Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa November/December 2014 | Page 34

PROJECT Quays Although the architectural tone is modern, an intentional sense of historic progression and growth is represented by changes in colour and massing and the variations in the fabric of the buildings. TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY: BAM ARCHITECTS; RABIE PROPERTY GROUP QUAYS Century City, Cape Town PROPERTY DEVELOPERS Rabie Property Group ARCHITECTS Bam Architects QUANTITY SURVEYORS DTP Quantity Surveyors on behalf of AECOM STRUCTURAL & CIVIL ENGINEERS S&T Consulting Engineers MECHANICAL ENGINEERS JD Reitz Consulting Engineers HEALTH AND SAFETY CONSULTANT Safe Working Practice INFRASTRUCTURE CONSULTANT HHO LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS Planning Partners CONVEYANCERS Norton Rose MAIN CONTRACTOR Big Ben Construction 34 R abie Property Group has consistently shown a commitment to the natural and built environment in all its projects at Century City. The results, says architect, Chris Bam, are in the proliferation of bird life on the bodies of water that have been created as a part of their vision. ARCHITECT’S REPORT Brief The brief for the Quays was in line with the waterside creation of a workable, sustainable urban environment characteristic of Rabie’s developments throughout the greater Cape Peninsula. The development features a 1.5m2 deep freshwater body, connected to Century City’s network of waterways, with the famous Intaka Island wetland and bird sanctuary at its centre. Now completed and sold out, the Quays project comprises three phases, designed together in 2008/9. The phases of the development were built and sold as the property market improved. Three Phases Quayside is a 63 apartment building of six floors and a separate group of six duplexes. The sizes vary from 50m2 to around 120m2 with one, two or three bedrooms. Quay North consists of 28 apartments, and the final phase, Quays, is a 4,000m2 sectional title office building. Parking is taken care of by three super-basements and a large part of the open space is given over to pedestrian-friendly ways that allow close contact with the large area of water that creates the visual focus of the development. Quays