Architecture

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Browsing Architecture by Author "Auret, H."

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    Craft metamorphosis: a vocational craft college at the Old Tannery in Wellington Western Cape
    (University of the Free State, 2021) Venter, Annerica; Smit, J. D.; Smit, Petria; Auret, H.; Raubenheimer, H.
    This dissertation seeks to introduce digital fabricated crafts in South-Africa through the development of a craft college at The Old Tannery in Wellington Western Cape. With the investigation of a post-phenomenological approach to this historical site. The Old Tannery provides the perfect opportunity for a new vocational craft college to become a synergy proposed as a way to render an ensemble. A lively educational-commercial space that will attract and serve both locals and tourists. As such, the semi-industrial nature of the site will not interfere with the commercial interests on the rest of the site. Ultimately, the craft college will contribute to the new ensemble by providing many students who could use the other facilities if they wish to do so to start their own businesses. The project aims to have a positive impact within a neglected context by promoting new ways of crafting. This ultimately aims to uplift the local community and allow people from the community to become involved and perhaps start their own trade businesses.
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    Place, ritual and narrative: a coffee roastery and mushola in the Bo-Kaap
    (University of the Free State, 2022) Theron, Stiaan; Smit, J. D.; Smit, P.; Raubenheimer,H.; Auret, H.
    The Bo-Kaap, previously known as the Cape Malay Quarters, is a vibrant place full of rich history and cultural significance. Tourists flock to the area from all around the world. This has inevitably led to forms of gentrification taking root, and some now see the Bo-Kaap as a kind of exhibition space where the insiders can be viewed by the outsiders. If this continues the Bo-Kaap runs the risk of losing its essence and unique voice within the ever-expanding global society. The possibility of facilitating more dignified interactions between insiders and outsiders needs to be investigated. The proposed design intervention, envisioned as a place born from architectural re-telling, aims to provide a space where insiders and outsiders may find common ground amid overlapping rituals and narratives. In this shared space, a coffee roastery, new empathic connections are encouraged without undermining the established voice of the place, since the proposal also offers a space where the insiders may continue to practice their own sacred rituals. As such, the proposed architectural intervention provides an in-between space for empathetic relationships to be built on the common ground sprouting from overlapping rituals and narratives. The goal is to move from ‘exhibition’ to ‘empathy’ while honouring existing ways of life and being sensitive to the historical urban surroundings.
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    Portals between worlds: a place of accustomisation celebrating the Himba cultural identity through a critical regional dialogue between modernity and tradition in the Kunene region
    (University of the Free State, 2021-10) Loots, Chrizelle; Auret, H.; Smit, J. D.; Smit, P.; Raubenheimer, H.
    This dissertation explores the beliefs, rituals, and vernacular morphology of the Himba culture to discover how architecture can create a place of meeting and accustomisation between the world of the Himba and tourists as a contribution to cultural sustainability. The Ovahimba is an indigenous group situated in the desert environment of Opuwo in North Namibia. Due to the aesthetic indigenous qualities of their culture, they are one of Namibia’s greatest attractions. Over many years of modernisation and a number of other external elements, the Himba people are increasingly exposed to modern/western customs, causing the culture to adopt a hybrid identity, entailing modern and traditional characteristics. In order to preserve the culture in its current state, cultural sustainability should be encouraged in the region through the economic, social and ecological development of the Himba culture. This essay will present a research proposal on how critical regional architecture can provide a gathering and meeting space for the Himba people and tourists, in which the Himba can benefit economically and socially, while also celebrating and preserving their culture. The research question of this study can therefore be formulated as follows: How can a critical regionalist approach be used to create architectural spaces of accustomisation, in which foreigners can be introduced to the Himba culture in a respectful yet revelatory way, in order to eventually establish a fruitful dialogue between globalist modernity and indigenous tradition in the Kunene Region? The theoretical theme of critical regionalism assisted with establishing different approaches that are sympathetic to the traditional Himba way of life while, simultaneously defamiliarising potent aspects of the local culture and environment in order to reveal new readings of this ancient way of life. These approaches were implemented to achieve the estrangement of contextual, cultural and regional structural elements to reach the design principles of tactility, defamiliarisation, participation, arrière-garde and the implementation of traditional and landscape practices. This thesis proposes the merged traditional/modern Himba culture with a scheme suitable to their “project identity”. The critical regional implementation of these elements also provides a lens through which tourists can understand and celebrate the Himba culture while contributing to cultural sustainability. Ultimately, the thesis investigates and suggests a ritual Himba Pavilion, intertwining all of the related thematic (community, tourism and cultural conservation) and theoretical (context, culture and vernacular architecture) aspects.