Micro Site Analysis - The Site

The chosen site for the design schools at the Liberty Life Building and Boston House were directly influenced by its capabilities for connecting and activating Fontein Street and its proximity to other functions that is related to fashion and academics. This creates possibilities to utilize and improve on these typologies that already exist within the city.

Historical development of Boston House.

(adapted by author, 2020)

Judging by the original plans from 1961, Boston House, as it is now known, was originally a warehouse for the neighbouring heritage building, commonly known as the Roderick Building. The building underwent an expansive development in the 1970s where the existing warehouse was expanded and improved. It is also during this time that the building developed its distinctive facade that it still has today.

It almost seems fitting for Boston House to develop into a smaller supporting design school to the larger fashion design school due to nature of the original building as a supporting warehouse to the Roderick Building. The connection between the warehouse and the Roderick Building will be maintained through shared functions between the textile design school and the development of a biomedical engineering school which will take place in the Roderick Building. Boston House as a design school will also become a link between the two neighbouring schools.

Topological analysis of the site of Boston House of Textile Design.

(adapted by author, 2020)

The site is long and narrow in nature, with access to both Fontein Street and St Andrews Street. The site has an evident slope from St Andrews Street as the topography of the entire city slopes down from Naval Hill to Bloemspruit. The building accommodates this slope by having a ground floor on the side of Fontein Street which essentially becomes the basement for the ground floor on the side of St Andrews Street. The connection that the building forms between the two streets is ideal for the creation of a promenade through the building to draw activity from St Andrews street and Hoffman Square through the building to the inactive Fontein Street. The building also forms an axis with Hamelberg Street, which is a pedestrianized street on the side of Hoffman Square. This strengthens the promenade approach through the site.

Morphological and typological analysis and its effect of including the urban dweller

(author, 2020)

The existing morphology of the building stands in contrast to most other buildings in the Bloemfontein CBD. The building has a lower profile of only two stories from St Andrews Street and three stories from Fontein Street, while most other buildings along the corridor and around Hoffman Square are four stories or more. The northern facade has a greater possibility of connecting interior and exterior spaces with a large overhanging balcony above the entrance, large windows and doors on first floor, and three large entrances on ground floor – two of which is unfortunately closed with steel roll-up garage doors. This facade also draws much attention due to the details and ornamentations, which ensures a diversity of figures throughout the city. The southern facade as the back of the building is far less equipped for interaction between interior and exterior as the ground floor is essentially the service entrance to the basement. This facade does however sport large windows on all upper floors that create a seemingly transparent facade.

The building has an interesting morphology with a virtually heritage-like appearance which is quite untypical for the warehouse typology, which is what the building was essentially intended to be. The morphology of the southern facade is more suited to the warehouse typology, with a lower and wider proportion and pitched corrugated iron roof. The ornamented northern facade does however have indications of classical proportions and principles, which can easily be related to other institutional and administrative typologies that exist within Bloemfontein CBD. This northern facade therefore assist the building, despite its warehouse typology that is typically not considered to be humane buildings, in holding great value as a memorable figure within the city and rendering the physical appearance of the building appropriate for the institutional function.

Conclusion

These analyses provide insight into the choice of site and describe the influences of its surroundings that ultimately have an effect on the design. The chosen site is ideal to activate the corridor, house the design function and concretize the theoretical approach of the design.

The building is idealy located for the connection between St Andrews Street and Fontein Street, which ultimately supports the theoretical approach of the design. By creating a promenade that allows movement through the building and the site, it also allows for an opportunity to create this ritual of fashion along the promenade in which the urban dweller will participate. The promenade will essentially become a runway. Furthermore, this promenade as the nucleal element of the design for practical and theoretical reasons, will become a muse, not only inspiring designers through the fashion rituals, but also making the dweller aware of their participation in the fashion rituals along the runway-promenade.