architectural portfolio
This project was undertaken in 2016 and is the product of my Master of Architecture thesis at the University of the Witwatersrand.
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Project Brief
The project brief, completely formulated by myself, was the product of intensive research and investigation. The chosen topic was to determine the impact that a building could have on the fight against rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park. It was determined that the success of the design would be determined by how it deals with three main criteria, namely: facilitating more effective anti-poaching activities, raising funds to finance these activities, and discouraging the local community from taking part in poaching.
It was determined that the programme of the building had to be mixed use, with three main components to respond to the above criteria:
- The first is a headquarters for the operation of a technologically advanced, multifaceted anti-poaching effort which includes the maintenance, launching and control of drones, a canine ranger unit, a quick response ranger unit, a communications tower and various administrative functions.
-The second component is a touristic visitor’s centre which includes interactive exhibitions, memorials, galleries, shops and various ways of directly viewing the anti-poaching activities.
-The third component is a community connectivity centre, allowing the currently unconnected local community access to contemporary communication and computation technologies while facilitating training and upliftment programmes aiming to empower the community to use this newly available technology to lift themselves out of poverty. Not part of the design, but provided for in the larger development scheme, a public market place would allow the community access to the many tourists to sell their goods.
The site, selected through a rigorous investigative process, is a publicly owned, undeveloped property bordering the Kruger National Park to the East, the impoverished town of Matsulu to the North, and an undeveloped public park to the South. It is located close to the main national highway in the area and is centrally located for access to poaching hotspots, airstrips and the main metropolitan centre of Mbombela.
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Theory
One of the key explorations of the thesis was the idea of a hybrid ecosystem in which man and nature coexist in a shared space. The architecture was thus conceived as blending into the site and the natural world in such a way that nature changes the building while the building changes the natural environment.
Design Concept
The concept aimed to give form to the hybrid space theory. The building is to be dug into the slope of the site, allowing the building to appear smaller from the western approach while opening up towards the public park to the south and the Kruger National Park to the east. The building aims to blur the boundary between internal and external space, incorporating a canopy which variably shades the external spaces from the harsh sunshine and rain while allowing much of the circulation to happen in this semi-exterior space. These spaces are filled with bushveld gardens and are open for various forms of animal life to enter. Rather than orthogonal passages and courtyards, the semi-exterior spaces are formed as wedges, opening up views or focussing traffic to particular points of interest, all facilitated by the angular geometries of the internal spaces.
In dealing with the complex structural requirements of the canopies covering the semi-exterior spaces, it was necessary to develop computational design techniques to create structurally sound forms capable of spanning such irregular geometries efficiently. This made it possible to design organic forms which appear almost like natural hills, but are constructed of modular elements. In combination with green roofs over the angular building forms, the canopy allows the building to blend into the natural landscape but still look different from it.
From the computed structural simulations, it was clear that it would not be possible to accommodate the entire height of the necessary communications tower in the organic canopy. It was thus decided to create a geometricized light gauge steel apex structure. This would complete the mountainous look of the building while protecting the sensitive communications equipment inside. The structure also functions as a viewing deck for visitors.
In order to uplift and gain the support of the local community, it was decided that the design should be constructed as far as possible from materials and skills available inside the town of Matsulu. For this reason, it was decided that the main structure would be constructed using concrete masonry units which are produced by a local business a few hundred meters from the site. Columns and beams would be made of timber poles which sourced and sold by local businesses and screens of timber laths, made by local craftsman, would be used throughout. Furthermore, all of these materials would be used and exposed in such a way that the community can easily see how their own work created the aesthetic of the building. The modular lath screens which make up the canopy can be made by unemployed, unskilled and even immobile members of the local community. The result is that the vast majority of the funding for the building would be invested directly into the community.
Workflow
The original design concept was developed in Sketchup, but the vast majority of the modelling and drawing, including everything shown here, was done in Revit. The computational design of the canopy was done in Grasshopper for Rhinoceros 3D using a large array of plugins to create a visual programming script. The process was developed over the course of 3 months and was the product of much research and learning. The thesis document (downloadable at the top of this page) includes an entire chapter outlining this innovative process.
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Other software used in creating various elements of the thesis include Microsoft PowerPoint, Word & Excel, Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop & Acrobat Pro, AutoCad, Lumion, and HitFilm Express Studio.