dc.contributor.advisor |
Crafford, Abre |
|
dc.contributor.postgraduate |
De Wet, Roan |
|
dc.date.accessioned |
2019-12-10T09:04:11Z |
|
dc.date.available |
2019-12-10T09:04:11Z |
|
dc.date.created |
2020 |
|
dc.date.issued |
2019 |
|
dc.description |
Mini Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2019. |
en_ZA |
dc.description.abstract |
A long-standing problem has been that humans
have removed themselves from the natural
lifecycle and are, therefore, acting in a dominant
role, allowing the anthropogenic to overshadow
the ecological. The lost relationship with nature
is accentuated by our railways and highways,
connecting people on a large scale, but isolating
and homogenizing environments on a more
intimate scale. The “green” infrastructure is
suppressed and seen as an afterthought.
This dissertation explores the potential for a
bio-integration of infrastructures to assist in
defining the space, currently in disarray,
surrounding the chosen site at the Southern
gateway to the city of Pretoria. This gateway is
the only entrance to the city with a neigbouring
nature reserve (Groenkloof) and, therefore,
deemed a suitable site to facilitate an extension
of the natural threshold. This will allow nature
to penetrate from the peripheries of the city, by
addressing the rigid boundaries created by grey
infrastructure and envisioning ways to biointegrate
these.
The highway running through the gateway
(Nelson Mandela Drive) will be developed as a
celebratory route, on the basis of existing city
frameworks. Therefore, my scheme will focus
on recreation and handcraft skills development
as a means to establish a lasting relationship
with the natural and take advantage of the rich
cultural history and strong educational presence
of the area.
The project I am proposing is a natural
resources training facility. It will serve as a
critique on the lost, once integral, relationship
with the natural, manifesting as a physical and
symbolic gateway to the genesis of a city. The
objective is to explore how architecture can
biointegrate the different layers of a city to
restore the equilibrium in the relationship
between humans and nature and thereby
contributing to the ecological health of a city. A
city infrastructural rethinking, where
architecture can become a green infrastructural
asset to the city.
The landscape, through its mountains, valleys
and rivers, will act as a practical and moral
guide to the users of the city. A positive,
sustainable relationship and education
surrounding environmental literacy will be
promoted by exposing ecological systems,
specifically that of water, for what they are and
could be.
The existing spatial boundary between nature
and urban will be re-envisioned to allow
overlapping and a blur between the two,
through the introduction of a series of smaller
thresholds, morphing the urban with the natural.
The newly invigorated natural relationship will
serve to offer a sense of identity to the city
dweller; an identity found in the natural and the
origins of the city. |
en_ZA |
dc.description.availability |
Unrestricted |
en_ZA |
dc.description.degree |
MArch (Prof) |
en_ZA |
dc.description.department |
Architecture |
en_ZA |
dc.identifier.citation |
De Wet, R 2019, Returning through the origin, MArch (Prof) Mini Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/72562> |
en_ZA |
dc.identifier.other |
A2020 |
en_ZA |
dc.identifier.uri |
http://hdl.handle.net/2263/72562 |
|
dc.language.iso |
en |
en_ZA |
dc.publisher |
University of Pretoria |
|
dc.rights |
© 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
|
dc.subject |
UCTD |
en_ZA |
dc.subject |
Biointegration |
en_ZA |
dc.subject |
Green infrastructure |
en_ZA |
dc.subject |
Apies River |
en_ZA |
dc.subject |
gateway |
en_ZA |
dc.subject |
water |
en_ZA |
dc.title |
Returning through the origin |
en_ZA |
dc.type |
Mini Dissertation |
en_ZA |