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.

Open Building In Healthcare Infrastructure

One Week  Intensive Studio With Phil Astley 

Workshops & Lectures

Students had the privilege of viewing Professor Phil Astley's lectures on healthcare infrastructure, well-being and System Separation, which is another term for Open Building. Although these seminars were more focused towards human healthcare, the same decision making principles could be incorporated into our individual thesis projects. The three rigorous group workshops that the students were involved in demonstrated this as they focused on the following aspects:

Workshop 1: Drivers For Change - Students were asked to choose one individual thesis project site to formulate a schematic table indicating various components that arose during site visits, site mapping and site analysis. At a strategic level, students were asked to place these elements in levels of high uncertainty, low uncertainty, high importance and low importance.

Workshop 2: Potential Users - Students were asked to identify the various users that could possibly inhabit the selected site and what types of activities they would be involved in with the program(s) chosen within the thesis project.

Workshop 3: Scenario Planning - Going back to the drivers of change table, students had to select three components that were placed within the high importance and low uncertainty bracket and formulate a timeline of events pertaining to those items from the year 2015 until after the year 2050 in order to aid in the narrative of the thesis project.

These three quick decision making tools were really helpful in grounding one into their own individual project and identifying the key elements that relate to one's own site. 

Healthcare Technology Presentation

During the workshops and lectures presented by Phil Astley, the class was split into groups of two in order to research topics relating to various forms of healthcare systems and their impacts on the patients and medical professionals that utilize them. The topic that I researched was on a software system or mobile technology system that manages electronic patient information, diagnostics and results.


In order to achieve effective patient information systems, one needs to maintain the connection between the individual and the data collected over a period of time as well as to have the data collected available to other healthcare providers when needed. This valuable data catalogue stores concise important records of the health of the individual. The collected information in this catalogue can aid healthcare individuals in communities, regions and countries upon where the public health policy is evident which includes monitoring and evaluation of patients, surveillance of disease, human resource management and operational research as shown in the bubble diagram in the image above.

The computer software system that I chose to research was the NextGen Ambulatory EHR version 5.8. It is a concise tabulated record of a patient which includes their personal information and details of any healthcare procedures that were undertaken from patient check-in to check-out. The software system has an easy to use drop-down menu system which holds information on the patient's healthcare history, problem list, diagnostic studies, medical, surgical and interim reports as well as healthcare guidelines. 

The main constraint with this system is that towards low-income countries, as they have struggled to initiate large-scale electronic medical information systems. While some low-income countries have been able to attract technical and financial resources to install patient information systems at some sites, these require significant investments for their successful implementation. These systems require a large amount of resources including skilled labour, technological and financial means, which can be difficult to obtain in low-income areas. In addition to the cost of the computer hardware and software, the systems used require electricity, a controlled environment, training, maintenance and support in order for it to work efficiently. 

Many patients receive services from separate facilities and health practitioners, therefore, an electronic information system could compile the information and make it accessible to other health care professionals that would aid in the early detection of a particular disease that the patient could contract.

Electronic health systems must be built in a way to facilitate the exchange of data and, therefore, a standard must be applied in order to facilitate clear communication between individuals using the system within a single clinic and across other facilities as well. There also needs to be clear legislation that administers patient privacy and protects the security of health information for records in electronic format. Another key factor would be the development of well-trained health information professionals that will have the knowledge to utilize the software system.

The system could be utilised between departments or wards within a healthcare facility. If more healthcare facilities will possess the appropriate funding to implement this electronic resource, more medical centres will be able to send and receive patient, diagnostic reports and results with ease between each other within a larger area, such as between suburbs and provinces or states, for better communication between patients and healthcare professionals. This trend will continue as improvements are made in computer hardware, software and telecommunication infrastructure as well as when countries will develop the skills necessary to implement electronic data storage and transmission systems.

Pecha Kucha Thesis Presentation

On the final day of the week intensive with Professor Phil Astley, students had to compile a three minute PowerPoint presentation consisting of no more than ten slides on their thesis projects. The content had to explain the progress of the project's concept themes, analysis as well as the way forward into the design development process. This benefited me in taking all the graphics as well as my concept and site information that I have gathered thus far so that I could summarize the key aspects and program strategies in my design project. It was a good indication in what I should start focusing on for the next portion of my narrative.

Through detailed analysis of the Newtown precinct, inclusive of its current activities, the aim is to formulate a design intervention that would potentially create a positive social impact in Newtown North, which will possess various activities pertaining to youth culture.

The users I will be focusing on are young adults within society. Youth culture and sub-culture aids a group of individuals in determining one’s identity and to understand the social norms and values within society. These principles, however, generally differ from the main culture of older generations within our civilization.

Taking the understanding of the meaning of youth culture and sub-culture, it was further investigated within the Newtown district. Seeing that Newtown has been earmarked as the cultural precinct since the mid 1900’s, it justifies that youth culture and sub-culture would exist in this area.

The Newtown district is divided into three main sub-precincts which act as pull-factors into the area. They comprise of the Market Precinct, located towards the north of Mary Fitzgerald Square; as well as the Transport and Electrical & Worker’s Precincts, located towards the south west and east respectively.

Through the mapping of the sub-precincts as well as the existing formal and informal youth culture activities, one can automatically notice the drivers within the area. Inclusive of the cultural buildings within the Transport and Market precincts, Metro Mall Taxi Rank and Newgate Shopping Centre are also seen as pull factors.

Pedestrians have ease of access to the site within walking distance from the location of the public transport hub, which is Metro Mall Taxi Rank. From the mapping done, the idea is to transform Old Park Station into a new pull-factor for the precinct; introducing a space that the young adults can utilize according to their specific interests.

By taking the initial steps of introducing potential vertical as well as horizontal usage schemes and investigating how users will occupy the space, it will act as a platform of understanding spatial systems in design decision-making within an Open Building framework.

The next steps would be to carry on interpreting key findings and incorporate them into the site; to formulate a system of programs that will act as drivers into the site in the form of fixed and temporary elements; and through trial and error, determine which programs will be fixed and temporary.

Nairobi Trip

Student Feedback

The Unit 2 students visited Nairobi, Kenya, for a week at the beginning of August where they observed and documented the local's daily activities and living experiences. The students were given a task to graphically present and describe the intangible processes within the chosen sites in Nairobi that demonstrates various spatial and socio-cultural structures within the area. The following feedback explains the various levels found within the presentations done by the students.

What was understood from the project was that the groups had to explore some kind of process of decision making that could happen in order for the Kibera housing project, along the railway line, to be a more successful project that responds to the changing needs of its inhabitants. 

For instance, what could be a successful output for the housing? Let’s say an area isn’t successful. Through the use of existing data and observations on site, one could develop an assumption of what could possibly happen within certain spaces due to the inhabitant’s needs. What makes this area successful and unsuccessful and what lead up to the construction of this housing? According to the interpretations of the A3 presentations and student interviews, it seemed as though there was a very complex process leading up to the final outcome of the housing project. What informed the tangible occupancy from the intangible negotiations?

How could the everyday spatial activities that occur within the informal settlements be incorporated into the formal housing scheme? Activities such as washing and drying of laundry as well as an allocated space for cooking, that caters to their everyday rituals were observed by certain students.

Source: Darren Van Gool, Andrea Relling and Ngwato Kekana

From the presentations, it seemed that the area which was unsuccessful in its usage was definitely the space that is seen as the back end of the housing project that faced the railway line. This space is seen as a completely baron and a wasted space that could have been incorporated in some way within the housing scheme in a positive way in order to generate revenue via this extension onto the existing structure. The area that was somewhat unsuccessful were spaces with narrow pathways, where individuals refused to demolish certain units in order to widen the space. Pedestrianized spaces that felt more comfortable were the ones where individuals negotiated between the housing and informal settlement to widen the pathway. 

Denver Open Building Site Application

Mixed-Use Row House Design

Through desktop research and tissue analysis, the students designed a new urban design framework for a portion of the informal settlement in the Denver area which would be developed over the rest of the precinct in different phases. Different building typologies were also allocated to the students within the urban design framework for their individual designs for the Denver area.

The individual concept was to design a mixed-use row house within Denver comprising of private and commercial spaces for its residents and stakeholders. By using informal settlement statistics from desktop research as a guideline in order to formulate a program for the amount of individuals that would inhabit the residential units at an affordable level as well as the type of building materials that are available within close proximity to the site.

The ground floor was designed with two programs. The street edge of the site comprises of four semi-retail edges which were pushed back from the public pavement to allow for an intermediate edge with low pedestrian traffic. The edge facing the communal garden contains a library, computer lab as well as a studying facility for the Denver neighbourhood. Sliding stacking doors exist in these areas to allow for a permeable edge. These doors could also be closed up in times where the community would have a boardroom meeting or if the individuals within the district would hold any form of exhibition. The boardroom would then be transformed into a store room for unused chairs and tables.

By providing the individual owners of each unit in the row house typology a base building, stack of drywalls and an instruction manual each individual can fit out their own unit using a clip-in system. The idea is to have holes drilled into the floor and ceiling of the base building at 200mm increments so that the drywalls could be assembled in this grid. The drywall would be clipped into the floor and locked in place in the ceiling using a latch. Individuals would also have the possibility of assembling their own micro-furniture systems if they wish, thus giving the resident the power of ownership within their home.

The materials used for the row house units are steel sheeting on the facades with paint on the ground floor area as well as the balconies for easy maintenance. Structural plastic lumber was used for the framed pathway between the communal garden and the communal library and study area as well as on the North-East facade. This wood-like looking material was chosen as it is an inexpensive lightweight fabric whose colour could be altered according to whatever specification an individual would like.

The obstacles faced within this project was the limitation of collecting important data on site and designing a compact unit that could cater for a large density of individuals within Denver. The students used online data that was collected by the previous year's UJ students and only visited the site once, therefore they could not collect as much necessary data as they could have if they immersed themselves within the context as they did in the previous projects. The spatial designs for the residential units were challenging but forced me to think of different ways to use a space for many activities. By sub-dividing the floor plans and researching micro-housing, in particular, aided in my design process and enabled me to allow more individuals to occupy a single row house over two floors than what I initially designed.

Professor Kendall's visit to the university also assisted me in this project as he taught us how to critically analyze an existing row house and how to transform it into an spatially efficient building using Open Building methods - what would be part of the base building structure and what would be the infill. Through this exercise as well as the Denver project, I feel that I have grown more into understanding how to design more effectively and efficiently than I did before starting this course.

FADA Joint Community Project: Design For and With Local Communities

Three Phase Development Intervention For The Westbury Community

The departments of Architecture, Multimedia Design, Industrial Design and Communication Design visited the Westbury area to investigate the possibility of creating a greater positive impact for their residents. In collaboration with the ongoing local community programmes that are already in existence within the area as well as the students and lecturers at the University of Johannesburg, the project aims to formulate a design intervention through in-depth research that could be brought forward and developed over a five year period.

Please see the following link to the video:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whe3kMUSQQ8&feature=youtu.be

Concept: Working with the Transformation and Development Centre in Westbury, the group formulated a short, medium and long term strategy to motivate students participating in the existing courses that the centre provides and help lower the unemployment level within the precinct. The short and medium term solution includes campaigns and facilities that would advertise the module and where students would sell their products to generate income as they are learning the set skills. The group focused on the catering program, in particular, with a medium term goal of assembling pop-up stores around Johannesburg to generate income and awareness in order to set up a facility within Westbury, as a long term goal, where the students would run, work and manage the establishment, thus, setting an example within the community residing in Westbury as well as bringing in visitors into the area.

For more information on site mapping and analysis as well as the group's initial ideas on the intervention, please refer to the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/812707485516058/

MTech Unit 2 Mid Year Portfolio Review

Portfolio Video Review

Students were asked to compile a video of all their projects that they completed in the first and second quarter of the year and explain their main theme that they are engaging in.

Open Building Intensive with Professor Kendall

Open Building Applications For Housing Typologies: 

Mixed-Use Row House

Students were given the task to critically analyze existing living and service spaces through precedent studies of their chosen building typologies and design possible fixed and infill systems within their base building for people to inhabit. Fixed systems included service and staircase shafts as well as door and window openings on the facades of the base building. Infill systems included the interior drywalls and doors within the design.

The concept was to design a mixed-use row house with optimum living and trading spaces for its residents and stakeholders. The design suggests a possible extension space for the ground floor retail program and/or the first and second floor residential spaces.