Introduction To Thesis Project

[DIS]ASSEMBLE

Establishing A Civic Centre & Public Park For Johannesburg's Youth

The intention for this architectural design intervention, which is located on the site of Old Park Station to the north of Newtown, is to understand how an individual is able to assist in upgrading the functionality of a particular space in order for the design proposal to have a positive social impact on a neighbourhood in current and future situations and, in turn, potentially increase the property values along its edge.

After the year 1994, the Johannesburg Development Agency had numerous urban development schemes for the city’s districts which included Ellis Park, Hillbrow and Newtown precincts. Located towards the western region of the Johannesburg Central Business District (CBD), the core of the Newtown precinct comprises of various public facilities such as the Market Theatre, Museum Africa as well as many restaurants, cafeterias and music and dance venues that wrap around Mary Fitzgerald Square. 

SHOBA, M. 2012. Photograph taken at the Back To The City Event held at Mary Fitzgerald Square, Newtown. [Online] Available from: http://fulbright.mtvu.com/mejashoba/2012/06/20/back-to-the-city/. [Accessed: 3rd October 2015].

Every year, young adults attend the Back To The City event to celebrate South African Freedom Day. The event holds various activities pertaining to the hip hop subculture including beat box battles, graffiti, break dancing and skateboarding competitions as well as a music concert.
GRAFFITI SOUTH AFRICA. 2014. FEATURE \\ Back To The City 2014 (+ Ticket Giveaway!). [Online] Available from: http://www.graffitisouthafrica.com/news/categories/event-back-to-the-city/. [Accessed: 3rd October 2015].

GAS PHOTOGRAPHIC. 2015. Photograph of vert skateboarding competition held at Back To The City. [Online] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.569662333173451.1073741865.208794732593548&type=1. [Accessed: 3rd October 2015].

Newtown is seen as the heart of diverse cultural and social events in Johannesburg and many well known artists have visited this colourful district either for their own personal entertainment whilst visiting the city or through their live public performances.

Left Photograph: View of restaurants from the pedestrianised walkway to the south of Mary Fitzgerald Square.
Right Photograph: View of Museum Africa taken at Mary Fitzgerald Square [by author, 2015].

Left Photograph: Pedestrianised entrance into the Dance Factory off President Street, Newtown.
Right Photograph: Vehicular entrance into the Bus Factory off President Street, Newtown [by author, 2015].

The current state of Newtown has been upgraded in a positive manner but this area, comprising of a range of creative industries, still has an absence in consistent daily vibrant public activities throughout the vicinity. 

Public presence is only evident in certain areas of Newtown whereas the corridors that connect these cultural and social nodes are usually inactive, dead edges. 

LETCHMIAH, S. 2013. Photograph of the fans attending the Vodacom In The City music event held at Mary Fitzgerald Square, Newtown. [Online] Available from: https://www.enca.com/life/gallery-vodacom-city-2013. [Accessed: 3rd October 2015].

SWART, I. 2013. Photograph of Skunk Anansie's lead vocalist Deborah Anne Dyer crowd surfing at the Vodacom In The City music event. [Online] Available from: http://www.watkykjy.co.za/2013/10/vodacom-in-the-city-maar-nie-sommer-enige-city-nie-johannesburre-my-bra/. [Accessed: 3rd October 2015].

This precinct is only fully activated when it holds large events, such as international rock, hip hop and electronic music concerts in Mary Fitzgerald Square and underneath the M1 highway on Henry Nxumalo Street or the renowned three day metal music festival, named Witchfest, which is held in and around Bassline, located towards the southern edge of Newtown. Although Newtown is now known for holding a variety of public forms of entertainment, this district once held Johannesburg’s main fresh produce market and was also the electrical hub of the city. These two main functions in this district used the nearby railway for transportation of goods and materials.

NEDERLANDS ARCHITECTUURINSTITUUT. (no date) Photograph of Dutch architect Jacob Klinkhamer, the designer of the Old Park Station steel structure [Online] Available from: http://zoeken.nai.nl/CIS/persoon/3051. [Accessed: 3rd October 2015].

WALLY, G. Aerial view of the initial position of Old Park Station looking towards the South-East with the old Wanderers Rugby Ground in the lower left corner. 1930. [Photograph].
At: Parktown: Johannesburg Heritage Trust, Park Station Archives. Bird, F.

PALADIN, S. 2013. A portion of the map of Johannesburg from the year 1893 indicating the initial location of Old Park Station once it was transported from Holland. [Online] Available from: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SA-TRANSVAAL/2013-06/1371375395. [Accessed: 3rd October 2015].

A plan of the existing location of the long and narrow Old Park Station structure (depicted in red) in the year 1960.
HELMAN, B & Klintworth, P J W. 1966. Johannesburg Station Complex. S.A. Architectural Record. p. 21.

The old railway station, now known as Old Park Station, was designed by Dutch architect Jacob Klinkhamer and was built in Holland in the 1890’s after being commissioned by the South African government. The structure was then transported to Noord Street, located to the south of the old Wanderers Stadium and Joubert Park in Johannesburg CBD. Initially, this station was called Park Halt but in the year 1913, the name officially changed to Johannesburg Station. 

Photograph taken of Old Park Station at Esselen Park where it was utilized as a training centre for railway personnel. 1990. [Photograph]. At: Parktown: Johannesburg Heritage Trust, Park Station Archives. Bird, F.

By the time the new station was built in 1952, it was taken down, transported and reassembled in Esselen Park, near Kempton Park, in order to be utilized as a training centre for railway personnel but was relocated back the north end of Newtown in the early 2000’s. Developers had an intention to convert this heritage site into a railway museum but no development has taken place as of yet.

Western panoramic view of the uninhabited late nineteenth century Old Park Station
steel structure taken on the concrete podium that it now rests on [by author, 2015].

Many areas in Johannesburg CBD are abandoned and forgotten, transforming these empty uninhabited spaces into elements of urban decay and, in some cases, leading towards gentrification. Old Park Station is one of these stand alone vacant structural elements, a white elephant in Johannesburg that has been derelict for years. Although the station has been left to decay, this empty shell has been used as a location for various photography shoots, music videos as well as social music events in the past. 

Old Park Station, designed by Dutch architect Jacob Klinkhamer, has existed as a desolate structure for years
as developers and architects have tried to present a suitable proposal in order to reactivate the lightweight structure [by author, 2015]. 

Selecting this site for the architectural design intervention will be feasible as it is a good example where urban regeneration should take place. When one crosses the Nelson Mandela Bridge, the first landmarks one sees when entering the Newtown district is the Metro Mall located towards the left of the bridge, the Old Park Station on the right as well as the Brickfields development across the road from the station. The Old Park Station is seen as an eye-sore when entering this precinct due to its dilapidated appearance around developing sites.

The aim of this thesis proposal is to design a social entertainment centre that houses cultural activities pertaining to the youth culture of Johannesburg. This outdoor and indoor civic centre will also include a micro-scale market in and around the existing structure with upgraded pedestrianised pavements within and along the chosen site mixed with a public park that holds a variety of activities for the district’s residents to utilise as well as its visitors. The design intervention will also respond to Metro Park, located to the west of Old Park Station over Nelson Mandela Bridge, as well as the new proposed housing development towards the south of the site, which is the extension of the current Brickfields housing development scheme, that was produced by GAPP Architects and Urban Solutions for the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) and Propnet.

Old Park Station has also been earmarked as a heritage site due to the structure falling under Section 34(1) of the National Heritage Resources Act which states that if an individual wishes to alter or demolish any or parts of a structure that is older than sixty years, that individual will need to obtain a permit that has been issued by an authorised person from the relevant provincial heritage resources department. As discussed with the Johannesburg Heritage Trust, the members strongly agree that Old Park Station should not be relocated again in fear that the steel structure will not withstand the move as it has been repositioned numerous of times during its lifetime. Due to the heritage extent of the site, the design proposal must address this steel structure in a sensitive manner.

By proposing this type of urban development scheme on this site, it will feed people into the social and cultural Newtown district in a more positive manner than it currently does and will soften up the space, especially due to the fact that it is located right by the train tracks. This site will hold daily and nightly activities for the public in order to address the issue of safety within the neighbourhood through public passive surveillance. As this space upgrades, the objective would be for land values around this edge to increase, thus potentially transforming the informal taxi rank towards the eastern end of the proposed site into a mixed use development.

There is a shortage of the combination of indoor and outdoor spaces that possess diverse social cultural functions on a single site for the youth to utilise within Johannesburg CBD. This should be rectified as it will create a new diversity within the social environment for young adults to utilize; generate job opportunities within the retail sector for young entrepreneurs as well as in the site’s maintenance for Johannesburg’s inner city citizens.

Through historical, cultural and social research on the Newtown district and investigating international as well as local precedent studies, it will potentially allow for a well resolved design solution for this area. What was once an isolated structure left for urban decay will become an iconic landmark, inviting locals and visitors into Newtown’s district from Nelson Mandela Bridge where the public will enjoy visiting on a daily basis.

Programme

Mixed-use development: 

• Micro-scale market and/or restaurant and cafeteria spaces towards the south of Old Park Station
• Outdoor and indoor public entertainment spaces
• Club and concert space with an amphitheatre towards the north of Old Park Station
• Public park with running and cycling trails
• Outdoor function spaces
• Potential sports facilities such as a public pool, adventure golf, paintball grounds,breakdancing spaces, parkour facilities and a skate/bmx park

 Users/Clients

Users:          Local and international public users between the ages of 18 – 35 (young adults).

Clients:        Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA)

The company’s objective is to manage and assist with strategic urban developments within Johannesburg in order for the city to become sustainable and resilient within its urban regeneration.

                     Johannesburg Property Company (JPC)

The JPC is a company who specialises in property development within Johannesburg and specifically target the rapid increase in social and commercial opportunities within districts such as Newtown, Soweto and Sandton. The company develops council-owned land into public infrastructure using private sector investments.

The proposed civic centre and public park will potentially upgrade the property value along its edge which will aid in the demand for future developments within this area. Investing in land development will increase the building’s leasing value due to public demand in developing a residential structure.