d e s [ b a k e r ] c o m p e t i t i o n

 

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN [FOUR] - IDENTITY

 

[2012] “Useless architecture – give presence to that suppressed human need to be loved for what you are, and not for what you perform.” – Emil Sotirov

 

SITE ANALYSIS - The design will utilize the CBD of Johannesburg as the script. The everyday activities and movement of pedestrians will serve as the ‘story’ within the script.

 

AIM - To successfully expose the inner city to the pedestrian, the sites that where chosen are vastly different. The strip starts off in Library Gardens, and moves to an old demolished building. To respond to the dead zone, the strip then takes the pedestrian to Oppenheimer Park, a lively zone filled with people and an informal market. The design then takes the pedestrian to a forgotten alley which is reactivated by the design. Finally the pedestrians are dispersed within Ghandi Square. 

Key sites were chosen to represent each plot point. By doing so, we create a strip that stitches the city together similar to a movie. Johannesburg becomes the canvas of [re-script]. The strip would then link the intriguing key sites with each other. The strip would expose the cityscape to the pedestrian by introducing a new experience.

 

“Hybrid spaces exist where a designed frame accommodates the evolution of a spontaneous growth. The resulting space is a hybrid of an architectural concept and the events that occur within it.” – Nathan Su As, 2012

 

Hybrid architecture occurs at the point of intersection between two ideas.

 

At the intersection there are three possible outcomes:

 

Displacement – one idea, placed within another to create tension.

 

Reaction – two ideas respond to each  other – symbiotic relationship emerges.

 

Fusion – two ideas merge completely and  becomes a new idea with different characteristics from either of its current ideas.