Constructing a Culture Cycle : an Upcycling Waste Centre in PTA CBD

Abstract

Upcycling in today’s society is still relatively rare, with most upcycling occurring in works by artists and product designers. This ‘creative reuse’ is a form of minimising waste products in a more effective process than recycling. This study deals with the design of an upcycling centre and how interior architecture is a framework for the upliftment of the host building in the Pretoria CBD, the model inhabitants (namely waste pickers and crafts people), waste materials and the surrounding environment. Many people perceive the self-starter occupation of streetwaste picking as being dirty and inferior. However, those who practice waste picking usually do so as a means of survival, and can offer valuable assistance in environmental sustainability. Waste pickers are often isolated as a social group – unable to reach higher income levels or living conditions. Ignorance around this informal economic sector has led to a divided and fragmented society, particularly within the Pretoria CBD (identified as the location for the intervention). Finding sustainable solutions to waste reuse and job creation, such as this proposed upcycling centre, which actively engage various members of society (in this case, waste pickers, crafts people and the broader community) is important. This is because such programmes can be beneficial to communities living in dense neighbourhoods, as they can provide the key blocks of cohesiveness and symbiosis for building a prosperous future. The interior architecture discipline is relevant here as being a tangible framework to enable cultural production of new objects, environmental sustainability, cultivation of human capital and a support system for model inhabitants. Waste material and discarded products can inform the character of an interior space, and reflect user intervention with built forms that echo the activity and daily routines within the community. As a facilitator, the interior architecture has been imagined to stimulate, inspire, revive and be perceived as a cyclic journey of renewal. This is the concept which governs the experience, activity and process for users entering the proposed upcycling centre. This proposed intervention of the identified Minty’s Tyres building utilises three theories to guide and inform its responses. Firstly, environmental psychology theory guides the alteration of the building to respond to community and social inclusion strategies. Secondly, adaptive reuse theory informs the alteration of the building in response to the new programme as a form of upcycling and improving the building’s user experience and resource efficiency. Finally, regenerative design theory based on restorative actions and technology is consulted to produce a system that is both efficient and sustainable. The architecture itself (i.e. the physical building, materials and structure) is developed alongside the actual site and ecological surroundings.