Zwartkoppies dairy : celebrating the uncanny affair of milk

Abstract

This dissertation addresses the relationship between life, time and architecture. It places the notion of memory within a changing landscape that stimulates remembrance; manipulating physical, functional, and sensorial experiences. As time changes and memories blur; there is a nostalgic longing for the creation of place to be used as a tool which both captivates and exhibits history and memory – a mnemonic machine exuding adaptation over time. The conceptual exploration sets a platform for celebrating the beauty and delight found in the poetics of the dairy production process, employing architecture as a tool to physically manifest the mystifying realm of the engagement between man and beast. The proposed site is identified within the historical precinct of Zwartkoppies, on the original farmstead of Sammy Marks, located on the eastern periphery of Pretoria. Situated in the life of the everyday - the site offers a platform for transformative practice within a mutable and flexible landscape. Through superimposing a highly mechanised process within a historic and weathered fabric of industrial memory, the programme intends to highlight the notion of a model farm typology, allowing the farmstead to once again be activated as a platform for training and experimentation.