the journey - design portolio

THE JOURNEYDESIGN PORTFOLIO

BY TSHEPO MOKHOLOBsc (Architecture) / BArch(Hons) University of Pretoria

01

/ WELCOME

Within this document, I will be giving

a glimpse into my journey within the

field of architecture, showing you

selected works that both highlight

some strengths, and the growth

during my architectural education.

This portfolio has been created

with the intention of placing the

focus on the work and not the book

itself, allowing the reader to access

as much information as possible

with no hindrance, removing the

spectacle that plagues what design

has become, and focusing on the

substance contained within.

/NORMATIVE POSITION

03

Within the discourse of architecture, much has been discussed about the role of the “Architect” and his/her relevance to our current post-industrial paradigm. A once glorified profession has seemingly faded into irrelevance, moving from its origins, that of craftsmanship, and of the master designer, to what we see today, where architects have become another mechanism in the production driven mindset of post modern era. My position is that as an architect, one needs to re-engage with what makes architecture, materiality and construction. There has been a rift that has been created when discussing architecture that compartmentalizes design and construction as though they are not the same thing. Within the academic realm, design and construction are taught separately, creating the impression, that when creating architecture, one should precede the other. My belief is that good architecture lies in designed construction. The architect should always seek to fully understand materials, explore its possibilities, and craft architecture from it, rather than force materials into the architecture. This is an approach strongly used by the likes of Kengo Kuma, a designer who always works with local materials and crafts, exploring their potential and creating architecture that is contextual, and tests the limits

of materials.

As architects it is important that we go back to the basics, explore our materials and question construction convention to allow us to push the boundaries of design, moving us towards an honest architecture, where materiality and design act in harmony, allowing for users to not only enjoy the spaces we create, but be able to understand the

construct of those spaces.

/CURRICULUM VITAE

05

Designer Architecture/Graphic

Tshepo Mokholo

EDUCATION.......................................................

SESOTHOMother

language

ENGLISH/ZULU

/SETSWANAAdvanced

AFRIKAANSBasic level

2010 - 2012BSc Architecture

University of Pretoria

2014 - 2015BArch (Hons)

University of Pretoria

2005 - 2009High School

Pinetown Boys’ High School

2013

Junior Architecural TecnologistGAPP Architects & Urban Designers

Appointed the chairperson of the University of Pretoria student com-mittee to the UIA 2014 conference.

Cinema Music TheatreBooks

Adobe PhotoshopAdobe IllustratorAdobe IndesignSketch UpAutoDesk RevitRendering (Indigo)Microsoft OfficeAutoCad

02 Computer

Spatial DesignDraughtingConstructionBrandingJoinery detaiilingHeritage ArchitectureUrban Design

01 Knowledge

Model Building

NAME

TSHEPO DUNCAN MOKHOLO

DATE OF BIRTH

16-01-1992

FROM

SOWETO, JOHANNESBURG

LANGUAGEENGLISH

DESIGN SKILLS....................................................................

LANGUAGE SKILLS.....................................................................................

in

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE......................................................................................................................................

+27 73 739 0466

[email protected]

1696 Khumalo street, Moroka 1818Soweto

Tshepo Mokholo

2015

InternKH Landscape Architects & Marian Louw Landscape ArchitectsCoT Public Open Space Framework

2015 - Present

Freelance architectural designer

RECOGNITION...............................................................

HOBBIES & INTERESTS.......................................................................................................

Sport

REFERENCES...............................................................

Marianne De Klerk - Lecturer & Study leader @ UPemail: [email protected]: +27 79 537 0724

Nico Botes - Lecturer @ UP.email: [email protected]: +27 12 420 5777

Johan Smith - Director @ GAPP Architectsemail: [email protected]: +27 11 482 1648

Design Indaba Emerging Creatives class of 2016.

THE JOURNEY - student portfolio

“Life is the show, Architecture is the backdrop” Tshepo Mokholo

07

01/PLATO’S BED

This project entailed the de-signing of a modular living unit, which, set against the backdrop of the erupting Icelandic volcano in 2010, would become a tempo-rary place of residence, used at strategic locations such as air-ports, train stations, etc. with the intention of addressing accom-modation shortages, by becom-ing a pit-stop on your travels. This is all in-light of the travel delays caused by the volcanic erup-tion. The unit would have to be compact and spatially efficient, enough so, that 2 units should fit into a 12m cargo container.

1st year

08


To achieve the desired compactness, I created 2 identical units, that meet each other with a saw-tooth joint. What this does is define space inside the units without the use of any internal walls. The spaces created in the saw tooth then become a toilet and a shower. For lighting, I made use of skylights, which allow in natural light whilst still maintaining the privacy of the occupant. The bed provided is fitted with a mechanism that allows it to slide up and become a couch, allowing for maximum space when the unit is not being used for sleeping purposes.

09

The main design objectives for this project were the creation of a space that affords cocoon-like privacy , and a space that is compact whilst still being comfortable to stay in.

Presentation

Final Model


“The concept is an idea contextualised” Nico Botes

11

02/SUNNYSIDE LIBRARY

Located in the CBD of the capital city of Pretoria, we were commis-sioned to design a public library that would service the commu-nity of Sunnyside. The site sits at the edge of the residential and commercial threshold .Th site was within close proximity to a prima-ry school and the UNISA Sunny-side Campus. The building would need to fulfill multiple programs, such as an aftercare center, a study center and a lecture venue.

2nd year

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My initial approach was to fo-cus on the public aspect of the building. I positioned the build-ing to the far side of the side of the site, freeing up the rest of the site to be become a public space framed and defined by the library, which would be occu-pied by the students and schol-ars. It is crucial for public building to have strong open space rela-tionships, they create a symbiot-ic relationship that strengthens

each others functions.

13

The design concept is derived from the stark difference in con-ditions on either side of the site, with one side being the res-dential area of sunnyside, and the other edge being the busy Nelson Mandla drive. To respond to the conditions a more ste-reotomic structure would help provide the noise reduction and privacy needed towards the busy road. In order to soften the structure, the circulation would be articulated by a light tech-tonic structure, facing the new open space, creating a clash between techtonic and stereotomic which is articulated by a

strong wall tthat runs the length of the building.


“The more you know, the more you have to design with” Nico Botes

15

03/THE AGE OF THE SPECTACLE:

OLYMPIC PAVILION

South Africa has just been award-ed the 2024 Olympic Games to be hosted in the capital city of Pre-toria. The site, being Bera Park, a historic sporting venue with-in the city, has for many years been neglected and has left it in a dilapidated state. In light of this, we were commissioned to select from a list of smaller and less noticeable Olympic sports, and design a pavilion for that sport, with the intention of in-creasing it’s notariaty and spec-tatorship, ultimately testing the existing sport pavilion archetypes and they’re appropriateness.

3rd year


“A great building must begin with the immeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is be-ing designed, and in the end must be unmeasured”

Louis I Kahn

19

04/DWELLING FOR THE HOMELESS : PART 1

A situation was imagined whereby the world’s oil reserves has dried up, and as a result the world has become a place of anarchy. The oil dependent lives that we had become so accus-tomed to, have been turned upside down. Suburban living become illogi-cal, and men have become nomadic in the search of a home in the cit-ies, allowing for close proximity to places of work. For Part 1, we were instructed to design a house boat, a nomadic dwelling for a single oc-cupant, that would not rely on fossil fuels for propulsion. This houseboat would allow the nomad to travel up and down the river, commuting be-tween work during the week, in the city, and home on the weekends.

3rd year


“If the architecture is any good, a person who looks and listens will feels its effects without noticing

Carlos Scarpa

25

05/DWELLING FOR THE HOMELESS : PART 2

Part 2 builds on the conditions set in part 1 of this project. The transi-tion in Pretoria’s socio-economic structure has reached a level of redevelopment and growth, so-ciety has begun rebuilding the city from the ashes of the past. The modernist that were once the symbols of economic pow-er and capitalism in the city, now sit abandoned. As a response, the strategic designs interven-tions were to be made within these modernist buildings. The interventions were to make a commentary on modernist ide-al within this new society, con-sidering whether modernist had a place in this new world order.

3rd year

30

THE JOURNEY - architectural portfolio

“The plan is political, the section is poetic” Rudolph van Rensburg


31

06/THE LIMINAL IDENTITY

Being the final project , we were allowed a range of themes to ex-plore, one of them being the “End Academy” , which entailed the de-sign of a building that would facil-itate the practice of euthanasia. It was up to the designer to then in-terpret this theme as they saw fit, and really challenge the archetyp-al approach to architecture, as the theme offers very little in the way of direct precedents or archetypes for one to follow. The site was a group generated framework that sat within the Pretoria CBD, and was guided by an urban framework that set the limitations and standards.

3rd year

32


Having a new and obscure program to respond to, created an opportunity for new spatial exploration, and the lack of programmatic precedents challenged us to de-

fine this new archetype we would be creating.

The concept for my design is the interpretation of death into a spatial reality, by considering the idea of death being a threshold between two absolutes, life and death. The idea of limenality, of death being a threshold in which you possibly lin-ger, rather than just a portal from one space to another. This is then interpreted in to space by creating spaces that celebrate and emphasize the in-between as a

comment on the liminality of death.

33

The building acts as a center for assisted suicide, where nomadic citizens and people on their way to death can come and assisted when reaching the end of their lives, can donate their organs to others in need. People live in the building for a short period where they prepare themselves emotionally for their own deaths. After the deaths of the residents, their organs will be harvested, and then their bodies will be cremated. Importance was placed on the ceremony of death and a funeral, so the addition of a chapel is to complete the death process, by providing

a spiritual space that acts as the final frontier in the cycle.

The program of the building is simple in reality leaving the expression of concept to arise in the spatial creation of the spaces, but mainly the space in-between the programmed spaces. The building includes a chapel, an administration floor, 4 living units, an operation room and its associated amenities and a crematorium.

3RD FLOOR PLAN 1:50GROUND FLOOR PLAN 1:5034


Ground Floor Plan

3RD FLOOR PLAN 1:50GROUND FLOOR PLAN 1:5035

SECTION A-A EASTERN ELEVATION

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Section


37


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Street Elevation


39


“Buildings can have a beautiful silence” Steven Holl

41

07/THE MEMORY FOLD

Our investigations turn to the diverse set of ideasand arguments related to the Her-itage and Cultural Landscapes re-search field. After exposure to a spectrum of new theoreticalpossibilities, we were tasked to iden-tify an area of interest and to devel-op theoretical focus with a specif-ic project application. The goal is toinform the design project with use-ful theoretical arguments and to set up guiding questions that will direct your project. Project proposals shouldprovide clarity with regards to how the design process will be informed and in terms of what the project eventually aims to deliver as product.

Honours: Heritage

42


The intention of this project is guided by the idea of the “Memory Fold”, an imaginary threshold that exists in the fabric of the city that separates the tangible heritage, in the form of architecture and space, and the intangible in the form of history and narratives. Through a process of palimpsest the one is superimposed into the other to create new meaning in the Capitol Theatre, and provide a foothold for the sharing and creation of new cultural heritage, allowing the preceding layers of tangible and intangible history to manifest in the current program, harnessing what

was, to define what is.

conceptual diagram

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46


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CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT

The programs are informed by the clues found within the intangible fabric of the Capitol, and the concept seeks to allow for these functions to exist within the tangible fabric of the building, adding a new layer that not only respects what is there, but allows the new programs to exist on the

backdrop of the existing tangible and intangible memory.

50


Ground Floor Plan

51First Floor Plan

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54


56


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“Don’t be obidient, create architecture” Steven Holl

6161

08/THE ECOLOGY OF LEARNING

ENVIRONMENTS

The project objective was to study the interaction and inter-dependency of man’s needs with the environment’s potential to accommodate such needs through applying the principles of eco-systemic thinking, research-ing, applying appropriate technol-ogies, and sustainable and socially responsible development. Build-ing on the frameworks set up in previous quarters, we were to de-velop an approach to sustainble architecture that would be both contextual and would question the status quo of what sustain-able architecture had become.

Honours: Environmental Potential

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The exploration into the potential of sustainable systems as architectural informants, exposing the functional aspects as to create an exposed lan-guage that celebrates its intentions whilst educat-ing its inhabitants to the sustainable functions of

the architecture.

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When designing public buildings, it is important that the material-ity be robust and long lasting,. In this case the building is created using a combination of concrete and facebrick, which also allows for better control over passive heating and cooling techniques. The building also seeks to cre-ate a duality of architectural el-ements, balustrades become bookshelves, windows become reading spaces, maximizing the fabric of the building to its full potential. The environmental systems of the building are de-signed so as to have them visi-ble to the occupants, allowing them to engage with the func-tions, and subconsciously ed-ucating them on the systems.

Explorations

67

Geo-thermal pipes become bookshelves

h. reading/study rooms

i. reading nook

j. book shelves + reading space

k roof gardens

h h

i i i i

jk k k

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h. reading/study rooms

i. reading nook

j. book shelves + reading space

k roof gardens

h h

i i i i

jk k k

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Rainwater collection system feeding into the ablutions

system

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Roof Garden section

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/FIN

the journey - design portolio

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