GSA- Unit 14 UJ projects- PERSONAL UNIT REVIEW 1 REFLECTION

GSA-Unit 14  UJ      MY REFLECTION ON REVIEW 1  

MY REFLECTION:

The review came in right time: 

The time i needed to understand my rating with unit projects / tasks as an M2 student it have opened up and a reflected rather of what is expected from me. it reflected on issues i needed to improve and dress in order to excel and get ready for my final thesis project, and also to appropriate the unit course work to advance my major project in the end  

GSA-Unit 14  UJ    act 3. part 1 project   LEXICON  

UNDERSTANDING THE PREVIOUS & POST TRAUMA 1994 CONDITIONS OF 

VISITED SITES:

The Act 3 part 1 we have to work in a group of 3. We have to make a comparison conditions of previous & post trauma 1994 on different 5 sites we visited during our Johannesburg tour as a class.

GSA-Unit 14  UJ    act 3. part 3 project   IVORY  PARK  IMMERSION  

INVESTIGATIONS AND UNDERSTANDING IVORY PARK:

The Act 3 part III was a group of  5.  as a group we have to investigate and understand levels on agencies forming part in the enterprises and economical activities in Ivory park on the  August drive, spacial enterprises and how the area functions in Ivory park in general. The diagram above is the area were investigations happened from the beginning of August drive right through to 29th drive

As a group studying Ivory park as a settlement my task was to find out what it looked like before independence and after pre post independence 1994, the current reflection of economical activities and a future prediction of how it will look like in 30 years . the diagram above shows that Ivory park started in 1990 as farm land with few traditional huts and few gravel roads. 

3rd image is a reflection of the current condition in Ivory park. August drive is populated with street traders and self made manufacturers on both street edges.

The 4th image is the prediction of August drive in 30 years to come. cording to 12 interviews contacted during the site study people demonstrated that there is growth in August drive every day and business owner indicated that they want to trade and live on the street where the businesses is. The image is exaggerated based on the data and information on how fast the August drive is growing everyday that in 30 years it will probably look like the image above

GSA- Unit 14 UJ projects- Act 2.2 MI CASA / SU CASA

GSA-Unit 14  UJ    act 2.2 project  MI CASA / SU CASA  

ASSERTING MY PARTNER'S HOUSE TO MY OWN DESIRE: 

The second part Mi Casa su Casa part 2.2 studio required that one take his / her partner’s home and assert his / her wildest dreams. One need to embrace or reject their history and make a case for it. And the idea of architecture as inherited infrastructure should be explored. Being that I grew up at the farm in a typical farm house and on the other hand left the city life during school and work I happened to choose a typical city / modern city house from my partner. I chose to compare his and my life style and unpacked common interests that we both similarly have, I have than realised we have similar life style and share common interests and this process allowed me to embrace his history and the case made resulted in a design that suit both of us, a house that serves / cater for both own career interests and more of a working conventional on both options.

GSA- Unit 14 UJ projects- Act 2.1 MI CASA / SU CASA

GSA-Unit 14  UJ    act 2 project  MI CASA / SU CASA  

THE PLACE I CALL HOME:      This was a two part project. purpose being to sensitize me to 

my own habit (that i am familiar with). Task was to observe, interpret and document it in a manner

that best communicates its value, operation and meaning and show how the space is occupied and 

and how it support life.

Image   01

Image   02

Images chosen are an interpretation of the important areas in my habitat / 

Oshiwambo traditional homestead. Taking care of life stock is my daily activities 

that forms part of the house. Eg image 01 the milking process that happens every 

day morning before cattle allowed for grassing than taken for drinking after 

grassing. A process done on a daily routine.  Image 02 is an illustration of the two 

most important areas within the homestead, the two places I spent most of my 

evening watching Tv and chatting to family members before sleep, while other 

place is where the guests of the house are received.

Also see video link bellow.

https://youtu.be/Ij_6YgrIvM0

GSA- Unit 14 UJ projects- Act 1.1

GSA-Unit 14    act 1 project   

MY INTRODUCTION TO OTHERS:      The brief for project 1 required a form means of introduction

of our self to others. a request that trough this project we should be able to communicate where our core skills lay in terms of mediums and hint as to where our architectural (or personal ) interests lay. 

in addition we could use architectural optional fragments as part of our composition and it could form any source felt best captures best experience eg Facebook, Instagram etc.

The picture above is a collage form portraying my childhood -   a typical farm life. a life style that dominates in almost where i find my self, a life style to nature friendly and so to the ecosystem at large. with this kind of life style i came to have a natural concern towards architecture, questioning to why architects design without nature / or site specific concerns ?  In the end i positioned my self a farm boy appealing that architecture should be rather nature bound in order to sustain our environments.

Also see the video link      https://youtu.be/4iAPr7KbyEo  

UJ UNIT2 Updated Projects

OPEN BUILDING ARCHITECTURE IS HERE TO STAY -   WITH  UJ  UNIT2    

A QUESTION WHAT IS COMMUNITY AND WHO IS THE COMMUNITY      have been  lately pondering and popping up throughout for as long as one live

A good example is given by Jhon Harbraken referring to housing to recognize two domains of actions of the community and rigidity.

John Habraken first articulated the principles of open building in his book Supports: An Alternative to Mass Housing, published in Dutch in 1961 and in English in 1972 and 1999, and in many other languages.^[1] He argued that housing must always recognize two domains of action–the action of the community and that of the individual inhabitant. When the inhabitant is excluded, the result is uniformity and rigidity. When only the individual takes action, the result may be chaos and conflict. This formulation of a necessary balance of control had implications for all parties in the housing process, including architects. A research foundation was established in 1965 at the SAR (Stichting Architecten Research) in Eindhoven, the Netherlands to explore the ramifications, for architects, of the views laid out in that book. Habraken was invited to be Director of the SAR. Later, in the 1980s, a research group (OBOM) was formed at TU Delft under the direction of Professor Age van Randen, the goal of which was to study the practical issues of implementing the ideas in practice

Unit2 project 1.  Korsten Neighborhood immersion

I have chosen one of my previous community project done at NMMU Port Elizabeth in line with UJ Unit2 project one which was  Jeppestown neighborhood immersion community project because of similarities in brief requirements and develop it into an abstract / artistic presentation of what that community was, what community meant to me during  investigations and what stood out for me.

As a 4th year student at NMMU we have been tasked to take part in a community project.

we have to choose a site within the Port Elizabeth CBD and its neighborhood and the area

chosen as a group was the Korsten location on the eastern outskirt of Port Elizabeth, the 

idea was to spend 1-2 days studying the area by interviewing the residents, mapping, taking pictures in order to understand what that community was, what made it what it was and what we thought it was all about towards political, economical and cultural aspects. gathering all the sort of the information was to give us a better tool to conform  our individual design project three based on the findings.

After investigations one could learn a lot about the Korstern community. a community of mix race, a community of different income categories, community with no specific culture and mostly politically disconnected and rather a broken community which is troubled by high crime rate.

Graphic is an illustration of  Korsten map within the port elizabeth CBD and day activities

Investigating the Korsten area was quite an informative exercise and mostly touching to see in what conditions the non affording people lived. The response they gave on the political system administration. it was quite evident that the people living in Korsten were much concerned with crime rate, and economical injustice blaming the current government regarding the situation they lived in.

Some residents interviewed left in fear to an extend of not wanting to talk about criminal activities happening night time.

The diagram beneath is an illustration of a sum- up on the Korsten community at period. Fainting words is the words by criminal offenders when ever asked by police officers after committing a crime cording to a senior community leader human hands in different colors twisting a box written crime represent the different races in Korsten desperate to diminish the criminal element which is the box being twisted within their community together as one

 Diagram is the artefect response of the community towards criminal activities

Unit 2 project 2    People, Systems and Infrastructure-Ferreira mine dump (contaminated under ground water rehabilitation)

The brief required us to design a system for infrastructure delivery to the people / communities within the Johannesburg neighborhood. This was a 2 weeks exercise on the issues around ground water contamination, i have to look at mine dump sites and investigate to come up with possibilities of rehabilitating and able to sell the treated water back to the community and around Johannesburg. First day to site: the energies of the 2nd project got me overwhelmed to see what was a flat land and now became a landfill of mining explorations.

Understanding the brief allowed an understanding the landfill / mine dump. in deep thinking of what advantages and disadvantages it plays within the Johannesburg community and its neighborhood. it have made me thinking of the ecological impacts it has on human, animals. answer to the questions the problem is the system treating underground contaminated water / a purification system that provide consumable water for the Johannesburg and its neighborhood. 

 Diagram is the artefect response of the community towards criminal activities

Unit 2 project 3. investigations and urban spacial qualities within the new town area. 

Sketches above is an exploration to possibilities on design developments. further developments on design conform diagrams will be posted as latest studio crits outcome

Unit2 project 4 Studio @ Denver desk top analysis. 

The exercise on Denver desk top analysis is a continuation of assignment 5. a 2 weeks intensive studio task with prof  Stephen Kendal guiding on open building principals and how to apply them within the existing build environment / newly design open buildings.

Access to Denver site was limited, desk top study of the site with a one day site access required on intense site analysis. studying on current conditions, permanent and temporal activities and build form conditions.

Testing and investigating on communal spaces, sanitary infrastructure and possibilities of emergencies access into into the entire site. thus allowed us to understand and detect more information leading to fruitful architectural decisions i.e upgrading of the permanent existing structures and proposing newly housing schemes to replace the informal structures. the main idea for this proposal aimed to test and provide the social, spacial qualities within the settlement.

Unit2 project 1.  Korsten Neighborhood immersion

I have chosen one of my previous community project done at NMMU Port Elizabeth in line with UJ Unit2 project one which was  Jeppestown neighborhood immersion community project because of similarities in brief requirements and develop it into an abstract / artistic presentation of what that community was, what community meant to me during  investigations and what stood out for me.

As a 4th year student at NMMU we have been tasked to take part in a community project.

we have to choose a site within the Port Elizabeth CBD and its neighborhood and the area

chosen as a group was the Korsten location on the eastern outskirt of Port Elizabeth, the 

idea was to spend 1-2 days studying the area by interviewing the residents, mapping, taking pictures in order to understand what that community was, what