Abstract

The adaptation of Schubart Park aims to reimagine a derelict modernist housing complex in  Pretoria’s inner city by transforming it into a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable urban precinct.  Utilising circular design and preservation and restoration methods, the redevelopment  transforms the existing concrete megastructure into a mixed-use, mass timber integrated  housing development. The design process is rooted in construction sustainability explored in my  thesis, with structural reuse with timber integration making a completely sustainable infill, which  is explored technologically 

The design focuses on the redesign of residential living and communal spaces in an abandoned  high rise building to maximise the potential of the existing structure, using the concept of  dispersed communal spaces. This undoes the modern living concept of my apartment, my space  into my space, our space.  

Residential housing programmes are mapped out in relation to various living circumstances  and placed within the original structure. The existing design is inward facing and has limited  interaction on street level, leaving a prison-like effect on its direct context. Urban integration  includes developing Madiba Street on the southern edge of the site, with design modifications on  

this side to make the building friendlier to the context by increasing commercial activities on the  street.  

Due to the large scale of the site, the design focused on resolving one of the existing towers,  which can be applied to the identical structures on site, as well as the buildings’ relationship to  the street. The design process integrates the views of Stuart Brand’s six S’ building layers theory:  Site, Structure, Skin, Services, Space plan, and Stuff (1994). By approaching the project layer by  layer, interconnections between layers are revealed and resolved.