General

Whenever we intervene on the landscape, we alter the existing context.  Thus it becomes imperative to fully comprehend what exactly the existing context is, and how best to deal with it[1] in order to promote and unleash its full performance potential.

Your intial book reference for the future development of Vrededorp is the Urban Development Framework by Ikemeleng Architects and 26’10 Architects.  You may use and learn from the information from that document and other existing data to feed your analysis, however, you CANNOT simply duplicate the work. We want to see what you see that goes beyond information available already.  All groups start from a PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD of the status quo NOW. You then produce analytical drawings framed by your research question and method. Check ‘Envisioning Information’ by Edward R. Tufte (library) and InfoGraphics (http://www.coolinfographics.com/, http://visual.ly/, http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/40-useful-and-creative-infographics/)

1.

Produce a research book, A4 portrait format, based on the in design template handed out.

Your book has to have

-        title page

-        content page

-        introduction

-        chapter divide pages

-        conclusion, resumee

-        reference page

-        page numbers

-        name of authors

-         

You have to hand in a PDF version and pin up a printed version.

The resolution of images and graphics has to be excellent.

Font: Arial

2.

Each tutor group has one theme, all four themes are outlined on your research matrix.

Within the tutor group, students split up into 4 subgroups and address the relevant issue from the following angles. The idea is to re-construct site through narrative and documentary structure.

History

-        Photography: Re-visit David Goldblatt’s photo documentary on Fietas. Take photos from the same viewpoints, compare the difference and find out the reason for the changes. Visualize these in drawings and diagrams.

-        Politics of empty plots: start from a google earth aerial photograph and document the empty spaces in the area. Draw a map of before and after. Try to find historical photographs. Document, what is happening today on the empty plots (photographic storyboard). What is their potential?

-        People: find 4-5 people who live in Vrededorp and record their personal history and their spaces.

-        Planning: Study the UDF of 26’10 and find out what has been implemented, what has changed since their study, what are the biggest challenges?

Streets

-        Intersection: Document the following intersection, their role in Vrededorp and on a larger scale (metropolitan). Produce a photographic record (panorama) and analyse what is happening on the corners: how do the buildings relate to the street, are there traffic lights, bins, who is selling, who is buying what? What is the accident rate? How can pedestrians cross?

Intersection: 8^th Street / De La Rey, 14^th Street/ De La Rey, 11^th Street/ Hull Street, Krause/ 8^th Street

All investigations have to cover at least 500m into each street of the intersection.

-        Pathways and sidewalks: Document the pedestrian movement in the area. Who is walking where, when and why (from where to where?). How is the related infrastructure (benches, bins, streetlights)?. Where does it feel safe/ unsafe? Why? Where is it clean/ dirty? How are businesses relating to pedestrians?

-        Public/ private transport: where are taxi routes? Bus routes? Major car routes? Recycling trolleys? Rhythm of traffic flow? Taxi stops? Bus stops? On street parking for cars? Deliveries? Recycling offload? Challenges? Conflict? Where do people drive to?

-        Waiting areas: spaces of delay: where do people wait for taxis, busses? How are they integrated in the urban fabric? Linked to small scale commerce (spaza)?

Public + Private Spaces

-        Morphology:  map of public and private, open and closed spaces (nolli diagram), sections, aerial photography

-        Thresholds: sequences, elements (roofs, doors, windows, curtains, stoeps, walls), safety (Indicate safe and unsafe places in the public and private realm) photographs

-        Programme: what is happening in the public and private spaces? Are their hybrid conditions? Day and night changes? Map out the timetable of the area.

Building Typology

-        Types of buildings, photographic catalogue, analysis in terms of type, programme, relation to street (threshold), age (when was it build?), condition, market price, current use (how many people are using it how?), conversions, additions

A 2^nd street, 5^th street, Krause, Solomon

B 6^th street 9^th street, Krause, Solomon

C 10^th street, 13^th street, Krause, Solomon

D 14^th street, 17^th street, Krause, Solomon

---

[1] Catalyst in Context, Tomoyuki Haramura, the Berlage cahiers 4, Studio ’94-’95, p 124

contextual matrix

analysis

An analysis is the separation of a whole into its component parts (Webster Dictionary).
The analysis of a building is separating the structure into its component parts and elements,
which have been listed in the handout as follows.
Media for the analysis of a building are (in this instance) DRAWING + DIAGRAM +PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORDINGS.
Easy start:
Take your base maps and sections, make photocopies (manual) or create a series of layers (digital) and choose one color for each layer like program, structure, circulation, light etc.
Color the base maps and sections according to the information the layer requires. Light is analyzed in terms of angles (hoe far it travels into the building), seasons, direction of rooms(N-S-E-W). Furnish the rooms with required furniture. Check if wardrobes fit, can one put a study table? How mean people can be seated for dinner everyday and on X-mas?
You have to understand the building and why the architect did what. Remember, on everything will be perfect, trade offs are part of the design process.

2. Introduction of the buildings

•Name, Location, Date

•Size: (Width/ Module Size for Row House) Building Type

•Concept:  what was the idea for this project?

•Design Principles: what specific design principles does this architect employ?

•Context: where is it placed? Urban? Suburban? Along a busy street? In an existing part of the city? In  a new part of the city? Part of a competition, a larger masterplan ? A privat commission?

•Programme: What programme does the building house?

•Form: How does it look? How is the form generated? Does the from have any influence on the context?

•Façade: How has the Façade been developed?

•Structure: What is the structural system? Is it a major factor for the building?

•Material: What materials are used? Why?

•Light: Natural Light, sunlight, natural ventilation, light flow, concept

•Circulation: internal and external circulation, vertical and horizontal circulation, access for whom where (main or site entrance), car and pedestrian access, take us on a walk through the building!

•Public/ Private: how does the building relate to the context, how does it meet the ground, is there a square, a street, point out the thresholds

•Inside/ Outside: inside and outside spaces

 

guy allion, thesis MArch, everywhere is here, analytical diagram

http://www.big.dk/ mountain dwelling (mtn) 3. analysis_concept_form_programme IN DRAWINGS

http://www.big.dk/ mountain dwelling (mtn) 2. the idea_text

http://www.big.dk/ mountain dwelling (mtn) 1. how it looks

book with siyabonga in library

Analysis Of Precedent: 

An Investigatian of Elements, Relationships, and Ordering Ideas in the Work of Eight Architects, 

R. H. Clark, M. Pause, K. Utsey

http://www.amazon.com/Precedents-Architecture-Analytic-Diagrams-Formative/dp/0471479748

13.30

will continue to upload the comments till tomorrow night. 

the cheeserie, a very nice narrative - but unfortunately not properly solved in space. the organic shapes let you down in terms of presentation and also the making of the building. lines looked as if they happened not as if you intend to build them like this (roof). model very unfinished. mark can improve once work is completed. strongly recommend to finish the model.

good story, good design development, facades as discussed before, not necessarily the final version. layout did not work that well this time, the blue line drawings worth a try but not sure if needs to be repeated. it may also be the collage style, the glueing of differently sized colored renderings next to typed text, not properly layouted. one would keep the top line consistent in this case for example. model ok, but not outstanding. good work to be improved in the next project. 

reasonably good story, excellently translated into space. beautiful model, great section. very technical drawing style, works well though in its consistency. (we don't draw the foundations though, as - most probably- what we draw is wrong). very high standard for a 2nd year 1st term project. well done.

lots of work, lots of ideas, lots of different things (forms, roofs, sequences). maybe to many? (not the work aspect though) sometimes it is good to edit ones production down to the essence of what one wants to do and keep some other ideas for the next project. not sure if the connection between all your different elements works?

another case of interesting model and unfinished (?) drawing. try to get a design component into the way you render the section, try to make us read your spatial concept/ idea in the drawing. hatching of ground not ideal. 

very promising and elegant idea, but you did not take up the structural challenge at all! this has to be fixed to keep the mark where it is now. a sheet of transparent paper cannot represent a dolphin tank in 1:50 scale. we told you in the green light and i tell you now again, it's up to you to implement it. 

the story was sooooo long...however, the reference to the palace was interesting, might be good to study some old palaces and their different principles in the design of ambition and power, because that is what it is about? those principles could then be translated or re-interpreted on the rather modest and unusual site you got for a palace. nice 3d, section too diagrammatic.

huge problems with light and air, specifically in the bedrooms in the basement. doors generally open into rooms not into the corridor. unfinished?

initially a good story, but the design is not finished. how does the husband get into his part of the structure? the part of the building in the south of the property could have spatially manifested your apartness in harmony. structurally challenging. elevation? not detailed enough for scale required, too diagrammatic. it feels as if you spend too long in the sketch design phase and run out of time during the design development. try to manage differently in the next project. 

poor design development. unreachable bathrooms. climbing is more than a wall, it has its own ergonomics and physicality. a study of mountains and reliefs would have been advisable. you could have explored heights (4 floors was a recommendation, not a must) and much more. routes, loops, rewards.

it looked like the beginning of something, but not finished and difficult to read. you talk very little about the rabbits. i wish the double life of the building, animals and people, rats in walls and tunnels through the house, could have influenced your design more. now it looks like a rather conventional row of rooms.