- Title
- The design of a brick factory at Swartkops, Port Elizabeth
- Creator
- Birkholtz, Matthew Carl
- Subject
- Factories -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans
- Subject
- Architecture, Industrial -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans
- Subject
- Architecture, Modern -- 21st century
- Date Issued
- 2017
- Date
- 2017
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MA
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/17866
- Identifier
- vital:28462
- Description
- This treatise is preoccupied with the nature of industrial architecture and its impact on the landscape. The study is informed by the need for an ecocentric approach to the nature of cradle-to-grave modes of production (McDonough 2002) from the 1900s that contaminate the environment with the waste produced and through the ways in which raw materials are obtained for production. The project developed out of an interest in the effects of industry on the landscape, with the researcher initially identifying a type of industry, the way its processes are managed, and its effects on the environment. Clay brick manufacturing has been a local tradition for many years. Brick is one of the oldest construction materials, but the ways in which bricks are manufactured can be improved, particularly in terms of energy efficiency and the environmental impact of mining. The selection of a suitable site involved a study of the city of Port Elizabeth to identify a site that has been contaminated through industrial processing within a threatened critical biodiversity area on the periphery of the city. The EP Brick site in the Swartkops area met all the criteria for a suitable site and programme that can be managed by a system of phased planning over a period governed by the availability of clay material for brick making. Moreover, a common problem with the nature of the industrial landscape is the mono-functionality of industrial buildings that outlive their design intention and become vacant eyesores on the landscape, inevitably decaying over time due to the undesirable and costly implementation of reuse strategies. By 2017, the EP Brick yard had entered its third generation of family ownership, according to co-owner Billy Martin (2017). In addition, because the brickyard site contained only 35 years’ worth of clay within its boundaries at this time, the limited availability of resources encourages a building that is flexible in nature to allow the transformation of its programme and function. Due to the destructive nature of clay mining and the adjacent industrial Enviroserv waste management dumpsite, the site provides the opportunity for a building that is adaptive for future reuse, specifically from an ecosystemic brick factory to a waste management facility, to extend its lifespan and begin remediation of the waste dump site. The building will be designed with a system of impermanent and permanent structures to allow it to be demountable. The permanent structure will be left on the landscape to be reused once the building transforms. The transformed building on the remediated site will be presented to the public to be used for recreation and for the purchasing of biogas and recycled products from waste. Furthermore, the new energy-efficient brick factory strives to create a harmonious working environment for its staff, making use of natural light and air to invite nature indoors. It uses renewable energy sources to minimize its impact by excluding fossil fuels and national power, which supports its function as part of the ecosystem to provide remediation of the fractured landscape damaged by mining and waste disposal on the adjacent site. Creating a new model for the industrial typology within the precinct will establish ecocentric regulations that redefine industrial production and waste management techniques to alleviate the pressure on threatened critical biodiversity areas. This will encourage the implementation of similar regulations in surrounding factories.
- Format
- 209 pages
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Arts
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
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