MARIO VAN WYK
NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY, PORT ELIZABETH
‘ Horror in Architecture’, a romantic exploration of the Exquisite Corpse analogy
As a by-product of previous modes of planning in today’ s urban environment we are left with open undefined spaces between developed areas( known as SLOAP or“ Space left over after Planning”). Here, infrastructure such as storm water channels, railway lines, and ruins of old industrial buildings remain; overgrown with the incursion of wild nature. These kinds of spaces create urban barriers and breeding grounds for criminal activities.
In his treatise van Wyk identifies a site of this nature in Uitenhage. He then uses the analogy of a corpse, which facilitates infestation, to develop this site over a period of several years. What emerges is a revitalised ecosystem where the relationship between humans and nature are harmoniously re-defined in what is conceptualised as an“ Exquisite Corpse”.
In this process the inherent functional and sensory qualities of the site are used as starting points for infestation / development. For example, storm-water channels( traces of the existing water reticulation system of the site) are reconfigured to make pleasant waterways that feed agricultural lands which in turn activate“ reef points”- or points which facilitate the emergence of a variety of human activities. These ultimately contribute to the development of a new way of inhabiting the new productive landscape with an innovative housing model; all a function of the emergence of the“ Exquisite Corpse”
Fertilization Points
Example of Use
78 Student Awards