Deconstructing permanence : the emergence of public place through reconfiguration of form

Abstract

Three underlining themes govern this dissertation They are as follows: -Change as a constant, indefinable factor within South Africa’s emergent public -Architectural informants as linear, process-driven vectors, and the relevance of potential alternative approaches. -Articulation of space, and the role of signification in architectural form. This project aims to address these themes through applying mapping techniques derived from the social sciences, and, more specifically, anthropology viewed from a classical-philosophy vantage point, to find new explorative ways of truly understanding the context in question. This, in turn, will allow one to respond accordingly and in a manner representative of this new paradigm. The cumulative product aims to create a new, viable architectural intervention that applies relevant theoretical premises in a such a manner that the physical structure can be studied as precedent for approaching future public architectural interventions within the South African context.