Abstract
The Scar: Coalescing Spaces of Production and Consumption is the culmination of an exploration into
architectural language (how we see, draw and build architecture). Through performative drawing, digital
projection and tectonic prototyping the project speculates on new forms of consumer convenience in our
city. The resulting proposition, a new form of Convenience Store, is not simply a fixed building, but rather
a conceptual fabric and transactional space of production and consumption. The project is sited in three
public sites in Johannesburg. Each ‘store’ is proposed as an environment for producers and consumers
to practice rituals of consumption at a heightened state of convenience – an instantly individualised
and immediately accessible state of convenience. Additionally, the work also explores how information
produced through the act of consumption can be captured and exchanged, inventing new forms of value
and currency.
The intention of the proposition is to produce a space where the processes of production and the act of
consumption are compressed into one surface (skin, material, fabric). The resulting ‘scar’, the line between
produce and consume, manifests as a compressed supply chain; an intelligent surface, a compact
manufacturing unit and an observed space. Beyond the functionality of 20th century inventions such as
the vending machine and the automated teller machine, the convenience store houses contemporary
forms of small-scale production such as 3D printers (where objects can be manufactured) and computers
(where information can be exchanged).
The project emphasises ‘process’ as a medium for research and discovery, this process is made of two
parts: observe and translate. The field trip, films, architectural precedents, collaborative dialogues and
other references are seen as inputs for the process, along with my own interests in sensory experience.
These are translated into work through active performances (drawings) where the human body is seen as
the central device in unpacking and creating architecture.
M.Tech. (Architecture)