Articulating the real and the numinous: a Flood Control and Research Centre at the historic St. Helens Pump Station on the banks of the uMzimkhulu river

Abstract

There is potential magic within a hybrid “third space” of science and divination where the past omens and present practises can be tied together by string to aid the current flooding crisis. How can dialogical forms and orders drawn between the practices of science and divination, articulate and bridge the gap between the real and the numinous, embody the methodologies of the oionistic oracle, and highlight the importance of reading and memorialising past omens in an effort to address the current terrors of flooding? Past efforts to address the South African flooding crisis have led to many quantitative and scientific approaches that evaluate rainfall, water management and infrastructure but seldom approach the crisis by way of divination, through which a higher realm of information can be tapped into. This dissertation introduces a new way of approaching flooding by designing a Flood Control and Research Centre that highlights the potential within the intertwined relationship between science and divination in an attempt to respectfully articulate the two where the roles of divination and the roles of science meet and work together in a hermeneutic relationship. Further investigation included analyzing the existing context regarding the project theme, testing three different theoretical stances and studying appropriate precedents. This design approach is able to broaden and challenge the dweller’s perspective of seemingly opposite practices and provide a paradigm for future flood crisis approaches.