Project Global: Ground


This exploration of our current day metropolitan condition as a system of systems deals with the crust of the Earth as a primary carrying capacitor of human activities, from the extraction of resources deep within the ground, to agricultural operations that barely scratch the surface.

Part 1: Lexicon

Part 2: Atlas

Part 3: Architectural Projects



Part 2: Atlas index

︎ Extraction
    ︎ Macro-economy
    ︎ Totems
    ︎ I. Gold
    ︎ II. Coal/Power   
    ︎ III. Water

    ︎ IV. Platinum
    ︎ Network

︎ Off-cycle
    ︎ Tailing Index
        ︎ Gold
        ︎ Platinum Group Metal
        ︎ Coal
        ︎ Chrome
        ︎ Vanadium
        ︎ Fluorite
        ︎ Diamond
    ︎ Mine Waste Landscape

    ︎ Case Study 1: Gold
    ︎ Case Study 2: Diamond
    ︎ Case Study 3: PMG
    ︎ Case Study 4: Fluorite
    ︎ Case Study 5: Coal

    ︎ Impact Air
    ︎ Impact: Ground
    ︎ Impact: Water


︎ Capacity
    ︎ Cashbuild for your backyarding needs!
    ︎ Material Proximity
    ︎ Township’s Evolution
    ︎ Townships’ Formation
    ︎ Nodes and Corridors
    ︎ Policy Resistance
    ︎ Township Renewal
    ︎ Infrastructure Density
    ︎ Regulated Infrastructure
    ︎ Pressure Points

    ︎ Shack Catalog

︎ Private Archipelagos
    ︎ Private Archipelagos
    ︎ Company Town
    ︎ Extended Networks
    ︎ Unstable Terrain
    ︎ Industrial Park
    ︎ Parallel Connections
    ︎ Industrial Pollution
    ︎ Planned City
    ︎ Commute Network
    ︎ On Site Resources
    ︎ Buffer Zone

    ︎ Informal Commerce

︎ Productive Land
    ︎ Exports vs Imports   
    ︎ Agricultural Land   
    ︎ Imports vs Exports
    ︎ Distribution
    ︎ Orchards
    ︎ Crops
    ︎ Livestock
    ︎ Game Farms
    ︎ Poultry
    ︎ Informal Trade


︎ Cultural Landscape

    ︎ Street Trees Distribution
    ︎ Golf Courses 1
    ︎ Game & Nature Reserves
    ︎ Trees Species Catalog
    ︎ Golf Courses 2
    ︎ Dinokeng Game Reserve 1
    ︎ Botanical Garden
    ︎ Jackal Creek Golf
    ︎ Dinokeng Game Reserve 2
    ︎ Herbarium
    ︎ Golf Courses 3
    ︎ Specificity



Cultural Landscape

Cultural landscape is a term used to describe the symbiosis of human activity and the environment. It comprises of precise and manicured activities to support human desire, delivering value to the land.
According to the World Heritage Committee, the term falls into three main categories: I- "a landscape designed and created intentionally by man"; II- an "organically evolved landscape"; III- an "associative cultural landscape" which may be valued because of the "religious, artistic or cultural associations of the natural element."
        Three samples are considered from Johannesburg and its surroundings, namely the Botanical Garden, the Golf Course, and the Game Reserve. These were initially under scrutinized lands without agricultural or mining value, only acquiring exploitation purposes over time. They reflect an ideal image projected on land through the idea of Cultural Landscape.
        However, with the need to mitigate current societal challenges such as urban pollution concentration and climate change, these areas are gaining new value by being recognized for their intrinsic ecological services provided to the city.






Botanical Garden

Golf Course

Game Reserve








Street Trees Distribution

Johannesburg


Johannesburg has approximately 37,000 species of Jacaranda’s tree. It is currently considered the largest man-made urban forest in the world. Although the tree responds well to the climate conditions, together with the Eucalyptus and English Oak tree, the species were introduced in the beginning of 1900s to support the minings wood needs.
        With the change in mining structures and current societal challenges such as the highly polluted urban spaces and climate change, the tree gained a different value for providing several ecosystem services and becoming the ‘lungs and kidneys’ of cities: filtering air, water and noise pollution, while decreasing heat island effects, slowing down potential storm water flooding, soil erosion among others.