support was in the form of a soil nails, rock anchors
and Gunnite. In one area where there was an
original basement, lateral support was provided
by anchoring through and keeping the existing
retaining wall before demolishing the foundation
to the wall and excavating deeper.
The structure to the building consisted of pad
footings founded on rock, reinforced concrete
columns and shear walls that supported post
tensioned flat slabs and a concrete roof. A major
one metre deep transfer structure, at first floor
above the parking levels, supported columns
to enable the introduction of an internal gallery
and lightwell in the residential floors. Seismic
loads were allowed by strategically placed shear
walls and cores.
At roof level six independent pools were
constructed as secondary structural elements on
top of the roof slab. The lift shaft structure above
the parking levels consisted of a steel structure
which was clad in glass for the scenic lifts.
façade with regards to performance, solar gain
and daylighting.
The solar gain and daylighting challenges were
mitigated with recessed balconies, strategic floor
overhangs, full length fenestration and sliding
external shutter panels, penthouse skylights and
glass enclosed walk ups to their roof gardens,
pergolas on the terraces, passively vented atrium
design and linking circulation landings. For acoustic
and thermal performance clear double-glazing
Sustainability
The Signature was energy modelled to optimise
performance, aid design decisions and balance
high-end client’s expectations within a tight
budget. With optimal orientation of the longer
axis being east to west, there was a challenge to
optimise the variance between north and south
The Signature
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