Abstract
M.Tech. (Architectural Technology)
This prompting of ‘conscious invention’ and moulding of realities by Walter Benjamin informs ‘unknown’ terrains in Johannesburg.
There are hidden terrains existing beyond immediate perceptions and frames of reference and within the in-between, concealed, unexpected and forgotten spaces of the city. This spatial discovery is informed by theories on aesthetics and cultural meaning or significance in architecture.
Emergent spatial typologies influence the city and its future, identifying previously unseen territories informed by Michel Foucault’s theory on the relationship between place, as explained in his lecture, ‘Of Other Spaces’.
Heterotopias, draws on Foucault’s definition of urban heterotopias as real spaces which are simultaneously mythical and real. Can these be contextualised as Johannesburg-specific spaces?
Seeking out peculiarities of ‘city-ness’, forming new means of representation and new methods of practice (or praxis) where these conditions of heterotopia are becoming the norm.