WINNER: RETAIL DEVELOPMENTS
Mall of Africa, Waterfall City, Midrand
M
all of Africa opened its doors to the public
in April 2016. At close to 130,000m 2 GLA,
it is South Africa’s largest single-phase
shopping centre to be built in the country.
The design process aimed to fulfil the client’s
desire to provide not just a mall in Africa but ‘the’
Mall in Africa, something of greatness on the African
continent. The design inspiration for the mall and
the courts was drawn from the geological beauty
of the continent of Africa. This formed the direction
of the design and the inspiration for the mall interior,
aesthetics and finishes was developed on this
concept in a non-stylised manner.
In the initial design brief, the retail leasable area
was 110,000m² but, during construction, the client
decided to increase the area to 130,000m² of Gross
Leasable Area due to demand.
The centre has two major food anchor tenants,
many fashion retailers and a nine-auditorium cinema
complex. The gross building area of the entire centre
is 485,000m².
Waterfall City is highly accessible, located
adjacent to the Allandale Road exit of the N1
Highway, the first free-flow intersection of its size
in Africa. The Mall holds prime position in the tailor-
made 330ha new city that embraces integrated
living, with shops, offices, homes, hotels, a hospital,
light industry and the all-important lifestyle and
leisure components. The precinct master plan’s
urban design seeks to promote an integrated live-
work-play environment.
The developer undertook major roads upgrades
around the development to make it easy for
shoppers to arrive at Mall of Africa’s 26 entrances.
Construction began in October 2012, providing
a construction period of just 42 months for this
development, which included 12 months for bulk
earthworks. The sheer magnitude of the project and
76
the limited construction period for completion posed
an interesting challenge.
The exterior of the mall was developed in a
contemporary design with a combination of structural
glazing, modulated walls and an abundance of roof
lights. At the centre of the mall, the interior opens
up onto an external restaurant area and the ‘green
lung’ of the Waterfall City development – a large
park that extends towards the bottom of the mixed-
use development. The Town Square, as it is known,
ensures that the Mall of Africa is not an introverted
design along its entire external perimeter extent.
Clients:
Attacq; Atterbury Property Holdings
Architects: MDS Architecture
Project Managers: GHC Africa
Quantity Surveyors: Norval Wentzel Steinberg
Structural/Civil Engineers:
Aurecon South Africa
Electrical Engineers:
Rawlins Wales
Mechanical Engineers:
Graeme Page Consulting Engineers
Traffic Engineers: Arup
Fire Consultants:
Specialised Fire Technology
Lift Consultants: ALC Lift Consultants
Health & Safety Consultants:
Cairnmead Industrial Consultants
Landscape Architects:
Daniel Rebel Landscape Architects
Tenant Co-ordinator: EQF
Main Contractor: Mall of Africa JV comprising
WBHO Construction & Group Five Building
Featured in Architect and Builder
Volume 67/Issue 4 - August 2016
SAPOA Awards