Guardians' awakening

Abstract

The abandonment of mines around the world with inadequate closure plans has left permanent scars on the landscapes they occupy. These once prevalent economic beasts are leaving behind toxic waste, scars and skeletons on the landscape.

This thesis explores such a site, Kabwe, nestled in the central Province of Zambia. Kabwe was a town developed in the early stages of the century as a result of the booming mining industry inherent in colonial Zambia. Over its working 88 year life-span, the mine millions of tonnes of heavy metals. The unregulated dumping of waste tailings from the processed mined ores throughout the life of the mine resulted in an environment that is now toxic and unsafe for the nearby inhabitants.

The closure of its mine in 1994 from falling market prices, resulted in an economic downturn and ultimately a high unemployment rate of the town. Nearby informal settlements of the Kabwe district known as shanty towns, are inhabited by the unemployed and poverty stricken scavenging for ores they can sell to provide for their families as a source of a very low income. This high risk occupation earns approximately US$0.25 for 25kg of zinc and around $1.25 for the same weight of coal. The presence of lead and zinc and other heavy metals in the tailing dumps is resulting in the poor health of these people who have no choice but to inhabit the mine in order to survive.

This thesis examines how architectural interventions can be designed to actively create a better environment for the impoverished people inhabiting the mining site. It also examines how this can be done in a manner that helps heal cultural wounds inflicted by the mines legacy through a narrative structure that encourages the inhabitants to be spatially active in configuring their environment.

This thesis argues that this can be achieved through a habitational framework that reclaims the mine site, returning it as a healing device to its socially isolated inhabitants; providing habitats for safer and more humane living with self sustainable architectural means; formulating memory devices that help reintegrate them back into a community, addressing the cultural duality of the site and integrating contemporary cultural realities with traditional cultural beliefs.