architectural portfolio
SYNTHESIZING NATURE
Project Brief
This project, undertaken in 2012 as the final design project for the third year BSc. Architecture course at the University of Pretoria, was a response to a selected predetermined brief.
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The aim, dictated by the chosen programme, was to create a space in which people can interact with prisoners who have committed heinous crimes before they receive the death penalty. The facility temporarily houses convicted prisoners during their final 24 hours before their execution.
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Programme
The cells take the form of elevator pods, slowly descending ever downwards in steel and glass shafts to the basement level from where the prisoners are transferred to an adjacent building. In addition to administrative offices, the building provides counselling facilities for visitors in mourning and serves as a monument of remembrance for those executed.
Concept
The cold, mechanical core is contrasted by a lush, vegetated interior in order to symbolise the circle of life, sending the message to all involved that the deaths of the few allow society and life to thrive. In their slow descent, surrounded by the imagery of life, the prisoners and their visitors are encouraged to contemplate the consequences of their actions and accept the repercussions.
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The complexity of a forest is created and further emphasized through transparent, translucent and reflective materials which scatter and change the light which enters through the different shaped and sized apertures. This complexity of shadows and lighting mimics the visual stimulus of walking through a forest.
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Structure
The building is constructed as an exterior structural shell which completely encapsulates the volume of the site. The internal space becomes a network of functional pods suspended from the outside structure into the space and connected by a series of ramps.
Technology
The building acts as an ecosystem of interconnected green technologies. Systems for rainwater harvesting, natural lighting ventilation, photovoltaic energy generation are all integrated seamlessly and visibly to create the aesthetic and the biomimetic interpretation of a forest. Notably, the glass ‘solar spheres’ which adorn the façade are a proven efficiency boosting energy technology which in integrated in a novel way to create a beautiful feature of the building.
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Workflow
The building was drawn and modelled using SketchUp and Layout, while it was rendered in Indigo Renderer. The Presentation, diagrams and renders were finished off in Adobe Photoshop. The cardboard model was built by hand from laser cut parts with a variety of technique to simulate the various features of the design.