- Title
- The design of a botanical centre for Shark River Valley Port Elizabeth
- Creator
- Pollock, Megan Jane
- Subject
- Conservatories -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans Botanical gardens -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Subject
- Visitors' centers -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans
- Date Issued
- 2016
- Date
- 2016
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MA
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/15411
- Identifier
- vital:28241
- Description
- This treatise is preoccupied with the unparalleled five bio-mes found in Nelson Mandela Bay, its current endangered state and the scope of which an architectural intervention can serve to re-mediate and facilitate the lack in conservation and awareness. It is through an initial awareness of the vegetation diversity in Nelson Mandela Bay and its current need for formal protection, that the need for an architectural intervention is realized. The typological nature of the architectural intervention is derived from an interrogation into the historical development and the contemporary function of botanical institutions. This investigation, coupled with the existing need for a botanical garden in Port Elizabeth, establishes the Botanical Visitors’ Centre as the typology. Precedents are investigated, identifying typological functions as well as the facilities’ various contextual positions within the Botanical Garden. Functions are categorized spatially and their relationships analyzed. An understanding of the typologies functional, spatial and contextual nature, coupled with an ecologically aligned value statement, identify a set of architectural issues. These issues are interrogated through the critical examination of various precedents. An appropriate architectural language is established in terms of materiality, physicality and contextual integration. The need for a Botanical Garden within Port Elizabeth is established and an appropriate site selected. Shark River Valley is selected in recognition of its existing and historic natural integrity within the city, its current under-utilized state, and the resultant architectural opportunity to facilitate ecological remediation and urban re-integration. A contextual investigation preoccupied with the historical, ecological and urban issues of the valley informs a set of constraints and informants. A contextually informed urban and ecological intervention is proposed serving as a framework for the integration of the building. The building is then realized through a combined understanding of typology, ecological integrity and contextual understanding. The contextual position of the building, as well as its spatial layout, is determined through precedent investigation which is then shaped and adapted in response to the defined site issues. Physical and technological issues are addressed in a practical manner while maintaining the ecological integrity of the building. The resultant Botanical Centre aims to be rooted in its contemporary universal function through the contextual integrity of its architectural response.
- Format
- vi, 179 pages
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Arts
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
- Hits: 744
- Visitors: 766
- Downloads: 55
Collections
NMMU School of Architecture
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Botanical centre for shark river valley Port Elizabeth | 26 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |