consideration. Safety and individual privacy were also criteria in
ensuring a healthy student community.
The concept was developed over a period of many years in
consultation with council, the homeowners association and the
student regulatory body.
This resulted in a building design that stepped down to the
historically sensitive Arcadia street neighborhood to ensure
protection of both privacy and scale. The architects tried to
maintain a north orientation as far as possible and the eastern
privacy for an Embassy had to be maintained.
The design also utilised the slope of the site to the street to
allow a partial lower ground floor parking deck. The overlap was
TMM Lofts
constructed once the first floor of apartments floor slab was cast
to allow construction upward and below consecutively.
To ensure compliance with zoning, an outdoor leisure
(park) quota per room had to be provided. This was achieved
by means of a rooftop garden area where the hot-water
plant could also be accommodated. This space worked out
beautifully because it provided views to the city, privacy and
outdoor entertainment areas with built-in braais and gazebos.
The waterproofing in this area needed to be ‘student proof’ and
with this in mind a durable polyurethane system by Velvalor
was used and covered with a Tartan Rubber layer normally used
on athletic tracks.
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