Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa May/June 2015 | Page 60
PROJECT
The Point
Drawing on their retail design experience, Louis Karol realised
that, as always, a shopping mall, no matter what the size, must
be able to be immediately understood by the shopper.
THE POINT
Sea Point, Cape Town
CLIENT
Permasolve Investments (Pty) Ltd
ARCHITECTS & PRINCIPAL AGENTS
Louis Karol
QUANTITY SURVEYORS
AECOM SA
STRUCTURAL & CIVIL ENGINEERS
Moroff & Kühne
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS
Lewis de Kroon Inc
MECHANICAL ENGINEERS
WSP Group Africa
WET SERVICES
Benatar Consulting
RATIONAL FIRE DESIGN
Neil Moir & Associates
T
he Point has revolutionised shopping in Sea Point. Louis Karol have transformed
the old Galleria shopping arcade into one of Cape Town’s most vibrant and
successful mixed-use developments. The redevelopment involved jacking up
the building to create even more underground parking space - a process so difficult
that National Geographic expressed an interest in filming it! There are now 490 wide
underground parking bays.
ARCHITECT’S REPORT
What makes this adaptive re-use development even more exceptional is that the Checkers
supermarket, which was situated in the original Galleria, never stopped trading during
the entire construction process. Even though The Point is an internalized shopping mall,
it is situated on Sea Point’s Main Road, and Louis Karol have reinforced and stressed the
relationship to the pedestrians coming from Main Road bus routes and the plethora of
flats in the area, in what Louis Karol believes is a successful attempt to connect to, as
well as revitalize, the neighbourhood, in addition to creating a new and vital suburban
shopping and office node.
ACOUSTIC CONSULTANT
Mackenzie Hoy Consulting
DECORATIVE LIGHTING &
DESIGN CONSULTANTS
QDP Lighting & Electrical Design
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS
Viridian Consulting
Landscape Architects
MAIN CONTRACTOR
WBHO Construction
TEXT
Courtesy of Louis Karol and
Mackenzie Hoy Consulting
PHOTOGRAPHY
Courtesy of Louis Karol
The Point has eleven levels
of varying heights; four
levels of underground
parking, triple-volume retail,
and four levels of offices
60
The Point