Replicating the Bilbao Effect in Pretoria West through means of landscape architecture

Abstract

The industrial age has left behind many urban spaces and buildings frozen in time. The city of Bilbao tackled the issue by commissioning famous architect, Frank Gehry, to design an award winning branch of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. This single injection into the urban tissue saved the city from economic and cultural depression by boosting the tourism industry. This dissertation investigates and deconstructs “The Bilbao Effect” to better understand and replicate it’s successes in Pretoria West. The theoretical approach led to the redesign of the existing show-grounds in Pretoria West. The landscape intervention is an abstraction of the greater community by capturing and celebrating a very typical industrial and agricultural built form. The design caters for numerous events, shows, and expositions to take place and attract people from all parts of South Africa to recreate the Bilbao Effect in order to essentially regenerate Pretoria West.