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The extended street

- Manjra, Humairah

Authors: Manjra, Humairah
Date: 2016
Subjects: Architecture - Psychological aspects , Architecture - Political aspects - South Africa - Johannesburg , Space (Architecture) - South Africa - Johannesburg , Boundaries in art , Streets - South Africa - Johannesburg
Language: English
Type: Masters (Thesis)
Identifier: http://ujcontent.uj.ac.za8080/10210/386758 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/226300 , uj:22879
Description: M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) , Abstract: A memorial to Main Reef Road. The city of Johannesburg was founded with the discovery of gold along the gold reef, which runs approximately parallel to Main Reef Road. The foundation of the city of gold is now a forgotten landscape. The miners, who descended deep into the earth's crust to harvest this valuable commodity, are also forgotten. In an attempt to memorialise the foundation of Johannesburg and its ancestors, I dove deeper in understanding the life of a miner. A miner who emerges from the darkness of beneath and submerges back into the darkness. How do they cross the threshold between the underground and the above ground, between darkness and light? A miner navigating through tunnels upon tunnels, darkness within darkness, can be likened to the metaphorical tunnels of the fast-paced lifestyle of the residents of Johannesburg, navigating to and from destinations, never-ending. It is useful to understand the process adopted methodology, before commencing reading this portfolio. This portfolio is a journey of discovery. A journey which started with a literal two day long bus trip along Main Reef Road. We were allowed to soak up the context and reflect on the concepts of mining, infrastructure and memorial. We then generated a series of collages and intuitive drawings mapping our experiences and understanding of Main Reef Road, its past, present and potential future. The drawings were then translated into 3-dimensional models and CAD drawings which reflect an even richer understanding of the road. The processes up to this point were the generation of a rich conceptual premise, which resulted in the site finding us. By trusting intuition to guide this process we were able to locate ourselves on sites of complete relevance to our themes. Thereafter a series of on-site drawings were generated, where a deeper understanding of context and the potential for architecture were realised. These intuitive drawings informed a 3-dimensional, physical, model realization of an abstract architecture. The lessons learnt up to this point were then generated into a complete scheme which is deeply rooted in the history of Johannesburg, Main Reef Road, and more specifically, linked to our individual sites. Furthermore, a complete understanding of the scheme can only be achieved through referring to Appendix A (History and Theory Dissertation).
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