Elandspoort 357-JR

Abstract

Landscape design and architecture adhere to the similar principles of form making. These have been affiliated with nature through history, sharing dialogues of philosophy. As theoretical premise, an investigation at the relationship between form and programme in the Western world (from Antiquity to the 21st Century). The conclu¬sion was that there is a relationship between form and programme, that different periods in history have drawn varying conclusions regarding this relationship. My conclusion views the idea as the most important aim of architecture, that the relationship between form and programme influences/guides/shapes the idea through the design process. The urban framework aims to preserve, to link and enhance open space in the Pretoria Central Business District. The theoretical investigation and framework directed the need for a site that would allow me to convey my own conclusion regarding the relationship, ingrained with the idea of preserving and linking open space in the focus area of Pretoria. The Union Buildings as selected site, orientated around its natural landscape, is layered with different interventions representative of relationships between form and programme, presenting the opportunity to explore my premise. The site is dominated by biota or nature, allowing the assessment of the terrain in terms of how landscape (more specifically plants) as a programme influences architectural form. Interventions focused on the Vredehuis complex (sited on the Union Buildings grounds) function as the focus of the argument. The site is classified as a botanic garden. The programme of botany is informed by the site history; residential (1880-1914), botanic gardens (1914-1975), nursery (1915-1950), greenhouse (1918-1975) and entomology/plant pathology division (1914-2007). A further investigation of plants informs the function and programme of the design.