Studio In-Situ

Michael Louw

doi:10.31182/cubic.2021.4.036

Abstract

This photo essay explores the possibility of radically shifting the understanding of the design studio as a spatial construct. By considering the seven-year evolution of a (socalled) design-build project known as the Imizamo Yethu Water Platforms, it recognises the possibility of dislocating the design studio from its traditionally centralised space in the academy and moving it to the site of its investigation or intervention for the duration of a project. The Imizamo Yethu Water Platforms aimed to improve water and sanitation infrastructure in a severely under-resourced informal settlement in Cape Town, South Africa, through the insertion of small permanent public spaces. Due to a number of reasons, including the physical characteristics of the sites selected for these spaces, the design studio gradually shifted its physical location to such an extent that virtually the entire design, documentation and construction process took place in-situ.

Highlights

This photo essay explores the possibility of radically shifting the understanding of the design studio as a spatial construct
The project was initiated as a response to a severe lack of water and sanitation infrastructure in the settlement of Imizamo Yethu which was, at the time, one of Cape Town’s two most poorly serviced informal settlements
As with most informal settlements, the static nature or relative lack of infrastructural flows below ground is contrasted by the fluidity of the built fabric above ground

Summary

Introduction

This photo essay explores the possibility of radically shifting the understanding of the design studio as a spatial construct. The Imizamo Yethu Water Platform project was a (so-called) design-build project in Cape Town, South Africa, that was run by the University of Cape Town’s School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics from 2010 to 2016 (Louw 2012).

Results

Conclusion