Summer
Show
2022
Show
2022
24
November
18:00 SAST
November
18:00 SAST
Decay
5th Stage of Decay. Langa, C . Unit 15X. 2021.
Cindy Langa
BArch 2021Supervisors:
Unit Leader: Dr Finzi Saidi
Unit Leader: Jabu Makhubu
Unit Tutor: Dickson Adu-Agyei
Unit Tutor: Mathebe Aphane
Unit Assistant: Nomalanga Mahlangu
UNIT 15X︎︎︎
Toxic [Urban] Landscapes
My project uses the lens of tomato decay to interrogate Orlando Power Station in Soweto, (Johannesburg) as an example of a decaying Post Industrial landscape. I therefore use ‘decay’ as a way of understanding and unpacking the Unit’s theme for the year: Toxicity.
The abandonment of this power station created a ‘white elephant’ effect for the community in its context making this site a prime location for illegal activities including the theft of the structural steel which led to its eventual collapse in 2014.
Attempting to track this process of decay, I looked at the station’s process of deterioration in comparison to the stages of the tomato decay. This process of drawing parallels between the two allowed me to understand the remaining infrastructure on site as an opportunity – just as the seeds remained from the tomato’s decay, this remaining infrastructure could become the beginning of the stations new life. My project therefore became about speculating on what this ‘new life’ could become.
The abandonment of this power station created a ‘white elephant’ effect for the community in its context making this site a prime location for illegal activities including the theft of the structural steel which led to its eventual collapse in 2014.
Attempting to track this process of decay, I looked at the station’s process of deterioration in comparison to the stages of the tomato decay. This process of drawing parallels between the two allowed me to understand the remaining infrastructure on site as an opportunity – just as the seeds remained from the tomato’s decay, this remaining infrastructure could become the beginning of the stations new life. My project therefore became about speculating on what this ‘new life’ could become.
Keywords:
Decay, Toxicity, Deterioration, Infrastructure
Decay, Toxicity, Deterioration, Infrastructure
Contact
Cindy Langa:
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