Rebuild : Re-conceiving a sense of place in an industrial wasteland

Abstract

The dissertation offers a contribution to contemporary discourse which is greatly concerned with the environmental impact of the built environment. It grapples with issues of man’s identity, a reading of place and the relationship between the habitat and inhabitants, by considering how a post-industrial site, namely the Vereeniging Refractories, can be regenerated. The project investigated the various layers informing place, through the lens of regenerative theory. The purpose is to develop a narrative that is sensitive to the site’s environmental, social and economic context, yet can weave the past, present and potential future together. Various responses to three main design drivers, are explored. Narrative (or heritage), environment and programme were weighed up against each other as architectural informants, to establish the most appropriate hierarchy guiding the architectural product. As programme a vocational college for the built environment is envisioned. In terms of the larger scheme for the site, this will be the first implementation which will facilitate the development of the campus to accommodate various interrelated fields of vocation. Co-dependence, collaboration and integrated learning through doing hands-on activity is explored as a means to build a new relationship between man and environment (as a complete set of ecosystems & narratives) – a relationship rooted in a state of well-being, not one of exploitation and inequality. The approach alternated between qualitative and quantitative research and responses, synthesizing decisions into a balanced response. The programme raised a number of challenges that critically influenced decisions throughout the design process. Accommodation of spaces for academic activities parallel to workshops housing traditional and technologically aided construction largely determined the spatial organization of the project. Iterations based on environmental response and the requirement of the intervention to act as catalyst for future development justified the proposal. The transformation of the skin of a portal frame structure was explored, in order to optimize the building’s response to the natural elements, whilst creating optimal interior spaces. This transformation embodies the narrative and meaning of the place, through integration of different re-claimed brick types and vegetation into the skin of the architecture. The architectural response takes the user on a journey through the transformation from a post-industrial place-less space towards, a place that connects the various layers present, towards the ideal of a dynamic human and natural relationship of well-being.