An architectural interventionist approach to urban revitilisation : a proposed hotel for Durban's waterfront.
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Date
2011
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Abstract
Having been founded on the basis of trade through its port, Durban has
progressively evolved and grown. However, as a result of the dependence
on the port, a physical and intangible disconnection has developed between
the city fabric and *water’s edge. This has manifested itself in the road and
rail connection along the Margaret Mncadi Avenue (formerly the Victoria
Embankment) creating a barrier between the city and its edge. As a result of
this lack of integration, another issue has arisen: ‘lost space’. This space is
undesirable and not conducive to a good city image for the central business
district. It becomes apparent that with these factors, there is due cause for an
investigation for revitalisation and as Richard Marshall suggests in ‘Waterfronts
in Post Industrial Cities’, that using the highly visible urban environment of the
waterfront as a tool for revitalisation of the area (Waterfront’s in Post Industrial
Cities: 2001, 2) and, in the long term - the revitalisation of the city.
Studies of Sydney’s Darling Harbour, Baltimore’s Inner Harbour and Seattle’s
waterfront provide insight as to how these interventions uplifted and revitalised
these respective cities. Key outcomes of these precedent studies include the
mixed-use nature at the waterfront, connections to the city fabric, promenade,
open space and a pavilion-like architecture. Most integral to the findings are the
inclusion of all dynamics of people who inhabit the surrounding areas utilising
the waterfront, making it both an attractive urban locality and a safe urban
environment. The inclusion of the cross-section of city dwellers amounts in the
mixed-use nature of the waterfront. It is therefore apparent that on the micro
scale, the urban intervention should be of a mixed-use nature, further to which,
the dire need for hotels in the region of the waterfront, as well as Durban as a
whole, point to an intervention by virtue of a mixed-use hotel.
From the investigation into the case studies, the design parameters further
outline where the intervention needs to address the street edge and public
realm, creating a precedent for waterfront design with the intention of the urban
design linking the city and water’s edge. The end consequence of such design
parameters would be to make the waterfront physically accessible for the
purposes of leisure, recreation and commerce for tourists and Durbanites alike.
*water’s edge specifically refers to the edge along Margaret Mncadi avenue strecthing between
Wilson’s Wharf and the Bat centre, including the Yacht Basin.
Description
Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.
Keywords
Hotels--KwaZulu-Natal--Durban--Designs and plans., Waterfronts--KwaZulu-Natal--Durban--Designs and plans., Architecture--KwaZulu-Natal--Durban--Designs and plans., Theses--Architecture.