Honours Projects

Perceptive place formed the basis of my honours studies, where I explored reflection and framed views in different environments.

Further investigation lead to a design proposal that aims to restore the water quality of the Waterfront Lake in Bloemfontein, Free-State. The restoration of the lake is an environmental challenge that intends to re-activate the area to allow inter- connected functions between people and the environment. A bridge connects the shopping mall to a breakaway island park over the Waterfront lake and thus, a greater appreciation for the island is proposed.

The next transformative project investigates the limits of readapted architecture as it aims to transform an artefact into a living space for students of the Central University of Technology in the Free-State. An inclusive design strategy is implemented in order to provide maximum user friendliness possible. This investigation focuses on history vs lived experience in the residence and how it plays as a crisis in a student’s social drama. Thus, the methodology allow students to reflect on the past as well as discover a sense of belonging within their new inclusive living environment.

My honours year was 2020 and this is when the Covid-19 pandemic had a large contribution to people’s daily waste outlet, especially where I was in Bloemfontein CBD. I investigated the potential we as people have to minimise our negative environmental impact through architectural contribution. Upcycling/recycling, waste management and user interaction all play a role here. The purpose of the design is to assist trolley pushers and city inhabitants alike, by cleaning the city and improving a profession. The site is occupied with enough people to produce the right amount of waste for trolley pushers to sort and sell. The city and its people can be integrated with waste management and art from the waste the city people produces. In essence, not all trash will be removed from the city. Waste forms part of the city’s environmental aesthetics.

Perceptive Place

Can a found object be used as a compass to the Genius Loci?

In order to achieve this, the object needs to be used in different ways, experimentally, in order to provide various outcomes for the notion of creation and/or searching.

The object found is a window frame, where the glass that was to be see through, was replaced by mirrors.

Whithin the space, the object was searching and/or creating 'place' with guidance of its user. Without the user physically dragging this large object across the site, the object would not project the images it had created. Thus, it was crucial to the experiment that the object locate its place on site where most site elements could be questioned.

This object visited various locations on site and finally an experimental space was located by the user. Natural elements influenced some experiments.

Thus, the mirror is used as a compass to Genius Loci. Earth, sky, landscape and the site artifacts are what make it to be what it is. Anna Ulrike Anderson uses a window frame to achieve the notion of capturing the spirit of the place in a short video clip. The window is used as a time framer.

The outcome for each experiment was different and for most it was unexpected. It is crucial to take natural elements like weather in consideration especially when using a large object as a compass. Merlot Ponty discusses the humans 'eye vs mind' theory and how perception can allow for creation in the mind. The object has the ability to project dream and reality as one.

Pedestrian Bridge

The design proposal aims to restore the water quality of the Waterfront Lake in Bloemfontein, Free-State. The restoration of the lake will re-activate the area to allow inter-connected functions between people and the environment. The nodes alongside the axis activate the path and provide the user with different experiences. A greater appreciation for the island is re-imagined.

The island is a raw, unfinished, cut edge on the large green fabric. It has the potential to become more than just a space for occasional picnics. The seam edge or island boundary line lies on the polluted waters of the Waterfront. It is the people’s responsibility to ensure that the lake remains clean because, “…we are not above the ecosystem, but are living members of it”

Activating the island and environment through humane interactive activities will allow for environmental experiences and thus the call for hermeneutics. This environmental philosophy activates the thought of the lake as a new edge.

A path connecting the island to second Avenue and to King’s Way will allow pedestrians to access both the island and the transportation hub. This path can be a structure carrying the elevated axis or in marine terms it can be a platform on a ship from which the captain directs operations.

Any path allows you to walk freely in any specified way; however a ship does not offer the direction on where to go or your pausing moments, unless you are the captain. If the island was seen as a ship, isolated on water, the people would need a connection over the water in order to move along freely as they would on any pathway. Therefore, the bridge is laid down and created by continual treading in order to connect these edges.

The polluted water on which the island boundary lies will be restored through a filtration system connected to the boat house via ventilation pipes. The compressor cabinet will be located beneath the boat house and will help pump air through the pipe lines. The air will then be distributed into the water through the ‘clean-flo’ diffuser. The pipeline will allow for additional sustenance for the fish and other living organisms in the water, while also allowing them to comfortably reach the surface of the lake.

The Trench Bridge is inspired by an existing pedestrian bridge that is almost entirely below water level. It is designed by Dutch architecture firm RO & AD. The proposed path has a similar trench incorporated, which takes the disabled, cyclists and pedestrians into consideration. This inclusion allows for enhanced appreciation and respect for the lake as it will be seen at eye level.

Knitting the activities along the axis allows for 3 different experiences on the island’s edge, it starts with a trench. The pathway openings are towards the west of the island, allowing users a view overlooking Charlie’s park. Finally the walkway ends as a suspended bridge.

The design creates a symbiotic relationship by inter-connecting human flourishing and the flourishing of parties affected on the island (D. Utsler: 177). The proposal of a bridge over the lake will activate areas of the site where it’s never been activated before. The design proposal is entirely user-friendly; it can be accessed by any individual. Therefore, the design’s positive impact on the lake and the environment will weave the island to the edges through gathering.

Student Accommodation

Readapted architecture is a form of refurbishment that has been practiced throughout history and it plays a fundamental role in this transformative design proposal. The project aims to transform an artefact into a living space for students of the Central University of Technology in the Free-State. An inclusive design strategy is implemented in order to provide maximum user friendliness possible. This article focuses on history vs lived experience in the residence and how it plays as a crisis in a student’s social drama. This paper presents the methodology of students who live on campus who require spaces that would allow for a sense of belonging within their new inclusive environment.

The client requests that the residence should accommodate 200 students. Inclusive design strategies and some of Paul Ricoeur’s (1991) thoughts and ideas on identity are focused on during the design process.

Brodsky, J claimed that “Architecture is the art of permanence”. Therefore, preserving the existing building allows the user to connect to the history of the place. It allows the user to wonder what it must have been like and motivates conversation.

The design proposal houses 180 students in total. 170 rooms are allocated to the physically abled and 10 rooms are allocated to the physically disabled.

Designing spaces that are accessible to different types of students, that will allow them the opportunity to make use of these spaces without feeling unwanted or not welcome, will improve their sense of belonging. Thus, inclusive design in adaptive reuse can improve the social integration of students.

The use of different counter heights is a small contribution in coherence with inclusive design.

The transition from high school to tertiary education can be challenging, thus it is crucial to create spaces to assist student with this change in their environments. This transition is what is known as a “crisis stage of social dramas”

Architecture will therefore form part of the adaptive social structure; the building will act as a new homestead for students. Inclusive architecture will ease students into their new environments, allowing them to feel welcome, included and at home.

Upcycling and City Living

Transforming Trash into Treasure:
The architectural contribution on addressing Bloemfontein’s pollution crisis.

Waste is produced by people all over the world on a daily basis. Every day millions of tons of this by product is discarded into the earth. The Covid-19 pandemic definitely had a larger contribution to our daily waste outlet. Is it possible for this waste to be transformed into something greater than its intended final destination on a waste site? There are various answers to this, but the focus in this paper is on two specific cycles.

The one is based on the collection point of the waste, the other is based on the various different recycling and upcycling processes available.

Waste management are different in every region. In South-Africa there are waste landfills, to which the public has access to. Some of these public member who visit these sites are known as ‘trolley pushers’ or ‘city surfers’.

What impact will the removal of trash have on the CBD eco-system and the storm-water system? The purpose of the design is to assist trolley pushers and city inhabitants alike, by cleaning the city and improving a profession. The site is occupied with enough people to produce the right amount of waste for Mieta van Schalkwyk and her team of trolley pushers to sort and sell. The city and its people can be integrated with waste management and art from the waste the city people produces. In essence, not all trash will be removed from the city. Waste forms part of the city’s environmental aesthetics.

The clients are the students and families in the Sacomen apartment building, the Mieta van Schalkwyk trolley pusher group and the final client is with whom the project’s process end. All local Bloemfontein CBD artists who will create art and useful object to be sold and to be used by the community in and around the site.

There is trash EVERYWHERE in Bloemfontein and it has become a big problem, especially in CBD. The sight of trash in the city lead to the following questions of urgency: “How long has this been happening?”, “What is the problem?”, “Who is affected?”, “How long has this being continuing?”. Thus, the trash issue is the biggest inspiration to the design proposal. The project is about recycling and upcycling in connection with trolley pushers and how Architecture will contribute to solving the issue.

The potential of recycling and upcycling is endless; it could be used to redesign or strengthen roads or used to create usable electricity for homes. The clean city may contribute to the reactivation of the city as well as the way people care for the urban environment. The design should also enable trolley pushers to improve on their profession.

Bloemfontein CBD has become a place that is less cared for (van der Walt, 2019: interview). The trash issue is a problem that has been addressed by the public to the Mangaung Metro Municipality on various occasions.

The Corona virus has had a large impact on the amount of waste we produce daily, as well as the services provided to remove the waste. The Bloemfontein Municipality failed to deliver their waste removal service during the 2020 pandemic and the people were forced to take matters into their own hands.

This project “…invent[s] ‘other spaces’ to contest those already existing” (A. Vidler, 2014: 12). The trolley pusher profession is one that has been seen by the public. These professionals collect waste with large trolleys and walk on or next to the vehicle roads. They do not have other allocated walkways. They do this to gain funding for when they resell specific waste, like plastic bottles, to particular companies. Did the public need to take matters into their own hands if professionals like the trolley pusher are already part of the clean-up community?

The final part of the waste to art cycle is in fact with local artists. The purpose of creating a space for creation… It becomes a learning environment.

The designed aimed to prove that a combination of juxtaposed narratives can allow for an improved urban ecosystem. Adapting to the environment and adjusting the way the cycle works is mandatory for the characters who form part of the building and its future developments.

The design resolution has addressed methods of recycling and an alternate solution Bloemfontein’s waste removal plan. The recycling and creations of art may inspire hope and creativity.

The users of the street and the Sacomen building, experience their respective spaces in different ways every day. The trolley pusher improved their own business within the waste removal plan. The local artists and residents of the building, now has a larger impact on their respective roles in the trolley pusher profession’s ecosystem. The trash has a new value for the trash transforms into treasure, however this means the trash in itself was already treasure- it just required some craftsmanship. A system of combined narratives are not limited by visual edges, but live beyond one’s own mental and physical limitations.