Re-presenting Layers of History in the Natural Landscape
An Architectural Exposition of the Silvermine Reservoir
Masters of Architecture Dissertation (2016)
This research and design project arose from a personal interest in the history of the Cape Peninsula mountain range - and in particular, the movement patterns of the various groups of people who have inhabited this landscape. This interest inspired a process of exploration which involved navigating this mountain range in search of historical narratives and artefacts. History is understood here as a cumulative layering of processes, which ultimately determine our experience of a particular place. The primary question posed by this research project asks how such layers of history may be re-presented, and re-interpreted, through the medium of architecture.
Table Mountain National Park - the greater site of my investigation.
This mountain range is home to a variety of unique fauna and flora, comprising a sensitive ecosystem which has been transformed by agriculture, urbanisation, and modern infrastructure. This project frames this "natural landscape" as no longer comprising only of natural elements, but recognises the traces of human inhabitation as part of this landscape - and seeks to present man-made artefacts alongside natural phenomena to illustrate the changing modes of inhabiting this landscape.
Mapping layers of history along the Cape Peninsula mountain range.
Silvermine Reservoir - site interpretation diagram.
Through my explorations of this mountain range, the Silvermine Reservoir revealed itself as a man-made intrusion which has been absorbed into the natural landscape. No longer used for its intended purpose, this piece of historical infrastructure has been adopted for new social practices - which characterise changing perceptions of the value of this landscape and its natural resources.
Photographs of the Silvermine Reservoir.
In 1996 the Silvermine Nature Reserve sought to develop a public information centre and interpretive hiking trails as part of an educational endeavour. This project takes that unbuilt vision as the basis for a brief which sees those programmatic elements as the most appropriate means of introducing an architecture which aims to re-present layers of history in this context - and assumes the site of the reservoir as the location for such an intervention.
Digital collage explorations of programme and a re-inventing of the dam wall.
Sourcing of appropriate local materials and means of making.
Sketches exploring scaffold technologies and ways of re-purposing the dam wall.
Proposal for a mixed-use light-weight structure to be mounted to the dam wall - including interpretation pavilion, overnight hikers' cabins, viewing platforms and a ranger's cabin.
Site plan illustrating the information centre as a movement route within the context of the proposed hiking trails.
South east elevation of information centre mounted on existing dam wall.
