VISUAL POEM: THE ENCLAVE

The Enclave

In the heart of the city lies an enclave

In the enclave you can find sunny serenity

An eye of fresh air in a dense fog of buildings buzzing with activity

Devoid of the masses of buildings that surround it as well as any shade

In the enclave there is plenty of cross motion

A thick strip of train lines borders the north

Leading to the major transport interchange, Park Station.

Dividing suburbs to the north from those to the south portion

In the enclave people are always on the go

A bridge named after a hero crosses over casually

Providing a walkway for the true heroes:

The Pedestrians of Busy Johannesburg.

In the enclave is the major taxi rank on Bree Street  

Generating immense bustle from land-uses encompassing

At the end of the day, the movement is mostly downstream 

People coming from work, school, and job hunting 

To the east is the original Park Station, iconic and glorious as ever

In the west, the Metro City Park, a seemingly isolated but well used space

Together they can form the heart of an exciting intervention

A place of hope, healing and a healthy lifestyle to embrace

 A poem describing the essence of the potential site named “The Enclave” 

(written by the Kashiya Mbinjama)

VISUAL POEM: MATTER. TEXTURE. STRUCTURE. FORM. SHADOW.

An expression of hard surfaces found on site.

POEM: NOSTALGIA

A poem written out frustration in order to figure out a way forward. Understanding the character of this huge historical artifact is crucial in its re-purposing.

POEM: BLADES OF GLORY

How the majestic abundance of sunlight influences the different textures of grass, which indicate different activities...

VISUAL POEM INSPIRED BY SITE VISITS: WE TEXTURE HERE

A visual poem expressing the relationship between the different edges and surface textures and the nature of activities that occur on those surfaces. Permeable but dead edges filter spaces into each other visually but prohibit a physical interaction. Harder surfaces provide a variety of activities such as the amphitheater that is observed to be used for performances, cycling. hard-ball games, gathering space and meeting space. The softer surfaces are observed to be more prone to chance interactions between people, and provide a softer landing for rigorous play acts such as the soccer team warming up or children running and doing cartwheels. Entitled "We Texture Here", the words, are infilled with the varying verbs that could be injected instead of texture. Eg. "We laugh here", "We sit here", "We cartwheel" here...etc.

This exercise, was useful in inspiring an awareness of the character of place and how it can be influenced by the materiality of the site . I trust that i will revisit this exercise for inspiration in the later stages of design.

A Poem: Listen To Me/ Hear My Potentual

Listen to me

Hear my potential

Ignore the nagging beep-beep-beep of my trucks

As they back up into the tight driveways

And my many many many loading bays

Hear the soulful street music

Seething through cellphone speakers

As my friends lie on the grass

Of my yet-to-be upgraded park

Listen to me

Hear my potential

Ignore the negative notion of yet-to-be upgraded what-what

Despite this apparent dilemma

Children play as they should however

Pat..pat..pat run the barefeet of school kids

The younger ones faster than the rest

Pat-pat-pat-pat-pat

Listen to me

Hear my potential

Ignore the tires screeeeching to a halt

After an almost accident

Mind the sour words darting back and forth

Even though it was nobody’s fault

But rather hear the banter

Of a boss and his workers

As they share a cold 2 litre coke

Accompanied by inside jokes

And of course a much needed smoke

Listen to me

Hear my potential

Ignore the ta-ta-ta-ta of a dripping air-con box

Protruding in all its glory

You’d better keep side-steppin’

As you walk carefully across 

Rather embrace the fresh

Whoosh whoosh whooshing

Of a miracle external fan

As its force provides some graceful cooling

Listen to me

Hear my potential

Ignore the crrrrr crrrrrr crrrr of the trolleys

Pushed on the road

Ha!

You’re lucky

The bumpy sidewalks wouldn’t go as smoothly

Listen to the call of my potential

I know it’s hard to ignore the call of money making

Seems like everyone walks with a ching ching ching-a-ling

By the way, loose change you’d better bring

As your utmost aim

Or you’ll find yourself stranded

Good luck finding an ATM

written by Kashiya Mbinjama

Video of poem inspiration

This is a link to the video of the different sights and sounds that captured the essence of Jeppestown and inspired the poem, which can be read in the captions of this video:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCqZjvqV30Q