This is a project for a small mixed use building within a small mixed use enclave on the interface between the CBD and the Bo Kaap. The site was vacant, but bounded on three sides by existing heritage buildings in poor condition, whilst further down the street a diverse collection of commercial buildings from the second half of the 20th century have replaced the older fabric. The presence of the historic stone retaining wall to the service road gives these buildings a shared podium, meaning that they will always be seen as an ensemble, rather than as slices of a city face only ever seen in close oblique.
Because the zoning scheme allows for a multi-story building, the land price allows for no less to be built, and so the stage is set for an interesting game - how to find a building form which incorporates into itself the tensions of this context whilst developing a coherent presence of its own. (text by Kevin Fellingham)
Layered onto the complexity of context is a complex brief, or set of briefs. The city demands on-site parking, the street would benefit from an active frontage, the architects need a new studio, and the client, an art collector, wants a "skypad" and insists that it all be made of off-shutter concrete.
The key to the solution is a tightly planned circulation core located front and center of the site. The building line restrictions mean that the lift cannot rise to the top floor, and so a two level penthouse comes into play, with bedrooms and a lap pool en-suite to the en-suite occupying the fourth floor, with living spaces on the third. This placement allows for the mass to be broken down to give a picturesque skyline stepped away from the street edge, with a viewing balcony facing the city and a sheltered north facing terrace receiving sun and looking up to Signal Hill.
The pad is held up in the sky by a base consisting of a pair of double volume studio spaces flanking the circulation. This allows for the flexibility of using these as a single studio in the future. The potential for an unresolved duality presented by the paired spaces behind the facade is undermined by the difference between a bespoke design on one side versus a generic solution on the other, and by the need to transfer the structure from the upper level setbacks into the solid structure of the first floor slab, giving depth and a diagonal emphasis to the corner which, due to the road layout, is always the angle of approach.
The lowest level is a podium of parking, sliding seven bays into the slope of the site through a single slatted steel screen. The majority of the street wall is given over to glazing. A giant-order door at the scale of the openings of the older facades, gives entry to a triple height hallway overlooked by a bridge which joins the lifts to the studios. Adjacent to the entrance lobby is a small gallery, displaying art to both patrons and to the street.