Local Cultures – Global Spaces
Abstract
The theme of the study is that collective identity is valued over individual expression in diverse cultures, expressed in similarity observed in architecture, during certain time eras, across geographic borders and beyond a restrictive euro-centric viewpoint. In the west individuality is celebrated. Can our social media driven lives be conceived within a collective rather than an individual paradigm? This is tested through a studio project where homogeneity was measured by comparing architectural representations by diverse South African students generated on their smartphones. The co-called cyberflaneurs engage physically and virtually. Their digital collages of urban architectural typologies simulate algorithms, revealing similar patterns. This project is compared with the cultural attitudes in a vernacular setting in an African context, that is specific Muslim communities in northern riverain Sudan. It is evident in the visual homogeneity in that context, and the minimal variation in built form coupled with consistency in space use, that difference is despised and discouraged. In this investigation, parallels are drawn – and how the “local” is now a “hybrid” of global content. While considering diverse architectural contexts, it is argued that the ideal of the vernacular to not “stand out” also exists in the global. The zeitgeist allows the same ideas to be shared by the collective where a known visual language is adapted slightly from project to project. The importance of this study is that it creates a new awareness as to how we assimilate ideas in the design studio and innovate new versions of an existing reality.
Pieter Greyvensteyn is a South African architect, artist and academic. He is lecturer in architecture at the Tshwane University of Technology where he teaches design, theory and history. He researches popular culture that is set within the dual physical and virtual environment of the metaverse, and focuses on the filmic quality of the architectural experience. He has recently done a series of small-scale community upliftment projects with his students; most notably concrete street furniture in public spaces in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Amira Osman is a Sudanese/South African architect, researcher, academic, activist, public speaker, and author. She is a Professor of Architecture at the Tshwane University of Technology and holds the position of SARChI: DST/NRF/SACN Research Chair in Spatial Transformation (Positive Change in the Built Environment). Amira is a joint coordinator for the international CIB W104 Open Building Implementation network, Past President of the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA) and convenor of the conference series. She is the director of PLATFORM 100, a think-/do-tank and collaborative vehicle for promoting change in conversations and practice around architecture, space and cities.