Permeability

Permeability is about how suitable the area is for people to have free access to both public and
private spaces. When it comes to private spaces, it is essential to keep in mind restrictions on
which private spaces can be easily accessed. As a result, private and public spaces must have
clear distinctions, such as the bathroom in a school or mall. When designing, visual permeability
is crucial because it determines whether alleys can be accessed by everyone. Individuals who
are new to the area may not know that there is a rear entryway that can be utilized as an easy
route to a public space. When designing there, it's critical to take visual permeability into
account so that customers who want to go to a restaurant or bank can do so quickly and safely.
This is why many restaurants are located in the front, making it simple to find when you want to
go there. While planning and creating, it is urged to make little blocks so there can be elective
courses as well as doors. When designing, permeability is crucial because it demonstrates
traffic to previously inaccessible locations. Because of an increase in population and people
taking up a lot of space, there has been a decrease in permeability as a result of development,
which means the addition of new buildings.

Braamfontein is a very busy place for the majority of the year because it is where there is almost
everything from restaurants, gyms, and residential services. This is why it's important that the
area has an ease of access to the majority of the places, which is what we can see in the photo
above.
Braamfontein buildings have been divided up properly into blocks, which contain a certain
number of buildings, and between these buildings, we are able to find passages that can be
used to access certain parts of the area. They can not be seen in the photo simply because of
how densely packed the buildings are. The only way you will be able to see is if you are on the
ground. The majority of these alleys have been closed because of how unsafe they are,
therefore making them unaccessible.

This area is congested with a lot of buildings and some of them are no longer in use (they are
abandoned buildings or owned by the city but with no zoning) So it is best to either sell the
 buildings or destroy them to create a walkway which makes it possible to access certain public
spaces. The area also faces a high volume of traffic during peak hours which makes it
impossible to get from one place to the next using your car only. I would suggest a cycling lane
to be made for those that prefer to cycle to work preferably if near your place of rest.
Braamfontein is mostly a commercial area and not much of a residential area. So most offices
are being sold to convert them to student Accommodation because of how scarce student
accommodations are, thus increasing the permeability of the area because of how easy it will be
to commute to school by foot.
 Variety
Permeability and Variety go hand in hand.
You cannot have an easy access area but if it doesn't provide a variety of uses in said area that
it won't be visited by many people because of how monotonous the place is. For example
suburban areas like the ones in Mondeor and Ormonde have the majority of complexes and
they don't have commercial areas at a walking distance. That is why most of the time such
areas only appeal to a handful of people, most families that prefer a quiet and slow paced life.
Places like Braamfontein appeal to a lot of investors because of how it provides a variety of
uses. Which is why when designing, developing the area a lot needs to be considered and that
when research is conducted to find out what people look for when they buy a place.

When designing, both developers and investors have their own ideas on what an area should
have and not have. Investors want to develop an area that will bring in the most profit and that
will be pleasing to their pockets whereas developers want places that are easy to manage and
for it to change with time, that is when designing specialization and economies of scale need to
be considered so as to satisfy both developer and investor.
When deciding how much variety, permeability needs to be considered so that the area doesn't
have a number of various spaces but the access to these spaces is limited which can lead to
loss of certain spaces that are meant for the public but the public cannot use these closed
spaces due to poor design. Variety can be maximized by considering the demand, meaning the
range of activities to allocate in the area. What also needs to be considered is what can be
inexpensive and expensive. Designers need to consider the extent to which the design
encourages positive interactions between them, meaning the various forms of activities need to
be able to work together and bring benefits to all the consumers of said spaces.

Braamfontein provides a great deal of various uses. For example Jorissen Street which is the
main street of Braamfontein and a number of shops and entertainment such as gyms, banks
and restaurants as well as entertainment.
You can also find a great number of student accommodations near places of higher education
such as Wits university and rosebank college. There are plenty of places to shop from which a
pick n pay, legit and refinery which is very convenient for us students to access them at any
time given its the appropriate time to shop.
 Visual appropriateness
When it comes to designing, the first and most important thing is the visual appearance. Before
entering a place one needs to able to distinguish what that place is meaning if it is a church it
needs to look like your typical church or have gospel music playing when passing by to know
that it is a church and if its a school it needs to look like a school and majority of them time to
know whether it is a school or not there is usually a border that has the name to the school. As
people, the majority of the time we will not view things the same. What can be nice and pretty in
your eyes can be ugly and unappealing to someone else, we are all entitled to our opinions, just
don't force yours on to the next person. It's important to consider the meaning when designing
so that it can be interpreted appropriately, though it may be interpreted differently, but it will fall
in the same criteria.
Visual appropriateness is important, particularly in places that are visited frequently.
Visuals are appropriate by supporting its legibility in terms of form and use. By form, it means it
needs to be designed to reinforce the legibility of the area in which it is located. Therefore, the
detailed appearance must be designed to reinforce the legibility of form. The building in the
photo can be viewed as an office or apartment building but never a college simply because it
does not carry the image of a place of higher education. We can deduce that the building was
previously offices and then converted to a college.

Let's take wits university for example, from a far without having read the sign that boldly says
wits university we can tell that it is an institution where learning takes place but with this building
you can't tell that much that it is an institution where learning takes place had the sign that says
birnam college was not there. So in my opinion it mostly looks like an apartment building where
people reside and not where people go and get education. So I believe that in order for birnam
college to look like an institution it needs a larger spaces and it needs to have separate areas of
learning lie how a high school will have a library and a computer lab situated further from
classrooms indicating the difference in uses of the buildings and not for everything to be in one
monotonous building.

Robustness also supports visual appropriateness at a large and small scale. In a large scale a
building can be designed to accommodate a range of uses but a building cannot simply be
 designed to look like a range of different buildings it needs to be designed to lessen confusion
amongst people.a building can carry a variety of uses like the rosebank college building located
at Center jorissen this buildings has a variety of uses and most people may not be aware
because on the outside it says rosebank college but we are also able to find shops and a res
located inside the building and passersby cannot know unless the go inside and are told by
people who frequent that building which is way the outside of the building matters in order for it
to portray visual appropriateness. People interpret buildings according to two main reasons 1.
the environment and how it fits in that said environment 2. their objectives differ from others.

Personalization
When a person buys a house or rents an office space, it's important that the space allows them
to add personal touches to make it feel homey or functional the way they see fit.
Being able to personalize the space that you are going to b occupying a set amount of time is
important to majority of individuals because that space needs to be able to satisfy all of my
needs and wants and for to be able to satisfy all of my needs, I need to able to decorate it
however I see fit as long as the lease allows it.
In the picture above we can see that the dorm room was looking rather shabby and distasteful in
the picture below and personally I don't think I am able to learn and live in an environment that
doesn't satisfy my need for color. We see in the after on the picture above that it was
transformed to suit the needs of the person occupying the space. So it is important for a person
to be able to decorate the space in a way that makes them happy and in a mood to use that
space to its capacity. There are two types of personalisation:

1. To improve the practical facilities such as the picture above the space was used to
create an office space.
 2. To change the image of the space, the same as the picture above, from being empty and
dull to being occupied and more alive.
People personalize their space to create a sense of belonging and being one with the space.
Personalisation can be affected by three factors: tenure, building type, and technology.
Tenure can limit the user from personalizing the space by the owner and by the conditions in the
lease signed. So it's best to buy in order to have more freedom to personalize without breaking
the conditions of the lease agreement. It also depends on whether the personalisation is
permanent or not and how much money will be spent on it.
Building type, people personalize spaces that they will occupy for a long time such as homes
and workspaces but if the building will be used for a short time it is mostly discouraged to
personalize because it is of public significance.
Technology, personalisation has to be made physically easy; this means that the design has to
be matched with the expertise of the user.

PART 2
2.

3. The zoning of this place is business 1.

It can still be used as a business 1 but in stand of it being municipal offices, it can be
converted into a residential building with restaurants on 2 of the floors of the building.
Jorissen place is in the hub of Braamfontein and most people like the convenience that
Braamfontein provides. So it being converted to residential building it will attract a lot of
people from around, mostly students who will be coming to learn here in Braamfontein
and it will be a place of convenience because of the jobs that will be provided by opening
restaurants.