New Breath for Johannesburg: Adaptive Reuse of Ponte Tower and the Imagining of Witpoortjie Tower as Catalysts that Foster Urban and Social Growth

Abstract

Adaptive reuse is the architecture of the future. In every single metropolis, city, town or village there are buildings that are decrepit, dysfunctional, or disused. In the future, adaptive reuse will encompass a huge percentage of architecture projects. In many areas giving new life to one of these buildings can act as a starting point for the surrounding area to come back to life, as they are usually not the only part of a neighborhood that needs help. This thesis explored how using architecture and adaptive reuse as a catalyst for urban revitalization can bring new life to a downtown area.