Project Location: Pretoria 

Project focus area: The role of Alternative Building Technologies in Sustainable Human Settlements

Supervisor(s): Dr Corallie van Reenen

Project Description: 

The City of Tshwane municipality’s population will almost double from 3.5 million to 5.8
million by 2050 (Green Book, 2023). Pretoria, as a city within this municipality, is set to
experience urban growth pressure. With this expansion come several critical issues
hindering the city’s ability to adapt and develop, such as: access to adequate resources and
services, the reduced quality of life of its residents and associated potential mental health
issues, as well as the loss of critical biodiversity.

The intervention addresses the pressing need for improved access to mental healthcare
resources in a city where a notable portion of the population suffers from mental health
issues. Thus, it proposes a facility that provides complementary therapy interventions in
combination with conventional therapy and presents how access to public green space can
play a vital role in healing. In an effort to improve Pretoria’s environmental vulnerability, this
renewed purpose aims to preserve and regenerate green sites across the city as it continues
to densify. Salutogenic and biophilic design strategies are used to provide a comprehensive
solution using natural systems to address human wellbeing and the state of nature in the
city.

The design resolution, located in Nieuw Muckleneuk, is a series of spaces bridging the
Walkerspruit river and nesting into the ground at either end, anchoring and reconnecting
each side of Trim Park into a newly activated urban green site. It illustrates how innovative
building technologies (IBTs) can reduce a project’s carbon footprint and energy demands.
Moreover, contextually specific passive design principles and the curated introduction of
indigenous plant species at a site level, exemplify how architecture is enriched when the
context and site are allowed to shape the buildings.

This presents a new typology in which architecture serves as a facilitator between critical
urban stakeholders to ensure symbiotic collaborations that produce environmentally
responsible building practices and an improved sense of urban wellbeing for the city, its
residents and nature.

Keywords: Salutogenesis, biophilia, passive design, mental health, innovative building
technologies, environmental sustainability, urban wellbeing, symbiotic relationships.