PROJECTVIEW
PAARDEVLEI LIFESTYLE ESTATE, SOMERSET WEST
The Paardevlei Lifestyle Estate is a new retirement development by Balwin Properties in Somerset West, designed by dhk Architects. The estate caters for a range of residential needs and includes freestanding houses, duplexes, apartments, frail care and assisted living facilities. To the north of the site lies a row of nine restored Grade II unlisted Arts and Crafts-style family homes with a further row of seven new semidetached duplexes which are more contemporary in design. To the south is a collection of apartment buildings with around 260 units set over four levels, arranged around a series of courtyards with parking and storage below ground. The architectural form of the buildings transitions from the historic crescent houses with their original red roof tiles, pitched roofs, and shuttered sash windows to the more modern aesthetic of the pitched roof duplexes and clubhouse.
Developer, PM, QS: Balwin Properties Architects & Urban Designers: dhk Architects Structural Engineers: Bau-afrika Mechanical Engineers: De Villiers & Moore Electrical Engineers: Gibb Engineering Landscaping: Tarna Klitzner Landscape Architect Fire Consultant: Fire Safety Solutions Heritage Consultant: Henry Aikman Main Contractor: Balwin Properties
WHALE COAST MALL, HERMANUS
Whale Coast Mall has its origins in the need for a consolidated retail experience for the inhabitants of the Overstrand region. As such, it was envisaged as a regional shopping centre.
In keeping with the retail principles inherent in that description, the site was chosen for visibility, accessibility and the ability to provide a development with the necessary critical mass. The locality where the Hemel and Aarde road intersect the main road into the town of Hermanus was thus ideal.
Hermanus, as a town, has a unique village feel with an intact and functioning commercial aspect. From the start, it was realised that the mall would not compete with this character but would rather provide complimentary retail in support of the unique town character.
The physical manifestation of the building comprises a modern, contemporary building anchored at both sides by magnet national retailers. A full complement of national retailers are strung in-between with a lifestyle component comprising the lower level that takes advantage of the slope on the site. In keeping with a‘ sense of place’, traditional building materials in Hermanus were chosen as accents on the façade and no attempt was made to mimic historical architecture in any way. Internally, the mall design was intentionally kept neutral to put the focus on the retail shopfronts. Having said that, coloured mosaics with an aquatic feel predominate in the court areas.
Externally, the building is treated with a mixture of plaster, stomework and shiplap cladding. Some elements over entrances could be suggestive of abstract“ whale tails”; a group of whales will be the subject of a sculpture to be suspended from the food court roof.
Developer: PKEF Dorpstraat, HCI, Sandbaai Development Trust and Shoprite Checkers Project Managers: MDSA Architects: JLD and BAI in a JV Quantity Surveyor: MLC Quantity Surveyors Civil: Integrate Civil Engineers Structural Engineers: Bigen Africa Mechanical Engineers: BVI Consulting Engineers Electrical, Fire & Wet Services: Solution Station Main Contractor: Isipani
12 Project Watch