LONGITUDINAL SECTION
SECOND FLOOR PLAN architecture today. BIM will hopefully re-establish the architect as the leader of the design team. Of course, it is unclear whether most architects have an appetite to not only be the designer, but also to control delivery as well, and to host the model. The BIM environment, with its federated model, will force consultants to interact more rigorously. Architecture is not black box magic; rather, it is about sharing and speaking, and, of course, creating great buildings and urban spaces. And most importantly, and this is where BIM goes beyond Revit, in that it looks beyond the finished product to building’ s life-cycle and maintenance.
Buildings are not merely created for that wondrous photograph in an architectural magazine, but need to be liveable and beautiful in ten or fifty years time. BIM stresses this aspect of construction, and the life of the building beyond beneficial occupation. Lord Kelvin, he of temperature fame, taught us“ that if you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it”, and BIM gives us the tools to create, co-ordinate, and to build a database of the buildings performance, and thus, improve.
At Citadel, Louis Karol as architect and principal agent, together with our fellow consultants, contractor and sub-consultants, have combined together to create and deliver a building that we believe will survive the test of time.
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
DESIGN ARCHITECT’ S COMMENT For thousands of years, great societies have erected stone citadels during turbulent periods. From Jerusalem to Beijing and from Rome to Babylon, great city states have, from time immemorial, sought to make oases of order and prosperity within a seemingly chaotic world outside. And when citadels are commissioned, they are( more often than not) erected from solid stone. Augustus Caesar was said to have boasted,“ I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.”
And in the modern era, when a financial house builds headquarters, you want to convey that A.) The organisation has been around for some time, whilst B.) The organisation will continue to be around for a very long time to come- which is why banks often prefer the most traditional of materials. Whilst glass and aluminium may speak very much of the mode and moment, it is stone that speaks to traditional values and offers any kind of promise of permanence into the future.
And whilst available stone types can range from sandstones to marbles, the most durable and expensive is granite- which was chosen for Citadel Investment Services’ new 6,000m ² Cape Town Head Office at the corner of Warwick Road and Cavendish Street in Claremont, Cape Town- on the old Boardmans site opposite Cavendish Square.“ The Citadel” comprises a six-storey, four-star green building, with four basement
66 The Citadel