Defending an icon: the Matsulu Centre for Rhino Defense
Date
2017
Authors
Bosman, Ruan
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Abstract
In light of an increasing scientific and
social focus on unsustainable human
practices, mankind’s dominant relationship
with the natural world is now
being challenged. Few phenomena
demonstrate this destructive relationship
better than the growing number
of animals being driven to extinction
through human actions. The most
notable of these, within the South
African context, is the devastation of
rhinoceros populations caused by
illegal poaching, particularly in the
Kruger National Park. In dealing with
this issue, we have a unique opportunity
to embody and catalyse a sustainable
paradigm shift.
Such a shift would seek to transition
mankind into a symbiotic rather than
parasitic relationship with the natural
world. It would promote the use of
cutting edge technologies for the
benefit both human and non-human
actors, breaking down the separation
between man and nature. The resultant
hybridised ecosystem would stand as
an exemplary manifestation of the
long theorised ‘cyborg’ entity, not as
individual, but as a new form of habitat
and, ultimately, societal organisation.
Contextualising such a ‘Cyborgian
Nexus’ as a solution to the scourge of
rhino poaching is the chief subject of
this research report.
The Matsulu Centre for Rhino Defense
is proposed as a Connected Conservation
Centre in the disadvantaged
Matsulu community, bordering the
Kruger National Park. Its aim is to be
the heart of a sophisticated system of
cutting edge technologies which allow
park rangers to overcome the poaching
threat. Through its program as well as
its architecture, the project aims to
become a recognizable icon of a new
relationship between man and nature.
One in which human innovation allows
for the natural world and the human
world to coexist sustainably to the
mutual benefit of both.
Description
Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Architecture (Professional) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017
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Citation
Bosman, Ruan (2017) Defending an icon: the Matsulu Centre for Rhino Defense, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/23027>