers and in context - heritage and production. The design objectives are to extend the railway line as a suspended platform to provide access and exchange for freight and passengers and to depart from the introverted nature of the existing buildings to encourage public interaction with the history of the site and the production processes. The railway track infrastructure will serve multiple purposes.