Brick[works] was completed in 2012 in a rural urbanism studio, as part of the Honours Degree in Architecture, University of Pretoria.
The project has been published on FuturesPlus.net and received the PIA Best Honours Student Award - 2012
Brickworks - Section
Brick[work]s explores the possibilities of socio-urban upliftment through self-developmental architecture and urban accupuncture.
A Brickworks industry is proposed as an urban catalyst in SOSHANGUVE, a peri-urban township located to the north of Pretoria CBD (South Africa).
SOSHANGUVE is a rural urban environment: - its people rely largely on state subsidies, informal trade and micro-scale subsistence farming to survive. As a result, the township lacks sufficient infrastructure and skills to develop as a community. By introducing urban acupuncture to this rural environment, the intervention may serve as an architectural catalyst, encouraging macro-scale community growth and urban regeneration in the larger SOSHANGUVE area.
By introducing a new industry to this rural environment in the form of a Brickworks, the proposed architectural intervention provides economic opportunity, encourages skills training and education in masonry trade and generates urban energy, providing new opportunities for informal trade and other social activities.
In addition to generating social value, the Brickworks allows inhabitants of the township to create their own spatial environments. By establishing masonry construction as a new local skill and masonry products as readily-available building materials, the Brickworks generates new physical context and strengthens SOSHANGUVE’s urban character. The use of locally sourced materials also reduces the environmental footprint of new construction within the township, as transport- and energy costs are reduced.
The bricks are made using clay sourced in the area, and therefore respond directly to the surrounding context. With the passing of time, the Brickworks will therefore become increasingly embedded in the environments which it creates. With time, the building will be able to produce materials to extend itself (e.g. produce bricks in which to add more kilns/workshops, etc.), encouraging further production, urban development, and social upliftment through job creation.
The bricks are made using clay sourced in the area, and therefore respond directly to the surrounding context. With the passing of time, the Brickworks will therefore become increasingly embedded in the environments which it creates. With time, the building will be able to produce materials to extend itself (e.g. produce bricks in which to add more kilns/workshops, etc.), encouraging further production, urban development, and social upliftment through job creation.
Brickworks - informal trade & housing infill
The brickworks is intended to grow organically out of a single urban catalyst – a kiln, which is inserted into the rural landscape and provides the initial introduction to brick-making and pottery skills training. If enough energy is generated by the kiln, the brickworks is intended to grow in phases according to the projected development of the SOSHANGUVE community.
The brickworks is designed to encourage interaction between different activities, by placing trade and movement corridors around industrial brick production “pockets”. The building is also interspersed with educational spaces such as brick-making skills training centres and a community centre, to enable both active- and passive education.
The brickworks is designed to encourage interaction between different activities, by placing trade and movement corridors around industrial brick production “pockets”. The building is also interspersed with educational spaces such as brick-making skills training centres and a community centre, to enable both active- and passive education.
Brickworks - urban trading corridor & view over pugmill
As the surrounding urban context develops, needs of the people will change from basic (e.g. job creation/food production) to complex (e.g. artistic expression/social interaction) the Brickworks therefore contains the capacity for internal change – with the kiln tower becoming an urban landmark or silo for food storage, and the Brickworks itself being redeveloped as a community hall, learning centre and social housing cells.
Ultimately, what is created is not merely a Brickworks, but a contemporary Agora – a place for gathering, working, learning, living.
Ultimately, what is created is not merely a Brickworks, but a contemporary Agora – a place for gathering, working, learning, living.
Mapping Macro
Existing urban conditions
Proposed Urban Framework
Brickworks - Urban Development
