This project entitled “The Mamelodi glass blowing works – Synthesizing existing polarities by investigating a hybrid typology” was completed in 2011 in fulfillment of BArch (Hons) degree.Within this project the city is imagined as a machine which rather than densifying its urban core is currently perpetuating the urban sprawl by pushing people to its peripheries as is prevalent in the expansion of townships like Mamelodi. To counter this problem the initial phase of the urban framework proposes a green belt, used for agricultural land and food production, which acts as a barrier against further expansion. The existing railroad stations become activity nodes or centers of commerce around which micro-industries are established. These micro-industries are operated by the local community and produce commodi¬ties that provide job opportunities and generate income. At the Pienaarspoort station in Mamelodi a beer production industry is proposed, which involves a hops plantation, a brewery and a bottle blowing works. The conceptual approach of the Mamelodi glass blowing works is to reconcile and integrate housing and industry in order to establish a mutually beneficial relationship between them. Through integration and mixed use a new hybrid typology is invented that satisfies the various spatial requirements of the individual. The concept of a support structure is used within the intervention to allow for change, expansion and adaption over time. The proposed intervention establishes a communal identity by cultivating pride and ownership in allowing for and encouraging personal expres¬sion and freedom of choice. It recognizes the fact that settlements are not static, completed entities and always in a process of becoming by proposing a structure that is able to change, expand and adapt over time. The glassblowing works reconciles and integrates housing and industry by means of multifunction¬al elements and spaces that synthesize these realms in order to invent a new, complex hybrid reality.
