Category: Research

Action Research Design Research Research

The (in)formal City – Part 2: Berl-informal Research

Summary of research conducted in Goerlitzer Park

 

To see the full post of my research with Hanna Niklasz on Goerlitzer Park:


http://informalcity.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/formal-versus-informal-perceptions-of-safety-in-public-space/

 

Overview
The initial goal of our partnership was to investigate informal and formal perceptions of ownership in public space. As a tandem, we were interested in how different user groups perceive public space and how these users “owned” the space. This interest stemmed from the contrasting differences in our backgrounds as we quickly realised that as two people from such different places our own perceptions were so different in our initial discussions.
 
The aspect of ownership has revealed itself in the our experience to be a key factor in understanding the complexity of informal activities in public space in contrast to what are considered the formal use by those who control and manage such spaces. This understanding of the relationship between formal and informal uses is crucial for those looking to intervene spatially or develop an understanding of such diverse public spaces.

See No evii, hear no evil…

 

Action Research Built Work Design Facilitation & Engagement Research Socio-Technical Teaching & Training

Marlboro South, the University of Johannesburg & the (in)formal Studio

The MWCC working with CORC technical member
This story covers my involvment in Marlboro South with the Marbloro South Warehouse Crisis Committee (MWCC) in 2012/2013 while working at the South African Shack Dwellers International Alliance (SASDI). 


This is essentially a photo essay of the events from my perspective, with supplemented referenced links from on-line sources, that depicts my involvement in the MWCC’s processes during this period.

Socio-Technical Support – May 2012

Marlboro settlement profile from South African SDI Alliance on Vimeo.
SASDI Story HERE

I began working in Marlboro South after taking the position of socio-technical support at the SASDI. Operating through the Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC) my task was to support the MWCC in their technical needs while they worked through the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) in lobbying local and national governments in the face of eviction threats around their rights to occupy the abandoned (some) warehouses in Marlboro South‘s industrial belt. 

   
The MWCC in action
Marlboro South Industrial Belt
The MWCC had been established after a fall out with various civil and local authority groups who had negotiated for the residents on their behalf to their right to occupy the warehouses.
The MWCC working with CORC technical member
As Socio-Technical support a large part of our our job consists of being in leadership meetings.

In total the MWCC represented 53 occupied warehouse who spatially had re-furbished factories ‘abandoned’ during the violent periods in Marlboro South during the early 1990’s.

Some warehouse were occupied with minimal changes
Other warehouse were completely adapted internally
 
While other had their internal delivery yards converted into housing.
At the time, I had just taken over from a former colleague, Jacqueline Cuyler, who had recently completed a temporary housing solution for residents under the MWCC while working for CORC in response to an earlier illegal eviction with the MWCC weeks before.
 
These temporary houses were part of the SASDI’s Community Upgrade Finance Facility (CUFF) project process, and were intended to house MWCC members while the leadership engaged the powers that be.
The idea of what is considered temporary emerged many times during my work in Marlboro South. These structures were erected in less than 3 days and were later dissembled in a shorter time, but are considered permanent by most institutional bodies for very obscure reasons.
 
What is interesting is which elements of the houses are considered crucial such as the stoep’s – an important social space – that doubles as structural stabilisation and a weather foot. As well as numbers and entrance features when built at this speed and for this purpose.
Retail and other business opportunities are quickly seized upon.
My first project was to help in a savings group that was looking to install a new toilet through the CUFF process. This involved assisting with the design, costing and facilitation through the various social processes that the SASDI work through.
Intern on site in Marlboro South
During this time I held a dual position between the University of Johannesburg (UJ) as a part time lecturer and researcher while working at the SASDI, and as part of my interest in developing and sharing socio-technical spatial design skills (1:1 Student League) I would bring interested students to various meetings to expose them to these complex spaces.
Students from the 1:1 Student League visiting an occupied warehouse
 
 
The University of Johannesburg’s (in)formal Studio – July 2012
 
Alex Opper, co-ordinator of the Masters in Architectural Technology programme at UJ has been collaborating with various professionals (26.10′ South Architects), NGO’s (the SASDI) and cultural institutions (Goethe Institute) to develop  interesting and relevant student brief’s through what they have now collectively referred to as the (in)formal Studio which include UJ staff Eric Wright and Claudia Morgado who practice as BOOM Architects.
1:1 – Co-Founder, Jacqueline Cuyler, with MWCC member waking the various sites in Marlboro South
The (in)formal studio undertook their first project in 2011 in Ruimsig, working with SASDI members, and sought to continue the project in 2012 in Marlboro South with the MWCC, and I was charged by the NGO with facilitating the relationship.
UJ lecturer Alex Opper and Architect Thorsten Deckler walk through Marlboro South with ISN memeber Albert Masibigiri

The challenge in developing the brief, was to satisfy the academic nature of a Architectural investigation into a complex socio-political environment with the crucial needs of such residents in their potentially un-spatial requirements.
My dual position between  UJ and the SASDI allowed me to play an important role in facilitating the needs of the MWCC while assisting in the development of the brief for UJ’s Architecture Department.
Working at the 26.10′ South Architect’s with Anne Graupner, Alex Opper, Claudia Morgado, Eric Wright and Thorsten Deckler to develop the brief
What emerged was an incrementally structured brief that broke down the site of investigation and design into 3 scales of research and intervention that eventually culminate into a potential architectural product that was the sum of an intense process of engagement with and for residents and the MWCC members.
The studio was then broken into sections of engagement on a weekly basis from large scale land use analysis to participative mapping site scale mapping all the way down to life-world analysis of individual residents of Marlboro South warehouses. This was done in mixed teams of post graduate and undergraduate students and Marlboro residents under the guidance of the SASDI Alliance.
Extract from UJ brief (University of Johannesburg, 2012 Brief Hand Out)
The studio was arranged with weekly meetings in both the settlement site and the University studio on campus, this was done in order to share the spatial realities of both participating groups.
 
Members of ISN and MWCC arriving at UJ
UJ Students arriving in Marlboro South
Mapping and measuring exercises at UJ with ISN, MWCC and students
Mapping and measuring research in Marlboro South with ISN, MWCC and students
 
Mapping and measuring exercises at UJ with ISN, MWCC and students
Mapping and measuring research in Marlboro South with ISN, MWCC and students
Mapping and measuring exercises at UJ with ISN, MWCC and students
Mapping and measuring research in Marlboro South with ISN, MWCC and students
Mapping and measuring research in Marlboro South with ISN, MWCC and students

Mapping and measuring exercises at UJ with ISN, MWCC and students
Mapping and measuring research in Marlboro South with ISN, MWCC and students
Mapping and measuring exercises at UJ with ISN, MWCC and students
Mapping and measuring research in Marlboro South with ISN, MWCC and students
Mapping and measuring exercises at UJ with ISN, MWCC and students
Mapping and measuring research in Marlboro South with ISN, MWCC and students
Students were then divided into smaller groups and asked to determine site specific design intervention solutions at a framework level and present this back to the MWCC and the residents for feedback in the scheduled workshop meetings. The groups would then begin to propose possible solutions within this framework from a small scale level of intervention to possible larger ones.
Student presentations in Marlboro South occupied Warehouses
Student presentations in Marlboro South occupied Warehouses
UJ Student presentation at UJ Architecture Department
Student presentations in Marlboro South  car wash facility outdoors
UJ Student presentation at UJ Architecture Department
Student presentations in Marlboro South occupied Warehouses
Student presentations in Marlboro South occupied Warehouses
Student presentations in Marlboro South occupied Warehouses
UJ Student presentation at UJ Architecture Department
UJ Student presentation at UJ Architecture Department
Student presentations in Marlboro South occupied Warehouses
UJ Student presentation at UJ Architecture Department
Student presentations in Marlboro South  car wash facility in Marlboro South streets
Student presentations in Marlboro South  car wash facility outdoors
Student presentations in Marlboro South  car wash facility outdoors
Unfortunately an impromptu later deemed illegal eviction of several sites occupied by residents and the MWCC by the City of Johannesburg made the issues of capacity and focus very difficult, as well putting the students at potential risk.
UJ students at one of the sites of the eviction
The studio was altered and majority of participatory work happened on the University campus and other adjacent venues.
Local restaurant in Marlboro South chosen due to evictions
From an academic standpoint the studio was highly successful in opening up student perspectives on the various forms of tangible and intangible support designers can offer, as well as exposing some of the student body to contexts and cultures not critically experienced before.

This studio process revealed how important it is for these processes to be managed by larger social groups, as universities do not have the capacity or scope to support such large social movements or deal with evictions and the repercussions of such an act. At first the large team sizes were difficult to manage, but put together large amounts accurate socially sensitive of data very quickly – this proved invaluable in the ensuing lawsuit against the city, while creating a large volume of work from which further exercises can be held.
Land Use Diagram that was instrumental in proving the illegality of the eviction by JMPD
 

Beyond the design studio – October 2012

While the design studio exists as one of the most flexible and adaptable spaces to navigate the intricate and dynamic world of socio-technical design processes, it needs to be considered in the larger picture of what design pre-professionals are required in the ‘real world’. If the processes employed in these spaces are not done so with an understanding of the expected role of the students then result can be defined by a product and process that only benefits an academic inquiry into development work, but not a pragmatic one.

These ‘living laboratories’ require sustainable systems of development through socially inclusive and open processes. These systems need to be clearly documented and the set up in a manner that does not rely on the individuals gains of singular entities, but speak to a larger drive of all parties involved; that of socially conscious open minded people within groups that are up front in their intentions around engagement.

The relationships that the design studio establishes and nature of the enthusiasm open minded pre-professionals carry through into the real world should be guided by a strong acceptance of these process by not only the tertiary bodies that facilitate, but by the profession that needs to look at its role in this and support those pushing through the current limitations.
The underlying ethos of these studios should not be one of design professionals entering an informal context and superimposing the values of formality in their support, but of seeking to understand and ‘un-learn’ in order to respond in such a way that works with the energies and capacities of the informal context. This approach distances the designer from control of the final ‘product’ of support, but allows for long term sustainability of support facilitating the most key aspect of design support – ownership
 
Eviction – August 2012
On August 17, 2012 I received a call from the a member of the MWCC. He was speaking fast and all I could hear over the background roar was that JMPD were evicting people from the warehouses and that a bulldozer had killed someone. Not sure what to do, I phoned the  lawyers (SERI) we were working with who told me all we could do was try and get the physical court order document and gain an interdict as soon as possible.
Armed with this knowledge and my camera I rushed to Marlboro South, but was denied access to the area by JMPD. After parking my car deep in Alexandra I ran the 2km gauntlet around the police blockade to the MWCC office, here I found out that no one was dead – but someone had fainted after a police bulldozer had knocked down her home.
Marlboro South was overrun with JMPD, a later estimated 500 plus members of orange and blue were demolishing selected sites over the industrial belt.
With the MWCC behind me I approached several official looking members of the police to try and find the court order, when I had eventually reached the top of the hierarchy I was joined by a journalist friend I called en route and the lawyers from SERI. Here we were shown the ‘official’ document for the eviction –  a handwritten note.

More pictures from Greg Nicolsan’s work in Marlboro South  
–  The Daily Maverick

 
 
There was very little the lawyers, the NPO or the MWCC could do but watch as the police demolished their homes, as the process to block the order was delayed and most of the residents were at work at the time.

some residents chose to burn their homes rather than have the material confiscated (formerly mentioned CUFF project)
Other residents attempted to salvage what they could (CUFF project seen above)
As most of the inhabitants were at work, they returned that evening to find their homes destroyed and the material confiscated along with their personal belongings and valuables.

 
Post Eviction
The evictions continued for several days intermittently, the MWCC attempted to protest by blocking JMD access into Marlboro by placing obstacles in the roadways. Which resulted in JMPD employing crowd control methods including rubber bullets.
Residents were shot with rubber bullets during an attempted protest and block of further police evictions.
After the initial eviction, the Gauteng ISN and FEDUP, the Community Based Organisation (CBO) under the CBO’s within the SASDI, assembled in Marlboro to support the MWCC.
 
Asihambe (We won’t go: IsiZulu ) Solidarity March
 
While the Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) worked to obtain the official interdict, the CBO’s under the SDI prepared a formalised march to address the City of Johannesburg around the eviction.
 
Other technical members of the SDI, specifically a planner from the U.S working at the alliance worked tirelessly to examine housing and policy law to assist the lawyers in the case, while the my most valuable skills at this stage I could offer were that of  photo-documentation and poster design to support the march.
 
  
Evictions in Marlboro, Johannesburg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdinet/7781600358/in/photostream/
After weeks of court dates and legal jargon, the eviction was deemed illegal and the City of Johannesburg was under an official judgement ordered to:
  • Provide the 141 families with sites in Marlboro.
  • Provide material for the construction of temporary shelters.
  • In 4 months more land needs to be acquired if needed to accommodate the 141 families.
  • Start a meaningful engagement regarding the balance of families evicted later during the month of August.
  • Pay all legal costs.
The full story of the Asihambe Solidarity March is available here: 
 
The ‘Temporary’ Solution – October 2012
 
Several single mothers sheltered in the MWCC office during the eviction
During the process of gaining a temporary interdict for 65 families that could not be sheltered anywhere, the City of Johannesburg’s lawyers offered the residents ‘temporary’ occupation of the site on condition that they would not erect structures more than 1m high, that could not be made of ‘iron metal’ and that had no structural support – as seen here in the documentary “Landless”:
Using the South African Housing code’s stature on temporary housing as being a minimum of 24 sqm, and 2.4m high made of material that offered occupants safety and privacy. The city then replied that the structures could be 2.4m high, not ‘permanent’ and have ‘poles’ that could not be longer than 2m.
 
The SASDI offered support in providing temporary shelter for these families, but had very little money to support this. This put forward an interesting design brief for us providing the socio-technical support, as what the city had stated in writing was a clear omission of spatial and material elements and heigh restrictions.
As practitioners we offered an interpretation of that order to possibly build it out polycarbonate panels, and what if the houses were all put together in 1 large ‘tent-like’ structure maybe made of hydra form (non permanent bricks) – essentially working around the legal requirements through design.
We were advised by the lawyers to respect the spirit of the order and not be to clever in such a delicate situation.
A piece of government owned land was chosen by the MWCC and several army tents were donated by donors to the NGO.
 
These tents were an emergency solution to the temporary housing of the 65 most vulnerable families in the eviction. The names of each person was registered in the court order and were awarded temporary occupation by the court  on site until the City of Johannesburg responded. This was crucial as 1 week later Johannesburg experienced a rare snow storm that plunged temperatures to freezing overnight.
 
 
Permanently Temporary Solutions & The (in)formal Studio – November 2012 – February 2013
 
In the background to the eviction and court battles, the professionals and academics who had been involved in the studio were working on developing a more permanent housing solution to show the City of Johannesburg alternatives to addressing some of the major issues in Marlboro South.
The architect’s discussing a possible government owned site with the MWCC
This solution was to be part of a larger body of work, including the student’s design work, that would make up a travelling exhibition  to showcase these types of engagements and projects to a larger audience.
Graphic by the (in)formal Studio – http://www.informalstudio.co.za/images/Slide32.jpg
http://www.sacapsa.com/sacap/action/media/downloadFile?media_fileid=687
 
One of the major outputs was a participatively developed housing scheme that would re-house residents of the MWCC in a safer, more incremental pattern that worked with current spatial typologies and land use.
These possible layouts were work-shopped with various MWCC members and residents and developed into a larger development plan.
Layout plan by the (in)formal Studio – http://www.informalstudio.co.za/images/Slide28.jpg
The tools used for this larger development design, were used to attempt to negotiate a temporary solution for the tent dwellers who were occupying a different parcel land.
The 65 families were engaged on several occasions to develop an accepted layout for the City of Johannesburg to adopt in accordance with the court order.
This smaller temporary plan was put together through CORC and submitted to the City of Johannesburg as part of the deliverable from the residents side.
As the weeks went by, and the City of Johannesburg missed its court ordered dates of engagement, and the tent dweller residents began making temporary adjustments to their tent home, including a cooking area and other social spaces.
The walls get higher…
To date the tents are still up and residents are still waiting for the City to keep up its ordained mandate as local factory owners build higher walls and grow more angry at the situation.
 
The (in)formal Studio Exhibition – April 2013
“An exhibition covering the entire project was opened in the Goethe gallery in February 2012. 
 
Rather than delivering defined solutions this exhibition delivered on portraying and celebrating human engagement across a divide of one of the most unequal cities in the world. It recorded the contradictions and discomforts but also the tremendous potential which exists in seeing, and acknowledging each other as part of the solution.”

Anne Graupner, 26.10′ South Architects
 

This exhibition had two openings, one held at in Marlboro South where the members of the MWCC and residents were screened the movies that were made by local film makers Lungelo Mntambo & Tolo Pule from DeLiTe and edited by Nadine Hutton and the other at the official opening at the Goethe Institutes’ Parkview location.
Marlboro South Opening for the Informal Studio Exhibition
 
Directed by  Lungelo Mntambo & Tolo Pule of DeLite and edited by Nadine Hutton of 2point8

 
http://www.youtube.com/user/InformalStudio?feature=watch
Directed by  Lungelo Mntambo & Tolo Pule of DeLite and edited by Nadine Hutton of 2point8

 

Directed by Tolo & Lungelo of DeLite and edited by Nadine Hutton of 2point8

 

Directed by  Lungelo Mntambo & Tolo Pule of DeLite and edited by Nadine Hutton of 2point8

 
MWCC members recieving their public recognition at the screening in Marlboro South
MWCC member presenting the introduction at the official Exhibition Opening
 
 
 
 
 
 
Post Exhibition Work – May 2013
I have recently left my position at CORC to pursue a  focused socio-technical role alongside the NGO, looking more at developing role for spatial design students and pre-professionals.
Quite soon after my departure the SASDI the NGO, by a chance meeting with a non-profit social group in Cape Town, was offered the opportunity by another non-profit group of being a solution to potentially house the 65 families living in the tents nearby in Marlboro South
The conditions were that the those effected should benefit from this donation and the project should not just house, but also socially develop the inhabitants. The SASDI, the MWCC and the newly formed (in)formal Studio collective are currently working on this.
Academics, professionals, NGO and CBO discussing the oppurtunity
 

Reflection – July 2013

 
This summary has taken me almost a year to complete. Looking back at the role I played in the social development process has been quite difficult as the notable differences in the situation of those I worked with has not changed much on the ground – although larger scale shifts in approach and thinking have happened higher up in the governance structures.
The role of anyone in an NGO supportive role, let alone someone with an architectural background, is extremely difficult. Having to work across many cultural, economic and social backgrounds while supporting other people’s processes to capacitate without falling into the temptation of short cutting important and tiresome methodologies and just doing it for people is a taxing mental challenge.
I had many sleepless nights (in my own comfortable bed, that looked over Marlboro South in the distance) during the eviction feeling utterly useless in the face of such a huge destructive force. These concerns stayed with me during my time at the NGO as the issues facing these initiatives are so complex and overwhelming that is often drains you of your resolve.
What eventually led me to step out of my position at the SASDI was the realisation that the role spatial designers (architects, planners, some engineers) can play in these processes is niche – but crucial. While it’s difficult to make changes to the large picture, I felt my role could be much more effective in my own ‘community’ of spatial design students and pre-professionals. By being involved from this position I could make the difference I wanted by first bringing these practitioners into these spaces they would not normally work in, and by developing additional ways of acting, thinking and intervening in such situations.
I am still involved with the South African Shack Dwellers International Alliance in Johannesburg, working with the organisation on various projects and assisting in the support of their new socio-technical staff. I now sit part time at the University of Johannesburg and Pretoria while focussing on the role that the 1:1 Student League and recently developed 1:1 – Agency of Engagementt in socio-technical spatial design in South Africa.
End
*
Other Links:
BACKGROUND
Marlboro South
– Wikipedia
Visiting the Informal Studio: Marlboro South
– Goethe Institut Blog
Development Announcement
 
(IN)FORMAL STUDIO EXHIBITION ARTICLES
 
Informal Studio – Ruimsig
– The Informal City
The Informal Studio – Ruimsig
– The University of Johannesburg
The Informal Studio – Ruimsig
– 26.10′ South Architects
 
PEDAGOGY: UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

– The British Council

– Urb.Im

Informal Studio Travelling Exhibition
– South African Council Architectural Practice
The Informal Studio: Marlboro South
– Goethe Institut Blog
Johannesburg Exhibition Takes on the challenge of informal settlements
– 26.10′ South Architect’s Website
ROLE PLAYERS
The (in)formal Studio 
26.10 South Architects
BOOM Architects
The University of Johannesburg – Architecture Department
The South African Shack Dwellers International Alliance
Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR)
Marlboro South Industrial Organisation
http://www.marlborosouth.org.za
GLOSSARY
 
NGO – Non Governmental Organisation
NPO – Non Profit Organisation
CBO – Community Based Organisation
 
SDI – Shack Dwellers Intenational
SASDI – Shack Dwellers International Alliance
ISN – Informal Settlement Network
FEDUP – Federation of the Urban/Rural Poor
CORC – Comunity Organisation Resource Centre
MWCC – Marlboro Warehouse Crisis Committee
UJ – University of Johannesburg
JMPD – Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department
Action Research Photography & Film

The (in)formal City – Part 1: Berl-in-formality

In early 2013 I was offered the opportunity to apply for a professional exchange programme between Berlin and Johannesburg, The (in)formal City Programme to explore the nature of informality, which i was fortunate enough to be selected for:

The (in)formal City is a cooperation project around an interdisciplinary team from Berlin and Johannesburg of people interested in the complex phenomena of urbanisation between formality and informality. 

The project was initiated by Inpolis and the Goethe-Institut in Berlin and funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung. The cooperation partners in Johannesburg are 26’10 SOUTH ARCHITECTS and Alexander Opper (University of Johannesburg).

* taken from http://informalcity.wordpress.com/about/



Berlin -Week 1

The programme selected 12 participants from a Johannesburg application process and 12 from Berlin,  and involved spending 2 week focussed research periods in either city exploring the nature of informality in both locations.

Day 1: what does Informal/Formal mean to you?
Berlin was introduced to the Joburger’s in a rapid and thorough fashion, starting in the city’s planning department with amazing scale models of Berlin.
City Planning Department in Berlin
Amazingly detailed models of Berlin

The introduction then quickly took us through the city’s amazing collection of memorials, starting with the haunting beauty of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe by Peter Eisenman.

Eisenman Memorial
Eisenman Memorial

 

Eisenman Memorial

The simplicity of arranging these columns in a grid to re-create the effect of disappearance is quite amazing.

Eisenman Memorial Effect # 1
Eisenman Memorial Effect # 2
Eisenman Memorial Effect # 3
This space is highly successful in achieving the intended effect, with a colleague sharing how a friend she brouhgt to site was so moved by the experience that he/she was brought to tears in remembrance of a family member who dissapeared  from her/.his life. 
The forms encouraged people to climb on top for reflection

While many people choose to pay their respects to the memorial in reflective silence, other choose to play – with local authorities close by to reprimand them.

…and play
The heights and forms appeal to the playful nature of attracted many people to engage with the volumetric nature of the space – which the local authorities quickly and continually had to re-enforce.

 

Brandenburg Gate
 Followed quickly past the Holocaust memorial were the Brandenburg Gate…

 

 

Sinti Roma Victim Memorial

… the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma victims of National Socialism …

Homosexual Persecution Memorial
… the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism…
Day 1 wrapped up

The first day was finished in a strange experience for a South African – enjoying an afternoon in a public park…more on this was explored later in the programme

Relaxing in Public Space?
Day 2
 
Prinzessinnengarten, a ‘community’ garden in Berlin’s was our first stop the following day, this urban garden has been set up in the bustling suburb of Kreutzberg on the former border of Berlin’s Eastern edge. As a group we were very lucky to be shown the garden by co-founder Robert Shaw.
 

 

Nomadisch Grün (Nomadic Green) launched Prinzessinnengärten (Princess gardens) as a pilot project in the summer of 2009 at Moritzplatz in Berlin Kreuzberg, a site which had been a wasteland for over half a century. Along with friends, activists and neighbours, the group cleared away rubbish, built transportable organic vegetable plots and reaped the first fruits of their labour.

* Taken from http://prinzessinnengarten.net/

 

Robert Shaw explaining Prinzessengarten

Our Berlin hosts took great care to explain in detail to us the nature of the garden and how they see it fitting into the narrative of the programme.

Berlin hosts explaining details

 

See fellow participants 
Héctor Carreto & Olumuyiwa Adegun’s research on Prinzessengarten:
Image: Hector & Olumuyiwa

We then made our way to Oranienplatz, where a group of ‘African refugees‘ were demonstrating against the  their inhuman treatmant by the European Union:

Refugee protest camp

The group had a set up a camp in the Berlin neighbourhood and under the support of the mayor staged their protest peacefully to:

– To abolish the law of residency obligation
– To stop deportations
– To close refugee camps
– To achieve better living conditions in dignity for us refugees in Germany

Refugee protest demonstration

 

See fellow participants Martin Schinagl & Tshanda Mbuyi’s research on the Refugee Protest:

Image: Tshanda & Martin’s Post

The afternoon was completed by a tour of the ‘Turkish neighbourhoods’ by local resident who explained the complex history of Turkish migrant labour and the social stigma’s around such minority groups today.

 

‘Turkish Neighborhood’ visit
See fellow participants Sylvana Jahre & Trusha Mitha’s research here on community organizations in Berlin:
Image: Trusha & Sylvana Post
http://informalcity.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/community-organizations-between-formality-and-informality/
http://informalcity.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/community-organizations-between-formality-and-informality-part-2/

Day 3

Gropiusstadt

 

Visiting the famous modernist housing development of Gropiusstadt and seeing in person the structures and forms that one has studied for so long is a truly inspiring experience. 
 
See fellow participants Nathalia Garzón Arredondo & Nicolette Pingo’s research on Gropiustadt here:
Image: Nicollette & Nathalia Post
http://informalcity.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/the-planning-juggernaut-part-1/
http://informalcity.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/the-planning-juggernaut-part-2/
 
There is something about growing up so far from taught precedents of architecture that makes seeing such examples in person so special. 
 
Templehof Field

By far my favourite space in Berlin, the Templehof Field is a de-commissioned airport that has now become an integral part of the open-green public space systems in Berlin’s dense residential neighbourhoods.

We experienced the Templehof Field through a local organisation that had set up a public garden space within the large expanse of green.

Templehof Field

 

… and finished the day with a Berlin-styled Braai…

 

See fellow participants Héctor Carreto & Olumuyiwa Adegun’s  research on Templehof: 

Image: Hector & Olumiyiwa

Day 4

Ex Rota print was once a publishing facility that has now a protected and preserved iece of industrial heritage.

 

Ex Rotaprint Building Diagram

The space is now used a multi-function office, community and public space that serves multiple creative and social functions in it’s neighborhood.

Ex Rotaprint Explanation
Ex Rotaprint

 

This day was spend exploring the various re-purposed industrial buildings that represent an important era in Berlin’s development as a city.
 
See fellow participants Melissa Chávez & Gert van der Merwe’s research on Ex Rotaprint: 
Image: Mellisa & Gert’s Post
http://informalcity.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/informality-at-the-core-of-reinvention-exrotaprint-part-1/
http://informalcity.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/informality-at-the-core-of-reinvention-exrotaprint-part-2/

 

De-Commissioned Industrial Building
De-Commissioned Industrial Building
De-Commissioned Industrial Building
De-Commissioned Industrial Building
De-Commissioned Industrial Building – turned into dance hall

Many of these industrial spaces now serve as creative or cultural spaces such as this de-commissioned warehouse that now houses a dance studio amongst other performance spaces.

Street Art

These areas are littered with street art, that guided us through these amazing city spaces.

Street Art

 

Statt Swembad

This part of the programme took us to the Statt Swembadt – a re-purposed public swimming pool that housed such cultural and creative programmes.

Statt Swembad Pool – turned into music venue
Statt Swembad Pool – wall art
Statt Swembad change room – turned into creative office space

The change rooms had been conveted into a hot desking space that at the time was being used by a print artist.

Statt Swembad Pool – turned into music venue

 

This day concluded with a visit to RAW an industrial strip located between the Spree river and Boxhagener –  a very trendy part of residential Berlin.

 

RAW Street Art

This area is largely houses a mix of party venues from Gothic themed venues to Jazz and Salsa – and is such that most of the building are beautfiully expressed through painted street graphics.

RAW Street Art

 

RAW Street Art

 

RAW Street Art

The RAW precinct is part of the Anti-Media Spree Campaign that is fighting the privatisation and development of such spaces across the Spree River banks.

(in)formal City team exhausted…

 

See fellow participant’s Claudia Morgado and Tilman Versch’s research on Fashion:

Image: Claudia & Tilman’s Post

http://informalcity.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/fashioning-the-formal-and-informal/

To see more posts from participants of Week 1:

Image: Claudia Morgado

http://informalcity.wordpress.com/2013/07/

*


Time Off

Following an action packed week of Berlin we were given the weekend off to explore the city un-programmed.

Stumble Stones – a city wide memorial to those who were taken by the Nazis

The residential areas of Berlin hide a beautiful and sinister memorial at various locations – these stumble stones commemorate those who were taken from their homes during the nationalist pograms and are intended to be ‘stumbled’ upon in everyday life.

Stumble Stones – a city wide memorial to those who were taken by the Nazis

Mauer Park Berlin Wall Art

Parts of the Berlin wall are commemorated all over the city. The wall in Mauer Park is constantly being re-painted and re-expressed.

Mauer Park Berlin Wall Art
Re-purposed industrial park

The weekend was spent relaxing as our hosts showed us more of the diverse artistic spaces and initiative across the city.

Re-purposed industrial park
Boxhaganer Platz
Boxhagener

Street Art by night
Party in a boat house on the River Spree – as we came expect in Berlin this was not uncommon…
Street Art by night

 

Berlin Squatters – Party Time
Weekend close off

The week was beautifully closed by a Sunday sunset on a bridge with Alexanderplatz Tower in the distance.

Week 2

For this week we were to choose a tandem partner, and explore one of the sites further through a condensed research exercise.
Goerlitzer Park
I was partnered with a geography student from the Humboldt university, Hanna Niklasz.  We chose to look at perceptions of public space with a larger aim to compare how people used and expressed their perception to public space in a public park in Berlin; the Goerlitzer Park.
To see my research conducted with Hanna Niklasz on Goerlitzer Park:
Image: Hanna Kilasz & Jhono Bennett Post
http://www.jhonobennett.com/2013/07/the-informal-city-part-2-berl-informal.html

 

The park is stigmatized with an assocaition to drug dealng and drug use – this perception did not seem too far off as I experienced very obious drug dealers who operated in plain sight and quite openly (and friendlily) offered us their services.

Stigmatized – but used public space

Even though the drug selling was quite evident, the park is still active and quite busy at most hours of the day.

For me as a South African the idea that such an element operated in the park in both open and closed public spaces was quote a shock .

These perceptions of both the tandem and park users were explored and documented thoroughly in the following post:

See participants Malve 
Jacobsen & Tebogo Ramatlo’s research on Bottle Collectors in public space:
Image: Tebogo & Malve Post

Final Presentation

Final Presentation

The ‘formal’programme concluded with tandems presenting their various process and findings in a lrage rgoup discussion where the concepts of informality/formality were discussed through the various case studies presented.

 

Post Programme

The programme was originally framed to explore the complexity of terms such as informal and formal and manifested into something much more discursive around these terms.
From the beginning the difficulty of this was quite evident, as our various disciplinary, geographic and cultural backgrounds brought such diverse introspection to the terms.
What we perceived as Joburger’s and were shown by our Berlin hosts was difficult for us to describe as informal, but through the process we were able to understand their perception of these terms around the counter-currents of space use, action and civil movement that exist in Berlin.
I was left asking the question, why informal, as this term from my experience only has value when coupled as prefix or suffix to describe one of the many connotations that this word holds.
As a practitioner and part time academic, this term for me is useful when attempting to understand a situation or object that is located within a complex system – with the ultimate aim of engaging with such a situation or object in order to design and act  on this understanding.
The Berlin leg of this project was highly insightful and left me appreciating many afro-pessimistic aspects of Johannesburg City that I felt were negative as things that even first world cities struggle with.
*
Links:
(in)formal City Website
(in)formal City Facebook Page
 
Weltstadt City Tags
 
Weltstadt City Interview
Journalist Article on (in)formal City Programme
Blog Post from Dr. Ares Kalendides
(in)formal City Programme:
Participants: 
Martin Schinagl &Tshanda Mbuyi, Nathalia Garzón Arredondo & Nicolette Pingo, Malve
Jacobsen & Tebogo Ramatlo, Sylvana Jahre & Trusha Mitha; Héctor Carreto & Olumuyiwa Adegun,
Hanna Niklasz & Jhono Bennett; Melissa Chávez & Gert van der Merwe, Claudia Morgado & Tilman Versch
Journalists: 
Guy Trangos & Tomashof Hasel
Seniors: 
Dr. Ares Kalendides, Anne Graupner, Dorethea Kolland & Alex Opper
Action Research Photography & Film Research Teaching & Training

UJ Creativity Week/ Vertical Studios: 2013 – 2015

My first teaching role at the Faculty of Art Design & Architecture was dropped into my lap by Suzette Grace. By throwing me into the deep end of arranging a week long introductory week for the entire department of Architecture, she effectively kick started my teaching career. Thank you Suzette 😉

Creativity Week/Vertical Studios

The Creativity Weeks/Vertical Studios were meant to be a week-long participative event kicking off the year with a series of interactive and challenging exercises that bring together the current and new students of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg – across all years of study. The assignments are intended to take students into exciting parts of the city and explore/re-discover spaces in the City of Johannesburg.

They were meant to be a fun ‘orientation week’ for the start of the new year that allowed students to do something creative, fun and together for the start of the year. I used the oppurtunity as a way to explore some of my own interests in inner-city Jozi.

Creativity Week 2013

This first year I worked within an existing partnership between Dr. Barbara Holtmann, Emma Holtmann and UJ, as well as employing the precedented work of the Creativity Week 2012 by Eric Wright . The week long programme was intended to facilitate the introduction and further development of Architectural thinking, doing and problem solving in Johannesburg’s dynamic inner city spaces – while bringing together the students from the various years. This facilitation the exposed the students to the larger strategies of the stakeholders involved in this area.

Students were asked to take part in the week long exposure to the inner city and the project partners that was facilitated by Dr. Barbara HoltmannJoburg Child Welfare and Joburg Region F who brought together government, business and NGOs in the inner city. This collaboration aimed at bringing about a systemic transformation of the neighbourhood surrounding and including the Old Drill Hall, which is the site of Joburg Child Welfare’s Thembalethu project.

By focusing on “what-it-looks-like-when-it’s-fixed” and co-creating a shared vision for the future of the inner city based on integrated approaches and partnerships, the process promotes change in three primary and inter-connected areas: health and wellness, access and mobility in the city and in supporting the city’s programmes.

Day 1 & 2:

The week began with the FADA Auditorium introduction, followed by group division and the first bus trips to the site. On site we were met by JMPD and the Best Life project co-ordinators.

DAY 3:

With the previous day’s elective’s workshop’s guiding them, the students then focussed in on their specific areas of interest and gathered on site data to begin their intervention proposals.

The purpose of the exposure and facilitation now being focussed around the question of how the students can use their skills as designers to improve the spaces they were tasked to engage with – and present their ideas to the group of stakeholders made up of city officials and academics.

DAY 4 & 5:


The students now were allocated time to work in their multi-year groups and produce the necessary documentation and presentation products to express their ideas.

Each group was led by a pair of BTech students who had been guided by Dr. Holtmann’s workshop to lead their younger members towards the outcomes and observations discussed on Day 2.

Final Presentation


The MTech 1 students were asked to critique the groups (A-I) and each group presented for 10 minutes to the student panel. Of these 9 groups, 6 were chosen to present to the stakeholder panel scheduled for the afternoon session and 3 prizes were chosen by the MTech panel:

The stakeholder panel; made up of City of Johannesburg officials, academics and welfare staff, were very impressed with the enthusiasm and quality of the student work and their presentation. They called for the work to be taken further and discussed finding a way to present this to the mayor.

Staff members pledged to try and facilitate future engagement with stakeholder panel by aligning their academic programmes to support the work. The students expressed their interest in taking the work further, possibly in their own capacity, and seemed to enjoy the week’s programme. A working relationship is being established with the stakeholder at the moment.

At the closure of the presentations a small function was held in the FADA basement parking, where the prizes were awarded and the students completed the week’s event – arguably the most important part of the week’s activities.

*

Vertical Studio 2014

The Vertical Studio was the evolution of Creativity Week based on the new undergraduate framing structure of the department. This year students worked alongside Thiresh Govender and Katharina Rohde in line with their PublicActs initiative.

BACKGROUND:

PublicActs is a practice-based investigation into urban matters with a focus on cities in the global south. PublicActs brings together various creative disciplines such as artists, architects, urban anthropologists or geographers to connect with communities and actors on site. In collaborative processes public spaces are creatively audited in order to implement sustainable strategies for an adequate architecture and urban design. For more information: www.publicacts.org. 

PublicActs employs various methodologies and tools to interrogate and explore public space:

1. GRAND AND SPECTACULAR

These sites are characterised as being: large and dramatic in scale, highly specialised, singular ownership, dedicated used, exclusive (sometimes), grand, controlled accessibility (sometimes).

Examples include: Mary Fitzgerald Square, Bank City, Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication, Monte Casino.

2. EVERYDAY

These sites are part of our everyday experiences and are characterised as being: accessible, open, transient, emergent, imagined, appropriated, contested, negotiated, intimate, multiple narrative, intensely used.

Examples include: a street, a taxi, markets,parks,squares…

3. NEW IMAGINARIES

These sites are new and unexpected which have emerged through innovative and/or survivalist responses to urban space. They are characterised as being: open, vague, abandoned, repurposed, inbetween, placeless, emergent, transgressive.

Examples include: under bridges, pathways, rooftops, open spaces, sidewalks.

4. EPHEMERAL

These are not so much sites as moments where ‘public-ness’ is constructed. They come in to being for a short space of time due to some or other urban condition. They are characterised as being; spontaneous, creative, inter-active, social…

Examples include: sidewalk cafes, pop-up enterprises, trading moments…

5. POWER, POLITICS and PROTEST

These sites are closely associated with places of civic power and are characterised as having important public, social importance and gravitas. These are spaces where the voices of a democracy can be articulated and heard by those chosen to represent a society. They are characterised as being: harsh, concrete, exclusive, narrow…

Examples include: Constitutional Square, the Magistrates Court, Joburg Civic Centre Forecourt, The Supreme Court (Von Brandis Square), The Family

OBJECTIVE:

The 2014 UJ Vertical Studio adopted these methodologies and tools of PublicActs to explore the City of Johannesburg. Students will be exploring 7 identified zones in the city, using various forms of media to create a grounded and critical perspective on public space, identify spatial issues and propose a concept solution to address this.

Using the idea of selfies and space students were set the task of exploring the city on foot to take these ‘spacies’ while employing different forms of transport through a treasure hunt type event.

The students then were asked to explore the 7 themes through a set of ‘ironic’ post cards

Vertical Studio 2015

The fial year I ran this programme, we extended the brief into a more creative field, and worked with Eduardo Cachucho through his Derive App.

Student Instructions

Johannesburg’s inner city represents one of the most diverse cross-sections of contemporary South Africa in less than 5 square kilometres of concrete skyscrapers and bustling streetscapes.


From hipster’s to migrant workers, a vast array of characters unknowingly work together to make up a dynamic inner city ecosystem that represents the heart of the strongest metropolis in Africa.


As practitioners of space, we often  (sometimes intentionally) are distanced from the palimpsest of narratives that give meaning and value to the spaces we overlook daily – these stories that thrive within the interwoven networks and individuals that pulse through the CBD hold the potential to reveal new understandings of how a contemporary city in modern South Africa  flourishes.


Your task this week is to dive head deep into the complex spaces that make up the CBD and imagine what possibilities these stories hold for an ever changing city that still draws scores of hopeful urbanites to its lights. Using the Derive App (http://deriveapp.com/s/v2/) you will explore the city and collect objects, experiences, stories, characters. Then as a group  you will transform these findings into a short story of your own –  projecting 50 years in the future.

The first 2 days will have you engaging in the city with the Derive App. Once you have collected your story elements, you will then spend the next 2 days working towards building these elements into a narrative – projecting your story 100 years into the future.
Your story must focus on a character/characters and their relationship to the space you are designated too. The intention behind this task is to explore how people define their spaces in the city.


You may choose any form of narrative device from the list, which you will present to a panel of judges on Friday, followed by prize giving/party in the FADA Building Basement.

Task Description:

As a group you will choose one person to use their smart phone, and log into the Derive App. Once you are in your designated zone, you will log into the Vertical Studio Week Group and use a deck of 50 cards to collect your story elements.

Each person in the group must choose their documentation tool, all tools must be used in the groups.

  • Instagrammer
  • Tweeter
  • Sketcher
  • Videographer

Each group must use their specific hashtag #ujvertstudio_8

You may use any media to tell your story:

  • Film
  • Storyboard/ Graphic Novel
  • Story (oral/written)
  • Performance/Song
  • Photo Essay
  • Other?
Prize Categories:
  • Best film
  • Best photo essay
  • Best graphic novel/Storyboard
  • Best Performance/Song
  • Best Other
Student Submissions

Reflections

Running these programmes was extremely rewarding, challenging and just good fun. It gave me the necessary exposure to grow and develop as a young teacher and urbanist,.

My intention for 2016 was to return this opportunity to the next round of younger early staff members who has helped me run these this programme along the way (Joana Ferro, Blanca Calvo, Tuliza Sindi, Sanjay Jeevan, Sumayya Valley amongst many others), but due to the dynamics of the school – this was not allowed and the programme became something very different.

Action Research Built Work Design Facilitation & Engagement Research Socio-Technical

South African Shack Dwellers International Alliance: A year in review

 
Socio-Technical Support
Broadly, Architect’s (in South Africa at least), are trained to translate the requirements of a client (in many forms), while taking into account as many factors (your own intuition and preferences included) into a technical product.
From my experience from working in complex developmental or advocacy environments this broad definition of the role of Architect, planner or engineer (Spatial Practitioner) as a ‘designer’ or ‘professional’ shifts more into a facilitative mode.
This position still requires the analysis, thinking and acting tools that the professional training gives, but calls on the practitioner to also transverse many different cultural, economic and disciplinary background with empathy, much patience and a willingness to let go of strategic aspects of control.

The role of socio-technical support is not to completely give into the complexity of social or development processes, but to look deeper and find the unseen connection between technical requirements and the larger picture while still meeting the needs of the individuals (or community) at hand.

I have recently stepped out of my role at the Community Organisation Resource Centre(CORC), where I worked as socio-technical support to the social processes conducted by the South African Shack/Slum Dwellers International Alliance(SASDI) who are the South African affiliate of the Slum/Shack DwellersInternational (SDI).

This role of socio-technical support had me advising, documenting and facilitating the technical projects that make up the 6 rituals of the SDI:


 

the rituals in action
These projects were specific technical projects put forward by residents of various informal settlements in Gauteng that required intermediary technical support in their longer development goals and varied from tap fixtures to lighting solutions to meeting halls.

the constant contrasts of working in informal settlements

the People’s Housing Process in action
Temporary housing solution after an illegal eviction

 

 

working to articulate the needs of different settlement groups

CUFF Projects in motion
These projects are funded by a trust overseen by elected members of the SASDI called the Community Upgrade Finance Facility (CUFF). Residents are required to identify a project, work with the socio-technical professional to determine a design and a cost get this initial concept approved by the CUFF board, then save 10% of the project cost as a community to be able to begin implanting such a project.

savings schemes by FEDUP ladies

This process is intended to bring residents together around a tangible output that benefits the community as a whole, and create a platform for the community to engage local council through demonstrating their organisation and mobilisation towards larger development goals in their future.

engaging community around CUFF projects
common need for water access
post eviction response

 

My year at the SASDI took me across a broad range of projects, and exposed me to the complex political and social difficulties involved in informal settlement development, as well as the working of such a large and reaching alliance of Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO’s) and Community Based Organisations (CBO’s) that make up the SASDI.

community meetings




informally squatted warehouses


temporary housing solutions



leadership meetings

 

eviction aftermath



current sanitation

I have recently, stepped out of the alliance, in order to better position myself outside the complex social and political working of such an organisation to be in order to provide the niche socio-technical support and capacitation of young professionals and students through the initiative 1:1 (1 to 1) -Agency ofEngagement while working at the University of Johannesburg as an independent researcher and part time lecturer.

 

 

 

As 1:1 we plan to not only work with the alliance and other indivuduals or organisations on specific socio-technical and research projects but also help facilitate students and young professionals to get involved with the SASDI and other NGO’s working in this sector in South Africa, while developing this additional role for Architects in South Africa.

student intern in the field
students in research
Published Work Research Socio-Technical

Academic Paper: Critical Engagement in Informal Settlements: Lessons from the South African experience

Author(s):     Jhono Bennett & Dr. Amira Osman

BRISBANE 2013

 

 

Abstract:
This paper aims to present an approach to design thinking and teaching that takes the students and lecturers of design disciplines outside of the studio and university campus into contexts of deep complexity – informal settlements.
Conventional methods of architectural practice are deemed to be of limited use or value in informal contexts. These informally- and incrementally- developed contexts appear chaotic and of little architectural value at first glance but, when examined closer, intricate systems of decision-making and negotiation are revealed. The quality of spatial articulation that emerges could not have been achieved through formal planning and design processes. The informal process results in a distinctive spatial quality as well as complex and varied forms of ownership and habitation models.
The resultant fluidity and dynamism of these contexts offers critical lessons in design and the interaction between the different decision-makers/agents intervening at various levels of the built environment at any given time. As students and lectures engage with these contexts, employing tools such as structured mapping exercises, a better understanding can be achieved, as well as more appropriate design-decision making strategies for future interventions. By understanding the existing energies, activities and quality of routes, nodes and thresholds within these contexts, architects are better equipped to propose context-sensitive and sustainable solutions.
The intention is to better prepare students to engage in non-conventional professional practice – while the lecturers, and the institution to which they belong, are able to make meaningful contributions to a broader debate regarding the role of the profession and the professional in contexts of informality.
Through this process, it is also possible to provide much-needed services to identified vulnerable communities. However, the significance of the approach goes beyond that and involves the up-skilling of residents, the gathering of crucial data about the context, acquiring critical first-hand experience of the selected settlements; it also offers lessons on action research and knowledge on sustainable and socially-relevant technical solutions. The latter is achieved by identifying possible catalyst interventions, enabling the testing of development concepts through active build projects.
Key words: Design teaching, informality, non-conventional architectural practice, action research, and design/build.
Design Research Fellowships & Awards Photography & Film Socio-Technical

Waterborne

Waterborne

The film is essentially a passive service delivery protest, the tea behind its conceptiton did not want to play into the typical depiction of poverty and despair, but rather capture the cohesion and hope that many informal settlements and other vulnerable communities share.

*NOTE: Waterborne is currently a finalist in an undisclosable film competition, and cannot be embedded. 
 
To view please follow this link – WATERBORNE
Waterborne Synopsis

If you want to understand a community, ask them about their aspirations.

Slovo Park is situated in a politically and socially sensitive stretch of land south of Soweto. The community has been known by national government as Nancefield, by local council as Olifantsvlei and in the last five years as Slovo Park – named in honour of South Africa’s first minister of housing and former Umkhonto we Sizwe General, Joe Slovo. This forced changing of identity reflects an on-going struggle faced by the leadership of Slovo Park to gain recognition as a legitimate settlement to access governmental support. This battle has been fought through constant shifts in governmental policy, power and promises for the community of Slovo Park. Amidst the struggle, stories of sinister land dealings have emerged, outlining a possible truth that the ground beneath Slovo Park could have been sold from under the community’s feet. These allegations surface as the leadership of Slovo Park prepares itself to take action.

Waterborne captures the moment of hope, held in anticipation, before the first truly concrete step towards a dignified future.

*

In 2011, Alexander Melck of the Pretoria Picture Company, then an Information Design student at the University of Pretoria, began working with the founders of 1:1 on a student film competition. Although the first submission was not successful, the lessons gathered and the understanding required proved to be successful in 2012 when The Pretoria Picture Company and 1:1 partnered to work on Waterborne.

The submission to the CCI in Zero Film Competition was highly successful, and shooting began in July during Johannesburg’s freak snow storm, this gave the film a unique time stamp and brought home some of the most salient points of the production.

Crew list:
Director: Alexander Melck
Producers: Alexander Melck, Jhono Bennett, Ingmar Buchner
Cinematography: Alexander Melck & Ingmar Buchner
Grips: Jhono Bennett, Stefan Wagner, Michael Smith
Editor: Alexander Melck
Sound Design: MJ van der Westhuizen
Translations: Farai Machingambi
After effects assistant: Wouter Jacobs
Production interns: Christopher Ramm, Stefan Wagner
 
Sponsors & Organisers:
The Cement & Concrete Institute
Tin Rage
South African Institute for Architecture (SAIA) 
t
Presented Work Published Work Research

Academic Paper: Architectural Design in Response to Vulnerable Networks

Title:        
 
Architectural Design in Response to Vulnerable Networks
Publisher/Conference:  Sustainable Human(e) Settlments: The Urban Challenge – ISBN: 978-0-620-54069-8

 

Author(s): Ida Breed and Jhono Bennett

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA 2012
 
Abstract:

This article maintains the importance of a contextual and humanist understanding for the design of public space through the incorporation of concrete and changing realities in the analysis of the urban environment. In an attempt to reach a greater understanding of the construction of space through social networks, qualitative fieldwork methods are used to document the flows of social process and physical matter in the immediate context of the two chosen sites for intervention. The importance of these networks for the design of built form and space are determined for each scenario.

The research underpins the design relevance in architecture (and contemporary urban life) of social activity, movement, temporality versus permanence (in form), and mobility versus fixity (in location). It places in question the traditional role and definition of architecture and their present relevance in the developing world. The result is an alternative set of considerations that define the architectural brief assuring: integration with the public realm; inclusion of emergent functions; and awareness of the importance of temporality and flexibility (with regard spatial structure and appropriation). The first case study is an urban industrial area and the second a peripheral, informal urban area. Both examples are situated in the city of Pretoria within the greater Tshwane Metropolitan Area.

Key words: Architecture; Urban Space; Emergence; Qualitative; Networks; Developing.

 
Action Research Facilitation & Engagement Research

The Swedish Inquire-sition

 

 
 
(Bennett, 2012)



The Programme
 
The programme provided by the Royal Institute of Arts Stockholm, Sweden, is a post post-graduate multi-disciplinary research course in urbanism. The students are all professionals with master’s degrees behind their names as well as a few years of practical experience.
 
Excerpt from the outlining document Just Grounds: Cape Town:
 
 
 
‘Within the context of the series Happy Grounds, we will discuss alternative concepts of development, growth and happiness, from both a global as well as African perspective. 
 
We will investigatethe term spatial justice and those theoreticians and practitioners who are working to further develop this concept. 
 
We will meet the young Africa, by looking at the city through the eyes of its children and youth. We will revisit the philosophical and architectural discussion from the late 70’s which was informed by its fascination with the everyday. 
 
We will also discuss urbanism in relation to post­ colonialism, post­apartheid, mobility, migration and biological diversity. 
 
Above all, we will take part of the intensive debate concerning the African city that is going on right now in Cape Town. The goal of the course is to formulate an innovative urban planning proposal for a part of Cape Town which can contribute to its development.
In addition, the proposal should contribute to an international discourse on our sustainable urban futures.’
 
 
 
Their pre-research included literature studies of several non-fiction authors of South Africa and seminal readings on authors such as Paula Friere, Abdou Maliq Simone, Edgar Pieterse and other referential authors in this area of study. The research was channelled into several group exercises within a work shopped environment in which broad conclusions on themes and possible solutions to be investigated were discussed.
 
As part of their programme a research trip to Cape Town was planned, made up of an intensive two week focus period of tours, lectures and small scale research projects to determine ‘Future Visions’  for Cape Town and possible identify ‘Seeds of Change’ during their time in the Mother City.
 
 
The Swedish Armada in action (Bennett,2012)
 
The Swedish Inquire-sition
 
This two week non-stop Afro-Urban-Safari was made up of ten hour jam packed days with practitioners involved in cutting edge of local urban development across Cape Town.
 
The group itself was broken into four projects teams, each focusing on a different area in Cape Town, and a project within:
 
·        Princess Vlei open space scheme: with Henrik Ernstson and initiator Kelvin Cohran
·        Dunoon: Inkwenkwezi Secondary School with Heinrich Wolff and the school staff
·        Various garden sites in the Cape Flats: Home gardens with Soil for Life
·        Langa – Hostels to Home Project: with Fadley Isaacs and Architects Associated
 
These groups were then expected to produce findings from further inquiry and exploration between the scheduled tours and lectures, identifying the ‘visions’ and ‘seeds’ mentioned prior.
 
These findings were to be presented at the end of the two week period to a panel of local experts in these fields including, Heinrich Wolff, Mokena Makeka, Edgar Pieterse, Fadley Isaacs, Henrik Ernstonn, Soil for life team members, Architects Associated, Professor Iain Louw  and a various other professionals involved in the build-up research.
 
 
Presentation from Ismail Fourok, from the African Centre for Cities (KKH,2012)
 
My Role Within
 
I was invited by Gordon Pirie, of the African Centre forCities, to join the Swedish Armada, as a sort of guide to Cape Town, but also as an opportunity to learn and explore Cape Town through the eyes of a foreigner. My position within the group allowed me to sit anonymously in front of local speakers and hear uncensored accounts of their work as a total outsider.
 
For me it was an opportunity to meet the people I had spent an introspective year, my own master’s dissertation, reading about and see their work at first hand while adding to my collective understanding of Cape Town within South Africa.
 
 
A school teacher of Inkwenkwezi and myself (KKH,2012)
 
The Tour
 
The following brief photographic summary depicts a series of moments from the afore mentioned Afro-Urban-Safari. An amazing and rich series of tours, lectures and trips that covered more in 10 days than most people in Cape Town see in their lifetime.
 
Due to circumstances mentioned later, I lost 90 percent of the documented pictures The rest of the pictures are made up of photos from the students with a few of my own surviving pictures.
 
The Swedish Armada…. (KKH, 2012)
 
 
Inkwenkwezi Secondary School, Dunoon. 
 
Architect, Heinrich Wolff of Noero Wolff Architects guiding the group through the school (Bennett, 2012)



Inkwenkwezi Secondary School  (Bennett,2012)
 Informal Housing Settlement Tour with Heinrich Wolff, Dunoon. 
 
Walking through the built fabric (Bennett, 2012)
 
Incremental Self Built Rental unit with Vegetable Shop below (Bennett,2012)
 
Entering the the more ‘formal’ section of Dunoon, with the school looming in the background (KKH,2012)
 
Service allocations in Dunoon (KKH,2012) 
Hostels to Homes, Langa, with Fadley Isaacs.

 

 
 
The communal street space (KKH, 2012) 
 
The reactions (KKH, 2012)  
 
Langa Hostels, service road (KKH,2012)

 
Soil For Life, Constantia, with Pat Featherstone   

 

 Talkwith Pat Featherstone (KKH, 2012)
 
  Green Food Wall (KKH, 2012)
 
Soil for Life: Local projects in Cape Flats 
 
Woodward Circel Community Garden (KKH, 2012) 
 
  Various other local Gardens (KKH, 2012) 
 
   Various other local Gardens (KKH, 2012) 
 
 
 Bottom Road Sanctuary, Grass Park, with Kelvin Cohrane and Henrik Ernstoln
 

  Discusion at Bottom Road Sanctuary with Kelvin Cohrane (KKH, 2012)

 

 

The sanctuary (KKH, 2012) 
 
Various Post Apartheid Projects, Philipi & Nyanga, with Profesor Iain Louw
 
Philipi Car Wash by Jacqui Perrin (KKH, 2012)   
 
 Philipi Car Wash (KKH, 2012)   
 
  Philipi Car Wash (KKH, 2012)  
 
 Philipi Car Wash – the Swedes learning isiXhosa (KKH, 2012)  
 
 
  Philipi Station (KKH, 2012)  
 
 Philipi Station – Overlooking Cosova (KKH, 2012)  
 
  Philipi Station  (KKH, 2012) 
 
 
 Long Distance Taxi Rank, Nyanga (KKH, 2012)   
 
 A lost Swede in South Africa… (KKH, 2012)   
 
 
 Meat Market, Carin Smuts  (KKH, 2012)   
 
Kayalitsha, VPUU projects with SUN Development PTY.
 
 
 IGUMBI LOKUHLANGANELA – Community Centre, Sun Development (KKH, 2012)  
 

Local Creche, Burundi, Kayalitsha (KKH, 2012)  

 
  VPUU Building Harare, Kayalitsha (KKH, 2012)  
 
VPUU Building, Kayalitsha Station, Kayalitsha (KKH, 2012)   
 
 
VPUU route, Kayalitsha (KKH, 2012)   
 
Various Studio Visits, CS Studio/ARG/Local Artists, with Carin Smuts and Gita Goven

 

 
 
Gita Goven presenting her work with ARG (Bennett, 2012)
 
CS Studio (KKH, 2012)
 
Local Artists in Woodstock, Cape Town (KKH, 2012) 

 

 

The Dunoon Group
 
Professor Henrietta Palmer, who leads the programme at the Royal Institute of Arts, suggested it was better if I was involved directly with one of the groups. 
 
I chose the project working in the informal settlement of Dunoon as I had the most experience in this type of project and enjoy the process uncovering the intangibles of developing areas, as well as an interest in the much acclaimed Inkwenkwezi Secondary by Neoro Wolff Architects.
 
The Dunoon group was made up of two visual and audio artists, an architect and a bureaucrat who works in the equivalent of the Cape Town City Council back in Stockholm.
 
The initial outlined task was to work with the school as well as the condition whereby local residents of Dunoon were building structures in place of the allocated government housing and re-structuring their own urban environment by their own means.
 
The group decided to focus on the school, as it was the most stable element in the context and within the time limits available this seemed sensible.
 
Inkwenkwezi Secondary School in Dunoon, Western Cape (Bennett,2012) 
  
The Research
At first  the inquiry was fairly loose with the group members discussing their ideas of ‘future visions’ and what determined ‘seeds of change’. The group agreed that they would set up a series of questions asking the various actors involved in and around the school how they saw themselves in the past, present and future in order to ‘triangulate their perspectives.
 
Triangulation of perspective (Bennett,2012)
 
These questions would be limited to the school to delimit the scope and range of work needed to be covered in the available time. Effectively the school became a metaphorical lens of perspective from which to view the area of Dunoon.
 
 Lens of perspective – the school (Bennett,2012)
 
It became very apparent that the group wanted to understand to connect – to respond. They wanted to engage with the context and the people directly involved, mainly the children, and discover what their hopes and dreams were within their environment.
 
Interviews with students (Bennett,2012)
 
From the outset the group seemed genuinely interested in understanding, in the process of discovery, but as they began interviewing the school staff  it became clear that to remain objective and clear in the process was going to be difficult. There were various incidents which made this apparent, including a miscommunication in regard to the permissions of the group in the school-leading to further delays, a car break in, where R25 000 worth of camera equipment and various other items were stolen in plain sight and broad daylight.
 
The Swedes cleaning up, while I talk to the police (KKH, 2012)
Several heated discussions arose from the initial findings on site of the mixed perceptions of Inkwenkwezi and Dunoon from those interviewed. This led the group into a debate on what defined positive and negative factors of development in areas such as Dunoon. The discussions were centered on the different views held by the group members in regard to what defined concepts of ‘equality’ and ‘justice’ and whether they were appropriate to define and expect in certain conditions.   

 

 
This was commented on by Heinrich Wolff, the Architect of the school, during a preliminary presentation. Heinrich made note that the context could not be summarized in general terms, but that to understand the environment the group should engage directly with the context of Dunoon. The groups defended this by commenting that with the available limits, the decision to focus around the school was intentional.
 
 
Dunoon Group, exploring the school (KKH,2012)
 
As important as these debates around defining the intangible factors of positive development, it felt as though the group was constantly comparing Swedish apples with South African Naartjies.
 
Presentation
The  groups then presented their projects to the panel in an afternoon exercise at the end of the 10 day process.
Each group had 30 minutes to present their work, describing the findings they had uncovered as well as possible solutions for future ‘seeds’ in their contexts.

Group Presentations (KKH, 2012)
 
The Dunoon group arrived at a multi-perspective narrative of their experience with the school. Beginning with a metaphor of the school as a Theater of Action, based on Iain Louw’s writing.
 
Multiperspective map of Inkwenkwezi Secondary (Dunoon Group,2012)  

 

 
Metaphor for analysis – Theatre of Action (Dunoon Group, 2012) 
They expounded on the diverse nature of the school, in that it could host so many different conditions simultaneously – a theft just outside, church groups inside, and spaces of safety for learners, etc.
Analysis of process around school ( Dunoon Group, 2012) 
 
They then described the school through the different perspectives of the various interviewees. Each member playing the role of a fictional character in the ‘theatre of action’ and explaining their story.
 
The group then summarized their process in a possible method for future development – a metaphorical ‘bracelet’ of approach.
 
The bracelet signifying an element that carries intangible value while remaining close to one. This bracelet metaphor could be taken further in allowing it open up and expand into new directions.
 
The Bracelet – A metaphor for future development 

 

Comments on the panel were varied, but carried a general positive tone towards the nature of the work undertaken by the students as a whole.
*
What I discovered after the presentation, was that the Dunoon group was looking to find real possible interventions to be implemented at a later stage. This explained some of their urgency in determining ‘solutions’ for the problems.

In the end I felt the product of all the groups were very general compared to the richness of the exercise, with the true value lying in the process of immersion undertaken by the Swedes into an entirely different context.
 
Naartjies and Apples
A speaker from the Sustainability Institute asked  a question that any researcher in such a field should ask themselves:
 
“What process of un-learning have you undergone to prepare you for this experience?”
 
Perhaps the degree or nature of open mindedness of any professional in contrasting contexts should be constantly questioned. This is true of not just foreign visitors, but applies to local professionals who struggle to open themselves to the alternative realities faced by South Africans in poor underserviced.
 
*
 
From the moment I sat down on the bus with the Swedes, the questions began. Questions which I assumed I had a fairly grounded understanding of. Having spent the better part of my tertiary education investigating these topics I felt that the opinions I had fostered were more appropriate than an outsiders as I had been involved hands on, and had personally dealt with these contexts and associated problems.
 
The truth I feel is that the underlying issues at hand are so interlaced with so many contextual, political and cultural factors that the understanding I had developed is in fact as subjectively based from within as the pre-conceptions the Swedes had from outside.
 
It has solidified my own resolve to stay honest to my personal mandate of explorations of the African urban context, and future studies within my career.
 
The Swedes, trapped by a system of rules (Bennett, 2012) 
References
Jhono Bennett, Author. Photos
KKH, Royal Institute of Arts, Stockholm Sweden. Photos
Dunoon Group, KKH. Photos

 

 
Action Research Photography & Film Research

Zanzibar – Documenting the Intangible Heritage Value of Stone Town

Mapping the Open Public Space of 

 

 Stone Town, Zanzibar
 
“…I’m not going-to-cook-it, but I’ll order it from ZANZIBAR!!!”
Jack Black, 2005

Two weeks after completing my masters dissertation I received the news that my fragile leftover self would be able to join the University of Pretoria’s research expedition to Zanzibar‘s Stone Town.

The trip was planned over the December break and would have us in Tanzania for three weeks over Christmas. With no other way to say no and the possibility of an East African adventure I happily agreed to help in the search for:

 ‘…the intangible values that makes Stone Town a World Heritage Site…“

Background

The trip was funded by the Flemmish Government and the University of Pretoria with support from the Stone Town Conservation and Development Authority and the Department of Urban and Rural Planning.

 
Credits taken from the 2011 report (UP,2011)

Our mandate was to document and identify the intangible elements that gave Stone Town its World Heritage Status, and from the documentation make recommendation how to preserve these elements in the face of current development. 

Intro

Stone Town is located on the South Island of Uguja, known as Zanzibar. Formed as a major port city on the East African trade route, Stone Town stands as an Architecturally social reserve for the Swahili culture.

Location map taken from the 2011 report (UP,2011)

Our first day was spent taking in the intimate spaces that made the street ways and public open spaces of Stone Town.

The UP team exploring Stone Town
A portrait of street life
The major public spaces are found in the beaches
The famous hand carved Zanzibar doors
Jaws Corner, one of the most well known squares
Bicycles, motorbikes and scooters play havoc as one moves through the narrow streets
The accommodation we were given – on the right
Culture within development
 
The peace memorial within Stone Town
Our hosts from the STCDA, leading the tour
Street cleaning
Maintainence being performed on a coral stone buildings
An entrance to a mosque
The Forodahni night market
Private square beyond the street
The romantically placed upper levels of living
what happens when you get lost in Zanzibar taxi trying to get home
 
Various elements of street life in Stone Town
What we discovered was one of the true elements that made Stone Town – the barazza’s.

The Research

The process of documenting the squares was our main task. We worked closely with the departments involved in Stone Town’s cultural preservation and urban development.

Our briefing from the authorities
Our home base was located in the STCDA’s offices. Part of the former palace grounds to the House of Wonders, we were set up in the former library of the East Wing.
Our Zanzi-Offices


Preparing for the documentation process
View from our Zanzi-Office’s library window to the House of Wonders
The inner courtyard of our Zanzi-Office, the STCDA building

In the field

Cover to the 2011 UP Report (UP,2011)

The plan was to work from the University of Minnesota’s outline of the 114 public squares of Stone Town, and document the aspects of each square that made up the intangible heritage values.

Due to time constraints the STCDA identified squares of importance (30) and we strategised as to how to capture the required information.

The team in the field

We settled on a methodology of capturing the nature of the square objectively through a panoramic view, noted elements of ‘importance’ and took several interviews from square users and passer bys.

Methodology taken from the report #1  (UP,2011)
Methodology taken from the report #2  (UP,2011)

We split into several groups made up of STCDA staff members, volunteers from the local University and University of Pretoria students.

My team and myself in the field #1
My team and myself in the field #2
My team and myself in the field #3
My team and myself in the field #4
This information was then painstakingly captured and documented into a graphic report to UNESCO.
The Square register (UP,2011)
Example of captured square #1 (UP,2011)
Example of captured square #1 (UP,2011)
Example of captured square #2 (UP,2011)
Example of captured square #2 (UP,2011)

South Island

During this time, on the first weekend, our hosts treated us to a day trip of the South Island.

The trip took us on a dow sail to a bizzarly remote tidal island made up of only sand and hundreds of faux Italian swimsuit models.
Island of the Italian swim suit

Here we spent the day snorkelling, sun bathing and relaxing. Later, as the tide drew in, the Dow returned to take us home.

Mbweni Ruins

During the week, we sought to escape the hustle of Stone Town. After meeting a group of expat locals, they told us of the Mbweni ruins hotel. Just south of Stone Town, it’s definitely one of Zanzibar’s secret sunset locations.

Presentation

After two weeks of toiling in he streets of Stone Town, we presented our findings to a panel of local authorities and the STCDA in the halls of the palace building.

Impromptu meeting hall
Preparing for the speech
The presentation under way
Standard post research trip group photo

North Island

A very much needed break was taken after the research work. The team hopped onto one of the infamous Dallallas (Basically a taxi on the back of a flatbed truck) to the North Island, headed to Nungwe.
No space in the dallalla after 37 people are squeezed in
A local gathering we came across on the way north

Arriving at the picturesque North Island at Nungwe, we took a water taxi to the Kendwa Rocks resort

Nungwe Resort, paradise?
Water Taxi
And as all tourists in Zanzibar, we took full advantage of the photo oppurtunities in the poetic sun sets of the East African Islands.

Using all the connections we made in Stone Town, we arranged a dow cruise to a snorkelling reef on the far end of the North Island.

Our last afternoon in Zanzibar was spent relaxing on the beach while we watched the North Islanders performing on the beach.
 
 

A very conscious and restrained effort has been made not to mention in detail the nature of Zanzibar’s ‘Beach Boys’ and the phenomena of the Jungle Safari that takes place all over Sub Saharan Africa… Lets just say apparently if your a pale African, your not really African…

Zanzibar – land of sunsets?
 
Heading home

Research into foreign context

During the trip, we discussed at length the notion of foreign research’s aiming to quantify intangibles in unfamiliar contexts. Is it fair to claim we understand the value of Stone Town, a 500 year old settlement, in two weeks of research?

While the team felt frustrated at the time frame we were given, it forced us to make quick decisions and realise our limitations. In the end we agreed on an honest depiction of what we saw, captured as objectively and clearly as possible. We aimed to let this exercise set up the framework for further research by documenting the process as much as the findings we identified.

Surely a fresh perspective should add value to any subject? Perhaps, but from our side we felt that our own perspectives were broadened in regard to looking into identifying ‘elements of value’ in our own cultures back at home.

*
Tail piece
Design Research Learning Research

Masters in Architecture (Prof.)

Master Dissertation – Milestone 8

Milestone 8 – Final Presentation                                                                           Jhono:          My project is about my pole.      …

Masters Dissertation – Milestone 7

Milestone 7 Die bangste bobbejaan spring die verste… (Studio Fairy,2011) * The end draws near… With only a few weeks left to go we have handed in our documents, as they are, to our external examiners and are all now in damage control mode; fixing everything we can as much as we can with the…

Masters Dissertation – Milestone 6

Masters Dissertation – Milestone 6  All Architecture projects in existence are made up of green urban networks of community based structurally adaptive reuse – with a planted roof. (Studio Banter, 2011) * Re Rationalisation The focus of this milestone was the finalised technical resolution of the design. After, the dismal success of the previous technical…

Masters Dissertation – Milestone 5

         Masters Dissertation – Milestone 5   Architectural Emesis  (Archi Vomiting) The act of expelling a conceptual idea from the bowels of ones’ mind through the gullet of design  by the projectile expression of pen to paper.  Generally occurs prior to major hand ins and other times of design stress.   Much…

Masters Dissertation – Milestone 4

Milestone 4 Student:      The idea of the dissertation is to explore the concept of –  Lecturer:    – FALCON PUNCH!!! Student:      …mild post punch groan…. (Die Grobbels, 2011) * July offered the brief reprieve of a 2 week break from the Masters Year. I spent the holiday in the Cape, attending the national arts festival…

Masters Dissertation – Milestone 3

Milestone 3   Beware of Paprophila – the fear of commiting design to paper. (Studio Banter, 2011) * Milestone 3 marks the half way point in this year’s dissertation ‘race’. Being forced to produce a design and put it on paper although painful, has the benefit of exposing the hidden pitfalls and potentialls to the…

Moving Spaces 2011 – Temporal Flux of the African City

Moving Spaces Film Competition This years Cement and Concrete Institute’s Film Competition was themed Science Friction and called for ideas on what the Future of the African Citiy will be. The film competition gives students the oppurtunity to pitch their ideas to the organisers, who then select the top 4  entries and give them R25…

Masters Dissertation – Milestone 2

MILESTONE 2 When thing go bad, BOOM! …Disney… (Studio Colleugue Henner,2011) * With 5 weeks until the half way mark, the dissertation is beginning to fall into place. Working in studio has been the single most valuable decision I have made since I began post grad.  The atmosphere, the knowledge exchange and communal idea forming…

Masters Dissertation – Draft Chapters 1-3

MILESTONE G.2 – DRAFT CHAPTER 1-3    You cannot create life in 9 months…   Dissertation Year Co-ordinator (Koning Laubscher, 2011) *  The year continues on, stealing from me my the small degree of socialness that I once had, as well as my grip on what I once thought was ‘normal’ behaviour… I digress. *…

Masters Dissertation – Milestone 1

MILESTONE 1  (A- G.1) “Design, like many things,  is not a linear process…” (Koning Darth Laubscher,2011) Only now, in the 13th week of my final year, am I finally feeling like I’m getting into the issue of what I’m really dealing with in my Master’s Dissertation. Its amazing how much of the time has been…

Corobrik Student of the Year Awards- 2010

  The Corobrick Student of the Year -2010 finalists were exhibited at the Wanderes Club, Illovo in Johannesburg in April this year. Several of us ‘bou-kinders’ and other students were fortunate enough to attend the exhibition and the accompanied lecture by Paragon Architecture’s Henning Erasmus. The choices we all face Architecture Karate Being heavily involved…

Pre Masters Building Study

Every December my family’s evacuation from Durban to the relatively drier and calmer Western Cape takes us through the Transkei, Eastern Cape and Western Cape at break neck speed to lessen the hassle of the trip, a 1660km journey through the N2. *Note 1 Having been involved in this pilgrimage for most of my life,…