African project Waverley Office Park Phase 2 – South Africa
The brief was to design two office buildings , one of 3 and a smaller building of 2 230m 500m2 2 , explains M-Architects ’ Ivan Schlapobersky . Some of the requirements were to avoid extensive basement construction and try to incorporate as much on-site parking as possible .
“ The client required floor space suitable for either a major tenant who would lease the whole building , or in the event that they did not succeed in finding such a tenant , then multiple tenancy . This required a flexible floor plate ,” he explains . Input from the client was constant in the design process , making sure that their objectives were achieved and that the project was completed within budget . “ The design process was quick because of our familiarity with the client and our understanding of their needs and how they build ,” says Schlapobersky
The site was formerly the residential suburb of Waverley with private houses fronting right onto the M1 Freeway , and it was chosen for this development because of its exposure to the freeway and its excellent accessibility via the Corlett Drive off ramp . M-Architects had just completed Phase 1 of the project which consists of two office buildings that have been successfully leased .
The biggest challenge of the site is that it is west facing , which is also the best view from the site over the suburb of Illovo and towards Sandton CBD . M-Architects therefore had to take up the challenge of the west sun . This was done using a combination of reflective low E glasses and shading , minimizing the actual vision glass . Another challenge was the slope of the site which falls steeply to the west . This turned out to be advantageous as the architects were able to tuck a single parking basement under the building , and in the process , elevate the ground floor of the building well above the freeway . The noise of the freeway , day and night , also had to be accommodated and this was done using 6mm laminated glass with special sealing devices around the perimeter of each pane of glass .
The most notable features of the buildings are the use of the curved glass façade and the bold cantilevers , along with M-Architects ’ signature bold use of colour on the façades . Schlapobersky notes that the use of colour is carefully balanced so as not to be ‘ in your face .’
Sustainable and practical initiatives were an important consideration in the design , and these include :
• A large roof entertainment terraces ( 230m 2 ) in both buildings , mostly covered , capturing outstanding views over Sandton .
• External balconies to the office space . “ These are typical of our office buildings so that people can get away from air conditioning and get some fresh air ’” says Schlapobersky .
• The use of Reinzink flashings to all parapet walls . This has solved an intractable in all their previous buildings
32 africandesignmagazine . com
Click here to read more