Abstract:
The residents of Johannesburg are facing actual real issues of housing shortages and a surplus
of abandoned buildings in the CBD; many residents are living in poor conditions without
necessities. This wicked problem has challenged designers to think with a human-centred design
approach to resolve this problem. This research aims to examine the idea of a non-traditional
theory of adaptive reuse as an alternative solution for the housing shortage, in Johannesburg by
utilising a human-centred design methodology with regenerative design solutions as a resolve in
the urban renewal for Johannesburg. The aim is accomplished by gathering information from
literature reviews on two case studies and a third detailed visual observation of an abandoned
building The Carlton Hotel. The first study was conducted on Jewel City, wherein the design
interventions of adaptive reuse and human-centred design were applied to a six-block residential,
retail, and commercial development. The second case study was performed on an office building
with award-winning regenerative design principles rendering it one of the most successful low
impact buildings in Africa. The results of the visual observation and case studies are then
combined in order to develop a holistic design approaches with interior design strategies for urban
renewal within the inner city and revival of abandoned buildings.
