Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa May/June 2015 | Page 45

Afrihost is the brainchild
of best friends Gian Visser,
Brendan Armstrong and
Peter Meintjes, who
had a dream of building
a company, free from
corporate shackles, that
would delight their clients
with excellent service
and amazing products

Esteves & Associates coordinated a team
of professionals with KMH Architects to assist
Afrihost in realising this brief. Their strong
in-house branding and design team also
formed part of the team, particularly on the
interior finishes and furniture of the project.
Project Concept
The existing building presented two major
challenges to the design team. Firstly, it had a
very rigid language set firmly in the 1980s with
ribbon windows and deep false face brick
panels clipped onto the façade, which was
a pigeon haven. Secondly, the existing floor
to soffit heights were sub-standard, allowing
virtually no ceiling void for services and with
Afrihost as the occupier, there were loads of
services to be accommodated.

Afrihost

The floor slabs were increased marginally
around the building edges to reclaim the
pigeon havens into the building. The old brick
cladding was then either plastered or new
panels constructed to suit the new requirements within. A new glazed entrance box was
clipped onto the building which reflects the
openness and transparency of the organisation.
New roof sheeting was placed over the existing
roof sheeting to address the poor state of the
existing sheeting and the leaking gutters. In
addition, the gutter line was moved outside of
the building line to ensure better water control
in general. This also assisted in achieving a far
superior thermal rating for the roof covering.
Glazing was replaced throughout with
performance glazing used strategically, both
for sound and heat control.

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