Living on the edge : Nature & Society - Re-imagining architecture through Thirdspace

This design dissertation report investigates the paradigm of Thirdspace theory through explorations within the tensions between nature and society, directing the focus of site towards Cape Town's city bowl urban edge. Thirdspace is adopted throughout the development of this dissertation and investigated at different architectural scales within the design process: from the initial conceptualised stage through to spatial programming towards realisation of the construction process and materiality. Nature is under attack by urbanism, where architecture may act as a mediator by providing a platform for a new kind of urban form to manifest through coexistence. Where a neglected firebreak periphery once enforced a disconnected nature from society, it now presents an opportunity for a productive firebreak strategy integrated into an architectural layer, merging public space into the natural landscape. Designing opportunity for crossprogramming in the realms of residential architecture, generates a mixed use matrix, a space where cultures and traditions merge together to form a neutral social framework, where in the urban edge condition, an architecture coexists between the realms of nature and that of the city.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Artz, Pim

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Noero, Jo
• Coetzer, Nic
• De Jager, Rob
• Carter, Francis

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7520

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/7520