Between skin and vine: a viticulture college at the old tannery on the outskirts of Wellington
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Date
2022
Authors
du Toit, Francois Stefan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
The aesthetic of disorder and sensuality of the wilderness has been lost to society for a long time; just one of the underlying effects caused by urbanisation and suburbia. Contemporary dwellers often feel the need to escape their artificial environment to recharge through a direct connection with their inner self and the divine that is only perceivable in nature. The region of the Val du Charon is known not only for its rich viticulture heritage but also for its picturesque landscapes. Instead of continuing to practice viticulture as another way in which nature has been dominated, recent trends in winemaking aim to recast agricultural cultivation as a mediator between people and nature, thereby opening the way for new (and more nuanced) relationships between dwellers and nature. Traditionally, viticulture depends on the domestication of nature, but the move toward ‘ethical wine’ and ‘biodynamic viticulture’ envisions a more reciprocal future. The proposed viticulture school aims to teach this new sensibility to the South African winemakers of the future; an ‘academic reconnection’ between cultivators and nature, serving as a catalyst for new kinds of caring relationships between the wine-drinking public, vineyards, and the natural landscape. The Old Tannery, abandoned since November 1999 has started to show the potential to illustrate architecturally these new kinds of relationships. Firstly, the decaying structure has created opportunities for nature to regain its foothold in unexpected ways, consequently contributing to a new type of beauty. Through adaptive reuse and by focusing on scripting the relationships between the different buildings in the ensemble the goal is to, sustainably and appropriately, find new relational assemblages. This thesis proposed the adaptive reuse of the existing framework of the Old Tannery as a viticulture college. The architectural approach will be influenced by three main considerations: first, the spatial organisation of the ensemble through the use of a promenade; second, the adaptation of the existing built ‘skin’ in line with the heritage prescriptions of the Burra Charter; third, the ‘rewilding’ of the site and the wine-making process. Ultimately, the goal is to architecturally interpret the principles ensconced in ‘ethical wine’ and ‘biodynamic viticulture’ in order to recast the old industrial complex, to question the way human cultivation used to imply the domestication of nature and to open the way for establishing new existential thresholds between dwellers and the vine.
Description
Dissertation (M.Arch. (Architecture))--University of the Free State, 2022
Keywords
viticulture, sensitive, biodynamic, tableau, palimpsest, rewilding