Architect and Builder June/July 2019 | Page 49

Location and Brief The Farrell’s brief was for a visually striking and contemporary office building. The 4,020m 2 site is located in a small industrial park. A stream forms the Northern and North-western boundary of the development, which is adjacent to the Old Paarl Road. This road in turn runs parallel to the N1 National motorway and the site consequently enjoys high visual exposure. Zandwyk Park is home to several fairly humble, semi-industrial buildings and as such is not visually very intriguing. The small scale workshops, Lion's Pride showrooms and warehouses are governed by a malleable architectural guideline that promotes a simple, gabled and shed-like architectural typology. The requirement for a striking and contemporary office building in this setting was therefore quite a challenge. Fortunately, the establishment of the Mercedes Benz showrooms and workshops introduced a more contemporary and streamlined aesthetic along the interface between the Northern/ entrance boundary of the industrial park and the major roads. 49