WINNER: MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENTS
Century City Square, Bridgeways, Century City
A
ll great cities have an urban square that offers
a dynamic, vibrant and safe environment for
the public to enjoy. Century City Square is
a unique mixed-use development focused in and
around an exciting public square in the heart of the
Bridgeways precinct at Cape Town’s Century City.
The square was conceptualised as the heart and
soul of this precinct as well as instigator, influencer
and generator for future development of this
undeveloped area of Century City. Developed by
the Rabie Property Group at a cost of R1 Billion, it
comprises the Century City Conference Centre, a
125 room hotel, offices, apartments and restaurants
all situated around an open public square with 1,330
under cover parking bays being provided in a super
basement and structured parking garage.
The architects were tasked with the urban
design framework of this precinct. The current
layout and design has recognised and reinforced
the needs of the pedestrian user over vehicles,
an appropriate human scale and massing of the
72
square, the importance of existing gateways, focal
points and view corridors and a full understanding
of the optimum orientation and wind protection.
The architecture has employed the maximum
use of glass at the ground floor plane to ensure
transparency and the seamless interface between
inside and out, whilst the brief has ensured that
restaurants, coffee shops and the hotel`s public
areas spill out onto the square to ensure that there
is a constant life and energy.
The overall precinct plan has been thoroughly
interrogated to ensure strong pedestrian connectivity
between this new urban environment and the
existing broader Century City. Special care has been
taken to encourage pedestrian movement patterns
and to ensure that the pedestrian experience is
predominant over that of the vehicle.
The defining architectural language and materials
palette selected has allowed enough variation in
the building aesthetic yet ensures that there is an
architectural cohesion to the scheme. The design
SAPOA Awards