Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa November/December 2013 | Page 58

WINNER – TUBULAR CATEGORY
Standard Bank, 30 Baker Street, Rosebank
One of the judges, Franco Mordini, representing the
Association of Steel Tube and Pipe Manufacturers of South
Africa, the category sponsor, said this project used tubes in
an aesthetically pleasing and effective manner, both from an
architectural and engineering point of view while the quality of
fabrication also impressed.
The architectural vision was for an “institutional building”
with a transparent exterior that reflected Standard Bank’s desire
for transparency with its client base. To this end, steel and glass
played an instrumental role in ensuring that this was achieved.
Although open web sections were used in the construction of the
roof elements that form a modern take on a traditional ‘saw tooth
roof form’, tubular steelwork, in the form of principally square
hollow section tubular members, were used extensively in the
construction of the facades and atria.
For the façade, the structural engineers wanted to incorporate
very large panes of glass in the end walls of the atria so that the
external envelope gridding was large in proportion, thereby
reflecting the large space that was the atrium itself. Because
of steel’s superior stiffness and strength over aluminium, it was
possible to use nearly a full standard stock sheet of glass in the
gridding of the facades. This gridding is also successfully applied
in the eastern and western atria.
The judges said that the tubular frame that supports the glass
facade was well designed and constructed. “The assembly was
designed to provide structurally sound connections throughout
the exposed tubular members, with clean smooth lines and no
exposed connection bolts. The main tubular members chosen
were a 260x260 square hollow section. The member size was
carefully chosen to ensure good quality drawn tube. Key here was
good communication between the design engineer, fabricator
and suppliers.”
The steel complements the glass by providing light framework
so that maximum light is allowed into the atrium. The natural
light illuminates a magnificent hanging map of Africa by
Marco Cianfanelli.
The north-south atrium is brilliantly transparent when viewed
from a distance, as well as from within. The strength and stiffness
of tubular steelwork was instrumental in achieving this. In
addition, the northern atrium ‘hangs’ from a giant, deep steel
truss elegantly cross-braced and bridging the divide between
the eastern and western blocks of the building. This hanging
steelwork grid then supports the end wall glazing of the atrium
and allows elegantly crafted and glazed steel entrance canopies
and covered regions to float beneath the northern facade.
The building has achieved a Five Star Design rating with the
Green Building Council and intends on achieving a similar rating
for its ‘as built’ operation. The building generates its own power
with a tri-generation plant and has many innovative features.
Developer/Owner: Standard Bank
Architect: GLH Architects
Structural Engineer: Pure Consulting
Quantity Surveyor: Norval Wentzel Steinberg
Project Manager: Standard Bank Real Estate
Main Contractor: Wilson Bayly Holmes – Ovcon (WBHO)
Steelwork Contractor: Tass Engineering
Steelwork Subcontractor (part of the central
atrium roof trusses): Omni Struct Nkosi
Detailers/Detailing Company: Precise Structural Modelling
Erector: On Par Steel
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Steel Awards