03.1_THE CONFRONTATIONAL, AND THE SACRED
03.2_TEMPORARY DWELLING TO PERMANENT HOME
“DRAMATIC ASPECTS OF OUR PAST & NEUROTIC ONES OF OUR FUTURE”
“DRAMATIC ASPECTS OF OUR PAST & NEUROTIC ONES OF OUR FUTURE”
Kaleidoscope community.
Over time the African city centre remains a manifestation of how different groups negotiate differences between each other in space, & more importantly how these different groups have managed to negotiate these differences within themselves.
Forming parallels with Pretoria central Church Square, the medina of Fez’s essence of dwelling is measure by a balance of creation & preservation – where people dwell in a working city, as well as a monument. I want to bring this factor to Pretoria West, where culture & tradition has been neglected. Fez is a city of coexistence – like that of Pretoria – where history is present within their spaces. Time looms over space, holding the historical architecture hostage to modernization & its ideals, where traditions are maintained – for the comfort of the people as well as culture of Fez.
Morocco is an Islamic place where women have rules & regulations to abide to, some of which are not always fair. I aim to create a space of freedom for women - whereby religion does not rule, due to the project specifically being focussed on women, where they are no longer alienated in their own environments and contextual restrictions. The aim is to create a space dedicated to a different kind of therapy for women & children. A space of pedagogy as the enabler - where they learn skills that teaches them how to construct their own house. As the inhabitants of this 'school' gain more independence, confidence as well as courage to go out into the world, their temporary dwelling converts into a permanent home – where the structure may get bigger as their family grows, along with the healing process, eventually landing back on the ground - where we all came from.
This serves a different kind of therapy; one of which leaves the user to decide ones' growth path by providing the opportunity, yet not forcing a choice. Refugees typically end up being forcefully moved from one context of deterioration to another; such presented in a different and more appealing form yet one of which retaining such controlling similarities that drove them out to begin with. Refugees leave - why? Because they have seen enough, and escaped in search of mediums to heal. One cannot evacuate back to a place they used to call home, if they are void of the skills to required to confront what made them abandon to begin with. The ground floor presents itself with warmth and Islamic familiarity – dedicated to beautiful Moroccan design of detailed arches & riads. This space, one of which could simultaneously serve as a reminder of the the annihilator, but by choice holds the potential to become the enabler - one consisting of an area dedicated to the education towards the construction of homes for an improved environment of a healing person, by knowing just that 'little bit' more.
Pretoria West acts as the “shadow” of Pretoria central, such as that of Church Square, & simply acts as a business node that not many people would actually DESIRE to spend a day in this area – merely just to pass through to reach ones destination. This space will attract only who I am aiming for - women & children, who need healing specifically in this circumstance. The healing method will not be through a hospitalized space or hysteria that was so strongly manipulated in the past as a 'female disease', but a family feeling space where women & children from all over the globe unite to form their own tight knit community where they work with one another, and in many ways DEPEND on one another – emotionally & physically. Although this is just an idea, difficult spaces that simultaneously provide for opportunity typically result in strength in teams - forming a tight knit community – where they do not receive funding from outside sources, but rather focus on working with the people & being among the people. It's is all about independence, so that if she decides to leave back home, she is more equipped than she was when she left.
Therapy will be accomplished through the teaching and training towards the creation of her own home, previously told that she was unable to do so. The provision of methods and teaching to customise her living environment to her own desires & needs, rather than what has been inflicted as some foreign theory serves as it's own enabling therapy of capability and control. Once her skills strengthen, she can move from their temporary dwelling to a permanent home, developing – that is now more out in the city, possibly larger, & possibly holds a family.
These women will no longer feel the enclosure of their body, but an enclosure of their space.