Reconciling the “Natural” and the “Artificial” in the making of Regenerative Ecosystems: The Design of a Port Operations Facility for the Buffalo River Harbour, East London

The purpose of this study is to investigate a reconciliation between natural systems and the artificial construction of our built environment within the scope of regenerative ecosystems through architectural intervention. The monolithic harbour front, sited specifically within the Buffalo River Harbour of East London, is examined as the ultimate artificial and immovable landscape which sets the challenge of creating a more dynamic architecture. This is due to the fact that the banks of the Buffalo river harbour have long been transformed by marine industry and urban influence, having a retardation effect on its ecological functioning. Through the programmatic response of a Port Operations Facility, marine infrastructural institutions such as Transnet are given a new role in terms of environmental custodianship. The notion of a “self-regulating system” is therefore central to the design strategy. This occurs through a scale-linking approach, where the design plays a crucial role in urban runoff and stormwater management within the greater infrastructural context of the city, in an effort to rectify present ecological imbalances. Environmental receptivity is also explored through architectural devices that are sensitive to the cyclical fluctuations of intertidal landscapes, as well as advocating decentralised waste and energy management. Through the creation of a “novel ecosystem”, an ecological counterpoint to the monofunctional infrastructural domain of our cities is proposed. This challenges conventional engineering and design processes and ideologies in favour of a more complex relationship between landscape and architecture.Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment, and Technology, 202