Abstract:
The Johannesburg, Cottesloe, Gas Works is located within the Witwatersrand
zone of integration, between the University of Johannesburg and
Witwatersrand. According to the Johannesburg Metropolitan Open Space
System (JMOSS), there is a high priority to link secondary open spaces
such as the educational premises. The Johannesburg Gas Works forms
part of Jozi’s cityscape and the three remaining 45meter high gas cylinders
represents a visual iconic landmark in the city. The site is currently
inaccessible.
The aim of this dissertation will be to determine the manner in which a
user experience can be created as a palimpsest of meaning between the
tangible and intangible elements on site. This implies a dialogue between
the polluted areas of industrial waste, the layers of historical significance
and the remnants of nature. The dissertation specifically focuses on awareness
creation through the landscape experience on a post-industrial site of
the associated social exploitation and environmental contamination. The
Open Narrative approach will be used as part of the methodology which
implies multiple interpretations by users and recognizes the presence of
embedded narratives inscribed by past and future cultural practices and
natural processes.
A new narrative is inscribed onto the site and provides multiple experiences
with each visit to the site through a phased intervention that opens
up areas and processes for experience as they become decontaminated.
To facilitate the palimpsest of tangible and intangible meaning, the user
experience is proposed to consist of three realities: a lower, in-between
and upper reality with increasing elements of transience. The essence of
the design and its programme becomes mutualistic (as opposed to
exploitative), based on the principles outlined by Klein (2014) namely,
“interdependence, reciprocity and cooperation”. The goal of the design intervention
is to foster a renewed community identity and social and environmental
health through the range of active and passive activities proposed
but also through the particular experiences that open up the site for
renewed interpretation to all users. The dissertation demonstrates that
new meanings can be applied to spaces that once posed a cultural limitation.
A mutualistic relationship between the site and the people can and
should co-exist.
