PROJECT
GROUNDWORK: Exploring architecture-environment reciprocity in the Karoo.
PROJECT SUMMARY
GROUNDWORK locates architecture amid the environmental crisis and calls on architects to intervene in ways that protect or enhance the natural world. It is an architectural collaboration with nature in the Wolwekraal Nature Reserve in Prince Albert, South Africa, that refers to existing but siloed research to develop a cohesive approach for the insertion of buildings in sensitive environments. The research framework serves as the launchpad for a qualitative analysis that incorporates social, historical, economic and ecological data, ground truthing and multispectral imagery. The building aims to touch the ground lightly while still providing a state of the art, multi-functional biodiversity research facility that responds to the needs of the multiple communities it is serving. The work challenges the buildings relationship to humans, plants and animals; and aspires to work in harmony with nature by eliciting cues from the environment that point to an architectural intervention the land can tolerate.
VIEW PROJECT
Tammy Ohlson de Fine
representing
University of the Witwatersrand
why did you choose to study architecture?
Architects have both the great privilege and responsibility of shaping the world around us. To bring our ideas to life in a way that enhances lives, we must combine analytics and creativity, poetry and pragmatism. There is a gravity associated with this type of work that appeals to me: the direct and indirect costs associated with building, the lifespan of structures, their impact on geographies, and the experience of the end users, mean that we cannot be frivolous in how we approach our work, yet we must aim to design spaces that inspire.