Gabriel O'Donovan

Perceptions of Johannesburg’s inner city oscillate between images of a vibrant city full of possibilities and a chaotic city that has fallen into disrepair, illustrating the profound complexities of the city and its resilience - where spaces of dystopian desolation lie adjacent to dynamic spaces of ambition and hope.

Since Johannesburg’s establishment various regimes of representation have sought to create a city in their image (Matsipa, 2014) – from visions of Johannesburg as a temporary mining camp with the sole purpose of extracting wealth, to modernist images of a “New York in Africa” (Chipkin, 2008). This project explores how visions from a past epoch can be re-imagined, and questions the role of the architect in facilitating new urban transformations.

The project investigates the accumulated archive of abandoned buildings in the inner city - proposing a building that acts as a piece of urban infrastructure, facilitating the production new material possibilities and reinterpretations of these neglected structures. It draws inspiration from inner city examples of ad hoc spatial processes that challenge the notions of permanent and purpose-made architecture.

The site of enquiry forms part of an abandoned city block in Marshalltown that is home to three landmarks of abandonment. The city block is symbolic of decay and neglect, portraying feelings desolation and abandonment (Bruwer, 2002).