Architecture Students ‘Re-Educate the City’
Architecture Masters students from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) ‘Re-educated the City’ in a project which explored spaces used for inner-city schools. The project culminated in an exhibition of work from all sixteen participants.
Re-educating the City, a seven-week design project, interrogated existing, hybrid and brand new schooling models in Johannesburg’s inner city. A public exhibition showcasing research and design carried out during the investigation was held in Braamfontein in June 2011.
Inner-city school photographed by Alexander Opper.
The Re-educating the City project forms part of UJ’s new post-graduate MTech Architectural Design Technology (MTech Prof) programme, launched earlier this year. Alexander Opper, senior lecturer and programme co-ordinator, explained: “The programme focused on engagement with the city of Johannesburg. The work generated by students was used to establish an archive of possible urban and architectural responses to this unique city. The dynamic multi-spatial qualities of Johannesburg are crucial components of the programme’s identity.”
Re-Educating the City focused on four inner-city sites which provided entry points into the subject matter, each embodying different contexts and scales:
· Small: Juta Street, Braamfontein;
· Medium: cnr. Pritchard and Polly streets, Fashion District;
· Large: city block, defined by Claim, Plein, Banket and De Villiers streets;
· Extra Large: Windybrow Precinct.
A jury of architects and urban designers evaluated the project outcomes to see how successfully students recorded, responded to and worked within the parameters of each of the four urban sites.
Architecture Masters student Matthew Millar said: “The project challenged us to think about the city and its spaces in a new way. It pushed us beyond what we thought would be possible to achieve over a seven-week period. We also got to demonstrate our efforts by opening up our mapping and design work to public scrutiny through the exhibition, giving us the opportunity to show the concepts to the communities they were designed for.”
Re-educating the City was carried out in collaboration with architect Thiresh Govender of Urban Works, Adam Levi and Carl Ascroft from Play Braamfontein, who made the exhibition space available, and sponsors PG Group, C&CI, Iguana Projects, Leon Krige, Bos Ice Tea, Arup and PG Bison.