The integration of traditional and modern architectural form : a proposed socially active centre for skills development in Southern Africa.
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Date
2011
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Abstract
This research is a study of traditional and modern architecture and how the aforementioned
systems can and should integrate into Afro-centric architecture. The emphasis was on the
architecture one tends to enjoy as an African, explored and juxtaposed against the thoughts
and theoretical frameworks of culture sensitive architects worldwide. In this dissertation,
the aspects of integrative theory were explored. Primary theories dealing with
sustainability, New African Architecture, Indigenous Knowledge and Semiology were
assessed as well. The differences between traditional Africa and modern adaptations, both
positive and negative, were the limit of the research. In the dissertation certain key
questions are posed to drive the inquiry of the document. The hypothesis is the conjecture
that a connection between modernized architecture and traditional semiotics exists and can
be cultivated to flourish, developing African architecture at all levels. This conjecture acts
as a base for primary and secondary research.
There are accounts listed in this dissertation of richly meaningful and sensitive traditional
architecture that show a connection between American, Asian, African and European
primitive building styles. These accounts show practices that have lasted near as long as the
society that invented them. The gathered information shows that these examples have
undergone little change over the years. The dissertation argues that the value these
instances of traditional architectural meaning lessened over the years due to a shift in
cultural paradigms. Further chapters in the study address cosmology, African attitudes to
space, the reinvention of old materials and the manifestation and celebration of new
tectonic relationships. Lessons collected on the above listed issues were related against
findings from verbal interviews, written questionnaires and observations at the site of case
studies. It is the researcher’s desire to explore the potential for an integrative developmental
institute. To this end, an assessment has been done both in the form of precedent embedded
in the text and Case Studies of relevant buildings that relate to the subject matter of the
dissertation. The analysis of these assessments shows a manifested potential for the
integration of traditional designs with modern building.
Description
Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.
Keywords
Community centres--Africa, Southern--Designs and plans., Architecture, Modern--Africa, Southern--Designs and plans., Vernacular architecture--Africa, Southern--Designs and plans., Theses--Architecture.