Reflections and summary from Semester 1 in UJ_Unit2

Mid-year exam review and exhibition at Bjala Sq, Jeppestown

July 2015 marked the beginning of semester 2 at UJ and we ended of the first semester with our mid-year exam review and an exhibition of all our Semester 1 work thus far at Bjala Square in Jeppestown. 
It has really been an interesting and pleasantly challenging 6 months being a part of UJ_Unit2

The process

We began with a neighborhood immersion project, which had us grappling with concepts around "community" (as well as other terms we use but take for granted). The second project then looked at infrastructure, and the relationship between people, social systems and built-form (at a neighborhood scale). We then moved to looking at explorations in urban design and architecture. The task involved proposing an architectural interventions, informed by the unique, urban characteristics of the multi-layered Newtown context. The last project had us study the Denver informal settlement (west of Johannesburg). This was followed by the task to design context-sensitive housing "supports", within an Urban Tissue Framework proposed by Unit2. 

The process involved presentations and workshops from various speakers and presenters, most notably, a 2 week intensive with US Professor Stephen Kendall 

Highlights 

There have been a number of highlights in the learning experience, below are just a few

Presenting project 1: Neighbourhood immersion. 

- Before this year, I had no knowledge of Open Building. The past 6 months have been an enjoyable experience of growth in understanding the various concepts of Open Building [Time-based design, architecture and transformation, agency in the built environment (B.E.), Levels of decision making, the close relationship between builtform and the various actors who interact with it, etc...]

- Although still enjoying it, the first part of the year was initially more abstract and conceptual. The exercise with Prof. Kendall was great in helping me grasp the technical aspects of Open Building, a major stepping stone. 

- Being granted the great opportunity to attend the Future of Open Building conference, in Zurich Switzerland. (See announcement)

- Growth and (still) developing my own architectural "voice". In looking at the BE as an ecosystemic whole, Unit2 has been a great help in articulating my own understanding of architecture and the B.E. 

- This year more, than ever, I've seen the greater potential of architecture as a tool for service. (That's the basic idea behind the title "Mission-arch" ("missionary architecture")). Open Building has strengthened the understanding of the close relationship between spatial design as having social impacts. 

- Have really enjoyed various presentations throughout the year, from Liz Ogbu, past Mtech students, other professionals and recently Emmanuel Nkambule.

What I take away 

Looking to explore some of the lessons learnt in semester 1, through a personal lens of how I see my role as an (aspiring) architect; together with testing and also questioning my own convictions as a "spatial practitioner"