On the southern edge the building needed to
deal with a rather harsh condition of structured
parking for the mall. It needed to do this in such a
way as to provide something visually interesting
and pleasing for the mall users to look at.
From a planning point of view, the building’s
services, ablutions and vertical circulation is
centrally located around the atrium that forms the
center point of a ‘star-shaped’ plan. From here the
building branches off into effectively three wings.
These wings made up the extremities of the plan
but were all connected, ensuring that the building
could easily house three different tenants per floor,
or a single tenant.
Materials
Due to weight limitations and the organic nature
of the form, the façades are a unique combination
of lightweight steel frame construction with
expanded polystyrene (EPS) and composite
aluminium cladding. This gave the architect the
ability to curve the façades with excellent thermal
insulation properties and an uncompromising
‘liquid’ finish.
A combination of double-glazing and single-
glazing with sun-screen louvres allowed the archi-
tects to ensure optimal thermal performance in
the building. At the base of the building the slick,
liquid finishes of the façade are contrasted by more
heavy and earthy materials of stone, timber and
landscaped berms.
Challenges
Because the building sat on the existing super-
basement that links to the Ma