Urban Active Junction: connecting neighbourhoods with an NMT fitness centre

Abstract

This Thesis, Urban Active Junction: Connecting neighbourhoods with a NTM fitness centre, is about movement and physical exercise in an urban environment. In-between spaces are often underutilised, creating an opportunity for to connect and integrate adjacent spaces. With the help of human activity these space can become public environment with a social atmosphere, which can be enhanced through design details. I then introduce non-motorised transport and the significant need for an alternative mode of transport, due to increasing congestion in the city. This is done through an analysis cycling and what is required to develop cycling as an alternative mode of transport. The relationship between body and building, illustrate their intertwined and inseparable nature. Despite the wide range of movement that the body is capable of, architecture has the ability to enhance a user’s experience of a space by stimulating a sensory response to the building, while also manipulating the body into particular movement patterns. The programme of the building creates a dialogue between different the public space and the building. A with a non-motorised transport interchange and a gymnasium making up the bulk of the programme, serving to integrate the contrasting communities of Bellevue and Yeoville with Houghton. The site is located on the corner of Louis Botha Avenue and Cavendish Street on the border Bellevue, Yeoville and Houghton. Through a thorough urban analysis and site analysis the site is understood in greater detail, with precedent studies serving to give relevance to certain design decisions. The design of the building opens to the urban context on the ground floor, with movement routes informing positioning and functionality of space