Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment
Permanent URI for this community
For information on accessing Architecture & Built Environment content please contact Bongi Mphuti via email : Bongi.Mphuti@wits.ac.za or Tel (W) : 011 717 1978
For information on Engineering collections content please contact Salome Potgieter by email : salome.potgieter@wits.ac.za or Tel : 011 717 1961
Browse
Browsing Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment by Title
Now showing 1 - 20 of 488
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item 120 years of excellence in service to Mining.(The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy., 2017-04) Musingwini, C.The Wits School of Mining Engineering, which is celebrating 120 years of service to the mining industry, is the seed from which the University of the Witwatersrand grew, and is now the largest mining school in the English-speaking world.Item Abramowitch, Punshow & Schneider Architects. Juliana. Black & white photograph. 230X142.(2012-02-10) Abramowitch, Punshow & Schneider ArchitectsAbramowitch, Punshow & Schneider Architects. Juliana. Black & white photograph. 230X142.Item Abramowitch, S A.(Architect) Pocardi Restaurant. Black and white photograph.(2012-02-10) Abramowitch, S AAbramowitch, S A.(Architect) Pocardi Restaurant. Black and white photograph.Item Abramowitch, S A.(Architect) Pocardi's Restaurant. Black and white photograph.(2012-02-10) Abramowitch, S AAbramowitch, S A.(Architect) Pocardi's Restaurant. Black and white photograph.Item Abramowitch, S A.(Architect) Hatherley Hall. 1957. Black and white photograph. 245X192(2012-02-10) Abramowitch, S AAbramowitch, S A.(Architect) Hatherley Hall. 1957. Black and white photograph. 245X192Item Abramowitch, S A.(Architect) House Abramowitch. 1957. Black and white photograph. 165X213(2012-02-10) Abramowitch, S AAbramowitch, S A.(Architect) House Abramowitch. 1957. Black and white photograph. 165X213Item ACCESSING HEALTH SERVICES IN TOWNSHIPS: THE CASE OF BRAM FISCHERVILLE(University of the Witwatersrand; Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, 2016) Gawbeni, SiphosethuItem Accessing the State: Everyday Practices and Politics in the South(Journal of Asian and African Studies, 2011) Benit Gbaffou, ClaireThis special issue explores everyday practices and politics of accessing the state and state resources from a southern perspective. The collection of papers documents low-income residents’ everyday relationships with the state, through the study of actual practices of interaction with a range of state representatives at the local level (councilors and officials, at various levels of local government). Formal and informal, legal and illegal, confrontational and cooperative, we analyze the multiple tactics of engagement with the state by low-income residents to understand the extent to which they allow access to state resources and to degrees of state recognition, even in contexts of mass poverty, informality and scarce public resources. The modes of interaction with the state also embody and frame low-income residents’ representations of the state, of their expectations, and of their own citizenship. This special issue thus critically draws together a wide-ranging and important debate on governance, and the relationships it constructs between state and civil society. The main question we thus raise in this special issue is how the dynamics of governance reform, with attempted development or deepening of both decentralization and participation, affect everyday practices to access the state and the resulting politics that shape state-society relations in southern contexts. Collectively, the articles in the special issue reflect on the ways in which low-income citizens access to the state challenges existing theories of the state and democracy. Stemming from a research programme entitled ‘The Voices of the Poor in Urban Governance: Participation, Mobilisation and Politics in South African Cities’, this special issue focuses on South African cities primarily but not exclusively. Although the contexts examined have their own specificities, we argue that they provide an interesting and critical context in which to work through the debate from a Southern perspective. South African societies are specific in the huge expectations residents have in the post-apartheid state, and in the ways that ideals continue to be framed in modernist terms, as emblematized by policies of mass public housing delivery and effort towards mass access to urban services. The state, even if it is not so powerful, remains at the core of representations and expectations especially of lower income residents (Borges 2006) – mass urban protests which continue to rise in South African cities today show the disappointment of these expectations rather than a disregard, ignorance or avoidance of the State (Bénit-Gbaffou 2008, Alexander 2010). Attempts to address the gaps between expectation and public delivery have taken the form of major local government restructuring in a post-apartheid context, relying extensively on principles of good governance (decentralization, democratization as well as new public management principles). However, these expectations and experiences of confrontation of civil society with the state co-exist with everyday practices of negotiation, seeking of favours, and clientelism, which also shape residents’ access to resources, and more broadly their representations of the state and the construction of their urban citizenship (Oldfield and Stokke 2004). The South African case is thus particularly relevant to study the interaction between the modern state and good governance ideals, and practices of ‘political society’.Item Advancing international collaboration through the Global Mineral Professionals Alliance (GMPA).(The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy., 2017-03) Musingwini, C.Extract from Editorial: The GMPA is currently composed of six sister institutes: the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), the Institute of Materials, Mining and Metallurgy (IOM3), the SAIMM, the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Inc. (SME), and the Instituto de Ingenieros de Minas del Peru (IIMP).Item African Architect; a Journal devoted to the interests of the Architectural Profession in South Africa(Institutes of South African Architects and the Chapter of South African Quantity Surveyors, 1914)African Architect; a Journal devoted to the interests of the Architectural Profession in South AfricaItem African Architect; the Journal of the Association of Transvaal Architects(Institutes of South African Architects and the Chapter of South African Quantity Surveyors, 1911)African Architect; the Journal of the Association of Transvaal ArchitectsItem African Architect; the Journal of the Association of Transvaal Architects(Institutes of South African Architects and the Chapter of South African Quantity Surveyors, 1913)African Architect; the Journal of the Association of Transvaal ArchitectsItem African Architect; the Journal of the Association of Transvaal Architects(Institutes of South African Architects and the Chapter of South African Quantity Surveyors, 1912)African Architect; the Journal of the Association of Transvaal ArchitectsItem Aiton Court: Relocating Conservation between Poverty and Modern Idealism(International committee for documentation and conservation of buildings, sites and neighbourhoods of the modern movement, 2013-01) le Roux, Hannah; Hart, Brendan; Mayat, YasminAiton Court, in Johannesburg, is a case study in how heritage and economics clash in economically constrained cities. This iconic and formally innovative Modern apartment block from 1937 is located in an area where the income levels of tenants are now very low. Although the building is protected by legislation, the viability of its restoration is being further tested by a rent boycott. The article covers the building’s history, and questions how to approach its conservation differently, given the strong demand for housing at a cost level that would be excluded by purely market–led gentrification. We propose that locating conservation strategies in relation to the building’s history and to other subsidies aimed at the public good may provide other routes to preserving Aiton Court.Item Alterations to existing House(ELLE, 2009) Le Roux, HannahThis tiny project added a small, largely indeterminate space to my house. It faces the garden and resolves the difficulty of a house with an existing kitchen on the north. The L shaped sliding doors and windows can be opened in different configurations, and along with the mobile, folding table, allow for winter/summer, indoor/outdoor, public/private variations of eating or just working in this stoep.Item An evaluation of the applicability of the extended situational leadership model to lower level management in the South African construction industry(University of the Witwatersrand, 1990-08-10) Cocotos, GeorgeThe vast majority of theories and models that have been developed around the concept of leadership have been conceptualized, and tested in the USA and other countries outside South Africa as discussed in the literature survey, Chapter 2 of this dissertation). Furthermore, the models developed have largely been theoretical models aimed to help leaders only to identify the most appropriate leadership style to use. None have however attempted to develop a model that leaders can use to implement the most appropriate leadership style once it has been chosen. Consequently, A D Jaff, using the most integrated and recently developed Situational Leadership Theory and Mode 1 of Hersey and Blanchard as a data base, developed the first leadership implementation model - The Extended Situational Leadership Model. Since AD Jaff's implementation model is a combination of various other leadership mode ls and theories, in order to fully understand the development of the Extended SL Model, all the relevant models are researched in this dissertation (see Chapter 2). This dissertation attempts to test the applicability of the Extended SL Model in a practical construction environment in South Africa. It further attempts to make adaptations to the model where relevant, after testing its performance value through the administration of 3 questionnaires to a sample of potential/practising black leaders (on-site construction managers). (This lS surveyed in Chapters 3 to 6 of this dissertation). The objective of this dissertation is therefore to attempt to test, and where necessary, to adapt AD Jaff's Extended SL Model so that : 1) this theoretical model may be implemented practically in a South African construction working environment (i.e. to prove that the mode 1 does work in practice) ( see Chapter 4). and to test whether 2) the adapted mode 1 is applicable for the training of future black Low-Level leaders in the South African construction environment. The adapted form of the model will, I believe, prove to be a useful tool for the training of black leaders within the South African construction organisations, where the volatile industry and changing economic and political environment of South Africa with ensure the emergence of black South African Low Level leaders in the construction industry in the near future.Item Analysis of Bounded Distance Decoding for Reed Solomon Codes.(South African Institute of Electrical Engineers., 2018-09) Babalola, O.P.; Versfeld, D.J.J.Bounded distance decoding of Reed-Solomon codes involves finding a unique codeword if there is at least one codeword within the given distance. A corrupted message having errors that is less than or equal to half the minimum distance corresponds to a unique codeword and therefore, the probability of decoding error is one for a minimum distance decoder. However, increasing the decoding radius to be slightly higher than half of the minimum distance may result in multiple codewords within the Hamming sphere. In this study, we computed the probability of having unique codewords for (7, k) RS codes when the decoding radius is increased from the error correcting capability t to t+1. Simulation results show a significant effect of the code rates on the probability of having unique codewords. It also shows that the probability of having unique codeword for low rate codes is close to one.Item Application of a constrained non-linear hydraulic gradient design tool to water reticulation network upgrade.(Tayylor & Francis., 2006) Ilemobade, A.A.; Stephenson, D.Southern Africa has embarked on substantial expansion of its water supply network in order to ensure safe, reliable, convenient and sufficient water for everyone. To achieve this, new systems are being built and many existing systems are being upgraded. The upgrade of many existing systems is required for two reasons: some currently functional systems may run dry if subjected to additional demands as these systems were not initially designed to cater for such demand, and some systems are currently non- or sub-functional as they were ill-designed and/or ill-implemented from inception. Many of the systems that require upgrade are underdesigned due to a lack of skill, tools and/or knowledge of designers, or from other extraneous factors (e.g., illegal connections and sabotage). It is hardly surprising therefore that the failures of water projects in developing countries are recorded to be as high as 80%. Ill-designed systems increase operation and maintenance costs significantly. In especially Southern Africa, designers require simple, yet rigorously tested tools to facilitate sustainable, yet cost-effective network designs. Presented in this paper is a simple, yet robust constrained non-linear hydraulic gradient network reticulation design tool. The design tool is calibrated using the New York City water supply problem that has served as a benchmark problem for other models and then applied to the Selebi – Phikwe (SP) water reticulation network (WRN) in Botswana, which was designed based on engineering judgement. The optimization algorithm employed in the design tool is based on the concept that a hypothetical hydraulic gradient for a hydraulically balanced WRN exists that, when achieved iteratively, produces optimal pipe sizes and an optimal flow relation between each pipe. The unique problems and challenges of the SP WRN (pressure deficiencies in sections of the existing network and the proposed addition of three new residential developments) required determining the most appropriate peak and night flow operating scenarios, and optimal pipe sizes for the proposed expansion of the network. Optimization by trial and error had been previously employed in the design of the SP WRN—a common practice amongst water system designers, and the results are compared with those generated with the design tool. The design tool achieved a 62% reduction in total pipe cost from that obtained by trial and error for the SP WRN problem. At the same time, the design tool gives comparable pipe costs to those published in literature for the New York City water supply tunnels problem.Item Architecture and Modern Life(Transvaal, Natal and Orange Free State Provincial Institutes of South African Architects and the Chapter of South African Quantity Surveyors, 1929-12) Martienssen, Rex D"My intention this evening, is to bring the art of architecture into relationship with the other arts, and with our every day activities, in order to show that the arts do not necessarily lose any of their aesthetic value by fulfilling a functional need."Item Architecture from the frontline.(Domus, 2008-07-31) le Roux, Hannah; Southwood, David; Duker, RobThe photographs of Noero Wolff’s Red Location Museum suggest a post-traumatic state: all debris, dust and raw material, roaming children, and a tight, almost tense order that holds it all together. The building has striking composure, but it is the gritty setting that locates it in a compelling narrative. Noero Wolff won the commission in an open competition in 1998. The brief envisaged a museum and craft centre to celebrate South Africa’s history of struggle at its heart, in Red Location, an old township that had shown strong resistance to apartheid. The post-apartheid government developed such sites as a policy of representation: unable to bring immediate wealth to their vast numbers of impoverished supporters, it invested in symbolic projects for museums and parks that could bring the subsequent benefits of tourism.