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The role of textiles in sustainable South African residential architecture
Author(s)
De Flamingh, Francois
Date Issued
2011
Type
Thesis
Publisher
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Abstract
Sustainable architecture prescribes the conscious consideration and active contemplation of
ways of meeting the housing needs of humans while attempting simultaneously to prevent
our consumption patterns from exceeding the resources at our disposal. Sustainability in the
built environment is infinitely complex as the very nature of modern architecture is based
upon the extraction and exploitation of finite natural resources to feed a linear system
ultimately ending in the depletion of those resources and the destruction of the ecosystem
from which they are excavated. When considering built environments, the most visible and
measurable components of any sustainable design is its ecological and economic
sustainability. Social sustainability, on the other hand is of an unquantifiable nature, making
it a most contentious topic in design and development discourse.
This thesis uses a systems approach to sustainable architecture as a lens to focus on the
practical applications of structural concepts made possible by the integration of textiles in the
built environment and examines possibilities of adapting and incorporating vernacular and
low-tech textile-based construction methods into contemporary sustainable architecture.
More specifically, it explores the possibilities of using architextiles, or textiles in the building
industry, as a vehicle for advancing sustainable development within the emerging economy
of South Africa with its unambiguous diversity in all three bottom lines of sustainability;
environment (ecology, resources, geography, built environment), society (community,
culture, politics) and economy (employment, wealth, finance, industry, infrastructure,
consumer behaviour).
ways of meeting the housing needs of humans while attempting simultaneously to prevent
our consumption patterns from exceeding the resources at our disposal. Sustainability in the
built environment is infinitely complex as the very nature of modern architecture is based
upon the extraction and exploitation of finite natural resources to feed a linear system
ultimately ending in the depletion of those resources and the destruction of the ecosystem
from which they are excavated. When considering built environments, the most visible and
measurable components of any sustainable design is its ecological and economic
sustainability. Social sustainability, on the other hand is of an unquantifiable nature, making
it a most contentious topic in design and development discourse.
This thesis uses a systems approach to sustainable architecture as a lens to focus on the
practical applications of structural concepts made possible by the integration of textiles in the
built environment and examines possibilities of adapting and incorporating vernacular and
low-tech textile-based construction methods into contemporary sustainable architecture.
More specifically, it explores the possibilities of using architextiles, or textiles in the building
industry, as a vehicle for advancing sustainable development within the emerging economy
of South Africa with its unambiguous diversity in all three bottom lines of sustainability;
environment (ecology, resources, geography, built environment), society (community,
culture, politics) and economy (employment, wealth, finance, industry, infrastructure,
consumer behaviour).
Additional information
Thesis (MTech (Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011
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