Movement as a generator for transient architecture : towards a design of a transport interchange in South Durban.
Date
2016
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Abstract
The theories of liminality, urban mobility, critical geography and spatialized critical
theory are analyzed through a phenomenological enquiry attempting to understand the
way people perceive place as they move and transform through space and time.
The concept of using movement as in informer for design has not been adequately
employed in contemporary society, resulting in movement through spaces not being
sustainable. Therefore, the infrastructure facilitating this movement does not respond in
a dynamic and flexible way, resulting in harsh boundaries, discontinued urban node
patterns and, most imperative to the discussion, marginalization on a global scale.
Isipingo is one of many marginalized communities in South Africa, also considered a
third space of resistance. Development, however, is focused on efficiency of freight
transportation rather than enhancing the vibrancy and dynamics of multifarious
networks that have had the opportunity to develop organically and spontaneously,
forming a ‘melting pot of cultures,’ (Makhathini, 2011).
These imperative survival networks can be enhanced through infrastructure which
allows for choice, giving people the freedom to transform through space and time.
Transient architecture, informed by movement and connections between people, can
then adapt as these motions change over time, accepting a multiplicity of cultures and
dynamics in a space simultaneously.
Description
Master of Architecture. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2016.