Abstract:
In addressing the issues of heritage loss, the significance of the past plays an important
role in the reconciliation of the present that demonstrates true progress. Most heritage
responses, which focus on the commercialisation of pleasant historical narratives, is yet
to perceive such progress that shows evidence of improvement from its contentious
past.
The dissertation presents an architectural proposal that addresses the issues of historical
lost space, that currently burls the link between heritage and progress in the renewal of
historical environments that lack physical evidence of its past. By identifying the
possibilities within the reinterpretation of time and place, an architectural narrative is
generated through different scenarios relative to the story of place as a possible
response to the progress of lost heritage.
The intervention investigates the manifestation of multiple social, cultural, and
educational programmes within the suburban context of Fietas, Johannesburg. The
historical environment of Fietas which currently serves as a constant reminder of loss,
has struggled to preserve its historical memory of place, that has now been lost from
public awareness. Therefore, the intervention seeks to revive lost memory through new
programs that will integrate its immediate surrounding context to ensure its
sustainability. The dissertation argues that the narrative of loss relative to the South
African historical impact, is an important narrative to include in the preservation of an
inclusive historical memory. However, this narrative should not be fixed nor static in
communicating the story of place through architecture. The narrative of loss serves as
an invaluable informant towards generating spatial narratives that invoke the true story
of place.
The architectural exploration aims to enrich the livelihood of the community, through a
healing process encouraged by spatial experiences that revives and preserves lost
memory, whilst enabling a notion of progress through the reinterpretation of the past
that creates new meaning and memory of place throughout the passage of time. The
aim is to generate new architecture from the significance of the past that is commonly
overlooked in re-establishing a relative continuum in architecture that demonstrates the
true progress of space and place from the past.
