Tuesday 13 October 2015

Workshop With Tuliza Sindi

Architecture & Agency


Anchor. Unsee. Compose


The three afternoon workshops focussed on the questions that the students have been facing throughout the year within the unit, bearing in mind the themes and main concepts that have brought the student’s ideas together to what they are currently. Students were required to consider context, their social outlines, experiments, research and clients that they are designing for.

Furthermore, students were to think about the systems that are integrated on their site and the flexibility of their interventions – which ones should be fixed and which elements should be moved. Students were to imagine themselves as the users and how they would like to feel within their intervention and with the presence of other users within the intervention. They were to also imagine being blind and only having to experience spaces through feeling as space is a form of energies experienced which should be considered in the three workshops.

Workshop 1: Anchor

Students were given ten minutes each per drawing to articulate movement & route and volume & scale through their chosen site. These could be communicated in plan or section but had to be drawn with their eyes open but looking forward towards their vision, away from the paper. The medium chosen couldn’t be lifted off the page unless they changed their medium to a different colour or type.

Movement & Route

Medium: Watercolour paint, black inc and graphic pens.
The image above illustrates who the main and secondary users are, and where they are going to and what they will be doing there. What does the movement and route connect to and how does it connect to it. The image was drawn in plan, identifying the two nodes that the main and secondary users are going to visit on the site. The main route shown in black emanating from the black circle indicates the primary route that guides users through the side in a fluid manner whereas the blue lines indicate the secondary unmarked routes that the users can take. The drawing also portrays how the different users could either visit one element or meander through the site to visit more than one component within the intervention.

Volume & Scale

Medium: Watercolour paints and black ink.
The drawing above indicates how I wanted the users to feel within the intervention and when I wanted them to feel the air on their skin, to feel covered in sunlight, to feel enclosed or free, to feel part of a route or the arrival to a space. What elements are the users engaging with and how is the scale of the enclosure being influenced with their engagement. The drawing was communicated both in plan and section where the curved lines represent the users being exposed to the natural elements whereas the dark patches indicate the enclosed spaces. The enclosed spaces are the rigid and massed elements that differ in scale, due to their different interventions, whereas the areas that are open to the natural elements are more fluid, whose size is significantly smaller than the enclosed spaces.

Workshop 2: Unsee

Students were given a further ten minutes each per drawing to illustrate hierarchies and landmarks & marks on the land within their chosen site. These could be communicated in plan or section but had to be drawn with their eyes closed but looking down towards the paper. The medium chosen could be lifted off the page and the medium could be changed at any given moment to a different colour or type.

Hierarchies

Medium: Watercolour paints and black ink.
The figure above represents, in section, how a user would read my intervention from the outside, the two large black spots, and from the inside, the lighter lines in the background symbolizing the view of the outdoor interventions open to the natural elements. The programs that lie within the large black spots are those that need to be confined and controlled but also have the intention to spill out towards the outside in order to activate and link outdoor programs with indoor programs. The horizontal planes step within the natural fall within the landscape to accommodate a transition through the various levels and variety in programs within the design intervention.

Landmarks & Marks On The Land

Medium: Watercolour paints, black ink and graphic pens.
The graphic above illustrates portions of the intervention being hidden and others being celebrated through the scale and placement of the structures on the land in section. Portions of the intervention reside within an existing iconic structure with a spill out of vibrant activities on the higher and lower levels on the site where some activities are more vibrant than others. The objective of the intervention is to attract outsiders and daily users within the site through the various outdoor and indoor public activities proposed on the chosen site.

Students were then given feedback on their illustrations and had to choose one drawing to use for the next workshop. It was discussed that there was a continuous notion of two important elements within my site that ran throughout all my illustrations which made a powerful statement. My main concept of assemble and disassemble was also detected within each drawing made which was unintentional.

Workshop 3: Compose


Students were required to build a model in forty five minutes over a photocopied site image, panoramic view or the chosen drawing done the previous afternoon. This model needed to indicate the vision or narrative in the design intervention proposed on the chosen site. 


I chose to use the chosen graphic made the afternoon before, landmarks & marks on the land, in order to build up my model. While I was constructing it, I was bearing in mind my main concept of assemble and disassemble as well as how the users would move through the spaces within the site. 


I wanted to articulate the various outdoor and indoor experiences that one would pass through. I was trying to design playful outdoor elements for sportsmen to utilize that either formed part of the building or were set away from the structures. I wanted to also communicate the fluidity of the movement through the site where users would experience various interesting views and programs at different points on the site. 

Workshop With Amira Osman

Interrogation Of Space


Model Building & Drawing Exercises 


Unit 2 Leader, Amira Osman, gave the students a series of design development tasks to investigate for five days which all dealt with an analysis indoor and outdoor spatial form(s) in their thesis projects. On the first day, the students sketched out a series of quick sections to interrogate what kind of spaces their built form(s) would possess. Which spaces would be seen as communal meeting spaces and which areas would be less public? Where do the users enter the space(s); what is the most valuable space in the design and where do the entry and exit points lie within the chosen site? How does natural light and air enter these spaces?



From the second to the fifth day, students were asked to begin formulating and visually presenting these spatial forms with the use of quick models but they needed to create initial sketches to understand how they would initially build them. Students then needed to photograph these models and sketch over them to indicate the spaces formulated by the indoor and outdoor architectural programs.

With my initial sketches, I was entirely focused on the spatial forms and activities within Old Park Station but after analysing the site as a whole, the typography as well as taking into consideration the view from Nelson Mandela bridge to the north east as one enters Newtown, it was decided that new built forms needed to be designed towards the north and south western edges.


There is a new housing development taking place towards the south eastern edge on the site, which is an extension of the existing Brickfields housing development located towards the south across Carr Street. The north western edge of the housing development was chamfered at a 45 degree angle and a plaza/piazza was also proposed next to the development in order for Old Park Station to be a focal point when entering the site from Carr Street. The new built form located to the west of this development has to respond to Old Park Station as well as the new extension of the Brickfields development. It also has to act as a holding space and pull factor into the site, moving individuals up towards the Old Park Station structure.

The new built form proposed towards the north of Old Park Station was placed towards the north western side of the site so that individuals, who travelled from the north end of Nelson Mandela bridge, would have an unobstructed view of Old Park Station’s iconic landmark where they could observe the various social and cultural activities taking place to the north end of the site. This view point would act as a catalyst, having Old Park Station as a landmark to refer to, in order to invite young adults into the area through the various activities pertaining to youth culture. The north western built form would have a link towards Old Park Station from the existing vertical circulation point located to the west of the concrete platform. 

Once all built forms have been established, the site would be entirely activated with a variety of social and cultural activities occurring during the day and at night allowing for some days to have 24 hour public passive surveillance.

South Western Built Form – First Attempt:



Bearing in mind the main concept of disassemble and assemble, I wanted to explore that notion through the spatial experience when one enters and exits the buildings on site. The building appears to dissipate or dematerialize at the building’s entrance and develops into a solid form towards the Old Park Station structure. This building needed to be positioned at a 45 degree angle towards Old Park Station, keeping the heritage structure as a focal point from Carr Street. An outdoor seating area, softened by a green landscape, has a view towards the proposed plaza/piazza, which I transformed into a public park with two large water features. This decision was made as the existing Brickfields development across from Carr Street has an absence of a water facility. The proposed park would drive those residents into the site to utilize this feature.

North Western Built Form – First Attempt:

During the design process of the facade, I took into consideration the ramp facilities that skateboarders and BMXers use within a skate/BMX park. I also considered which spaces would have a light weight structure and which spaces would have a hard interface with elements that parkour sportsmen would utilize. The building had to be kept as a single story at the entrance from Old Park Station’s concrete platform and increase in height towards the back in order to not impede on the view of the steel structure and there would also be a transition in height and spatial forms as one moves through the building.

North Western Built Form – Second Attempt

The curved built forms were created at different platforms bearing in mind of different materials and areas where natural light would enter the buildings. The positioning of the buildings celebrate the outdoor activities happening on this level bearing in mind the viewpoint of Old Park Station from Nelson Mandela Bridge. Parts of the proposed built forms have open elements and treated edges for parkour sportsmen to utilize as training grounds on site, with a grand entrance into the proposed education facility that will house a library, studio and classroom spaces for photography, fashion design and the culinary arts. The southern block will act as a link from the northern part of the site to Old Park Station’s plinth into the existing vertical access point that will form a connection towards the proposed south western block on the site.

North Western Built Form – Third Attempt


The second attempt of designing the built forms were unsuccessful as it did not correspond with the proposed built form located to the front of the site due to its curved appearance. These two forms therefore need to read as one element bearing in mind the concept of assemble and disassemble. Taking the building concept from the front, the same type of structure was introduced towards the back. The building elements that were proposed were too great and need to be broken up more so that the programs and experiences related to each building read differently when visiting the space. The forms also need to be investigated more in a spatial way and which areas need to be highlighted and treated differently with built form and landscape. To many axial lines were introduced into this scheme which made it difficult to read on what I was trying to achieve with the proposed buildings and therefore need to be simplified.

North Western Built Form – Fourth Attempt



Upon the fourth attempt, the building forms with their different programs were further disassembled in plan. The two buildings were modified in their shape and outdoor spaces through the exploration of spatial experience and materiality as shown in the 3d sketch of the north western entrance from the top of the concrete plinth. Taking into consideration the viewpoints towards Old Park Station, the buildings were positioned to not obstruct the main viewpoint from Nelson Mandela Bridge and their building fronts needed to face the outdoor activities proposed on the northern part of the site. The axial lines were also taken into account where three axial lines were integrated into the design proposal. These lines were offset from each other to create a transitional series of open and covered corridors linking the north interventions to the south interventions via Old Park Station’s vertical access point. This plan was still not successful as the main intended pathway was still too complex and did not read well within the site.

North Western Built Form – Fifth Attempt


The intention of the main movement corridor throughout the site was diagrammatically overlaid onto the site where it was interrogated on the basis of how each building program would sit on this pathway throughout the site and how the transition through this access route would differ as one moves through it. The path’s two end points would be at the junction of Nelson Mandela bridge to the north and the piazza/plaza space to the south of the site. This pathway acts as the urban skeleton in the framework, much like a spine that connects the various proposed activities from the northern end of the site right through to the southern end. This pathway needs to act as a buffer with activities spilling out from it and how the pathway meets the building edges in different ways. It was decided that the main pathway would be more fluid in its shape, than that of the rigid build forms, as it is a journey through the transition of activities proposed on the site. The building forms on the site also need to be identified as individual buildings, in their massing and materiality, so that it is easily distinguished by the users when entering the area.

The northern block, which is the education facility, was stepped back from the pathway with an accentuated edge for parkour sportsmen to utilize in their training and this corner is the more prominent assembly point into the building from the pathway. The pathway leading to the north western block, which is the indoor club/bar area and outdoor concert space, was treated with landscaped elements with a seated space that is open to the elements. This area performs as a disassembly point of built form and an assembly point for a landscaped edge.

The north western block was positioned so that the main pathway acted as a mediator between the indoor club/bar area and the outdoor concert space, where the covered podium or stage is located away from the pathway so that it acts as a holding space for the users along this corridor. These two areas, which have been disassembled by the proposed pathway, have the opportunity to spill out onto each other when these two areas are fully activated with music events. If the outdoor concert space is not used for music events, the space could be utilized for outdoor teaching classes, graduation ceremonies or sporting training spaces for parkour and skateboarding sportsmen. The intention of these outdoor elements is to constantly have them activated so that they are not only used for one public social purpose. When moving away from the north western block, the pathway transforms into a semi-sheltered bridge which guides the user towards the concrete plinth of Old Park Station.

Taking the angle of the proposed Brickfields housing development extension, it was mimicked within the Old Park Station steel structure formulating the angled entrance into the pop-up exhibition space which is stepped back exposing the steel skeletal elements of the heritage structure and opening up the view of the outdoor concert space, a further articulation of the main concept assemble and disassemble. The exhibition space is enclosed with glass panels so that when one is inside the exhibition area, the views towards the outside are not obstructed by walled up elements, celebrating the activities occurring outside as well as inside.

The vertical access point on the western edge of the site will be disassembled and assembled with a staircase and elevator which will have a glass interface in order to being in natural light into the concrete podium and celebrate the transition from the top floor to the bottom floor.

South Western Built Form – Second Attempt

Due to the angle of the main pathway, the built form located towards the south western area was rotated in order to follow the path leading into the piazza space. The allocated ground floor parking was relocated underground to give space for a student housing development so that it responded to the proposed housing development by ASA Architects, located to the south eastern edge of the site.

The southern block on the western side of the site will be activated with ground floor public retail that spills out towards the street edge.

The eastern housing developments on the ground floor street edge will be activated with public retail towards the south edge, spilling out onto the streetscape, and public social spaces at ground floor level on the western edge facing the piazza/plaza area. The north eastern block will be activated on ground floor level by introducing public commercial spaces with a landscaped buffer towards the concrete podium of Old Park Station.


Old Park Station’s concrete podium will be disassembled by removing the mezzanine floor so that there is enough head height to introduce formal public retail spaces onto the edge that faces the piazza/plaza area. These spaces will spill out onto the landscaped buffer towards the southern proposed interventions. Due to the placement of the public commercial spaces to the north eastern block, a suggestion would be to introduce an indoor public secure swimming pool within the eastern portion of the concrete podium as the existing Brickfields Housing Development has an absence of a water facility.

Thesis Concept

[DIS] ASSEMBLE


How The Concept Relates To Its Users As Well As The Site


Taking the history of Old Park Station’s constant relocation, the main thesis concept is about disassembly and assembly. The graphic below illustrates the dictionary meaning behind the two words chosen which will form the key concept throughout the thesis project, from historical analysis of the heritage structure and theoretical analysis of the main users and their cultures, to the design intentions and formulation of the structures on site.


Disassemble is the act of taking something apart or to pieces. In this case, this act will be in the design of the proposed buildings around Old Park Station, the main anchor on the site, and how they operate as holding spaces around it. Transnet had an intention of transforming Old Park Station into a railway museum but the proposal was not carried through. Developers and architects tried to formulate other proposals in order to activate the structure for everyday use but none have been approved as of yet.

The steel and concrete formation is a contested space where its organisation needs to be disassembled and reintegrated back into the city. Members within the Johannesburg Heritage Trust noted that Old Park Station’s steel structure is the only heritage form that needs to be approached with great sensitivity. 

The concrete plinth that it stands on can be modified as long as it does not interfere with the steel structure above. The concrete form was not part of the original design but merely a platform for the late nineteenth century steel form to rest on. The intervention will use the notion of disassembly within the concrete plinth through its design proposal and programme so that the activities will spill out towards the proposed holding spaces located towards the north and south ends of the site in order for the entire scheme to be activated in a fluid manner in a horizontal and vertical transitional plane.

Assemble is the act of joining separate components or parts of a machine or any other object, which will form part of the design of the built forms and spaces on site. Another definition of assembly is an area where individuals can gather for a common purpose. This definition of assembly will outline the overall intention of the thesis project pertaining mainly to young adults within youth culture, although any other individual who falls out on either end of this age group within society still has the freedom to utilise the spaces within the thesis design proposal.

Activating the site via view points, access points and a thoroughfare will also form part of the assembly hypothesis.

Young adults within youth culture strive to seek some form of sub-cultural identity, often through social excitement and authentic experience, where they can familiarise themselves with and often overlook other designated sub-cultural classes that do not pertain to their personal characteristics. Individuals within youth culture often find areas where they can network with each other as a group, through technological and social systems.

The design intervention aims to unite young adults through various cultural and social activities pertaining to youth culture and subculture, so that these individuals have a space where they have the freedom to express themselves within their own form of identity structures. By initially generating a community-based support structure for the residents of Newtown and then branching outwards to other districts, with the use of the chosen programs and spaces acting as pull factors into the site, the intervention will develop users in their social and physical well being.

The key focus will be to establish a design intervention for users within the young adult age bracket between 18 and 30. Although the design will focus on individuals within this age group, other users that fall under the adult and youth age brackets will also have the freedom to utilise the spaces, granting a flexibility within the space due to its users needs; allowing more public presence to run throughout the site at different times of the day and night and, in turn, generating a sense of security through public passive surveillance. 

By also introducing adults and the youth into the site through the proposed activities, the youth will be influenced by the young adults in their involvement in some of the proposed site programs and the adults will concurrently influence the young adults but the barrier between the adults and young adults will eventually dissipate due to the transition into adulthood as well as possessing similar interests that emerge with age.

Site Analysis

Visiting Newtown


Mapping Analysis In & Around The Site

The Newtown cultural district is subdivided into three main zones: the Market Precinct, located towards the North-West; the Transport Precinct, situated towards the South-West; and the Electrical and Worker's Precinct, positioned towards the South-East. 

There are many heritage sites that are located within these three precincts as well as Old Park Station, which lies towards the North of the Newtown district. Any alterations to these heritage sites need to be carefully addressed and must be designed in a sensitive manner.

A large variety of building programs are evident within Newtown but the predominant forms of land uses that exist within the area are offices and commercial buildings. Many buildings within the district are difficult to access due to their fenced boundaries, creating dead or inactive spaces along these edges.

 The main routes that the Minibus taxis, the Metro Bus, Rea Vaya and Gautrain busses take pass by Metro Mall Taxi Rank in a horizontal and vertical plane. 


View of Metro Mall Taxi Rank taken on the corner of Ntembi Piloso and Bree Streets (by author).
This mixed-use building comprises of three levels that house formal and informal retail spaces which are integrated with a public transport hub, where an estimated amount of 150 000 commuters pass through each day via the various forms of public transport (City of Johannesburg, 2015).

As depicted in the pedestrian movement captured on site, one can visually see how most individuals arrive at Metro Mall Taxi Rank, the primary node within Newtown, and walk to their various destinations in and round the district.

Due to the sporadic pedestrian movements captured within the area, there are many exciting places to visit ranging from music venues, bars and art performance areas where one can socialise, to clothing stores, and lastly, to sporting venues for personal fitness and enjoyment. There are also many informal settings where these social and cultural activities exist, therefore, it stands to reason why Newtown has been earmarked as the cultural precinct of Johannesburg CBD since the 1900's.


The current state of Old Park Station [by author].
PALE INK BRAND BOUTIQUE. 2015. Corporate event held at Old Park Station. [Online] Available from: http://ink361.com/app/users/ig-616478077/paleink_events/photos. [Accessed: 9th October 2015].
Old Park Station’s structure has been derelict for many years, leaving this empty shell to be occasionally used for social entertainment, fashion photography shoots, music videos and, just recently, a corporate event held by Pale Ink Brand Boutique. 

One of the many graffiti artworks discovered on site, mainly spray painted on the concrete podium structure [by author].
Many graffiti artists have entered the site and have spray painted their artworks mostly within the concrete podium portion of the structure. 

The mezzanine level cuts back in the centre of the podium to allow more natural light to enter the space [by author].
The concrete structure consists of a mezzanine floor which cuts back towards the centre of the structure, allowing more natural light to feed into the space below towards the northern end of the podium. Developers had an intention of activating the site by transforming it into a railway museum but this proposal was not carried out.


Currently, the southern end of the site is undergoing earthworks for the extension of the brickfields housing development, designed by ASA Architects. The design proposals had to be approved by the Johannesburg Heritage Trust as the housing project needed to be planned in such a way as to not obstruct the view of Old Park Station from Carr Street. 
A roof plan indicating the extension of the Brickfields housing development. Note how the first phase to the east has a chamfered corner on its western block in order to make the Old Park Station's steel structure completely visible when entering the piazza off Carr Street (ASA Architects, 2015).  
Model views of Old Park Station's structure within proposed new Brickfields development from Carr Street. (ASA Architects).
A piazza was proposed in the centre of the housing scheme to achieve this matter and the far left building, on the eastern development, had to be chamfered at a forty-five degree angle from the edge of Old Park Station’s roof structure. Only the three eastern blocks are currently proposed to be built and the western scheme will be built as part of the second phase of the project. For the first phase of the development, an open parking space has been devised in its place.

Resources:


ASA ARCHITECTS. 2015. Brickfields North Residential Development. [JPEG Model Image] At: Hyde Park: ASA Architects Office. Szalavicz, A.

ASA ARCHITECTS. 2015. Brickfields North Residential Development. [Roof Plan] At: Hyde Park: ASA Architects Office. Szalavicz, A.

CITY OF JOHANNESBURG. 2015. Newtown: your guide. [Online] Available from: http://joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=315&Itemid=52&limitstart=3. [Accessed 6th October 2015].