Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa September/October 2014 | Page 19

A grand sweeping
staircase off Rivonia
Road creates a
seamless transition for
pedestrians from street
level to the podium

grand sweeping staircase off Rivonia Road
creates a seamless transition for pedestrians
from street level to the podium that celebrates
its views over Sandton with a hard and soft
landscaped extension of the open public
street that can be secured after hours.
FAÇADE
The variable nature of the internal functions of
the building manifest themselves as floating
floor planes that create overhangs and
protrusions, further enhancing the organic
relationship between the façade and the
horizontal flow of the spaces.
In order to create such vertical fluidity,
a unitized glass façade was adopted and
articulated by vertical fins rotated at 3 degree
increments, that control natural light into
the open office environment; the centres of
which are defined by their orientation on the
façades. The façade was constructed from a
unitised performance glass with a light tint in
a double glazed unit.

zones that do not exceed 100m2, while
smaller rooms and media rooms have
individual switches. All the office spaces
maintain a lighting power density of
1.89 W/m2/100 Lux.
•
The building management system (BMS)
monitors and controls most electronic
equipment and serves as an early warning
to problem areas.
• Most of the hot water supplied to the WC’s,
pause areas and kitchens for both towers is
supplied by heat pumps.
• With all these energy efficient features
the building is approximately 50% more
efficient than the notional building,
with a reduced energy reduction of
214.7Kwh/m2/year.

ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY
A 4 Star Green Star SA Office V1 Design
rating was achieved in January 2014. The
environmental strategy includes:
Energy Efficiency
• Natural light is filtered into the office
spaces thus avoiding the need for artificial
light and reducing the energy demand
for lighting. External shading devices and
blinds prevent the excessive heating of
the office space, reducing the need for
air conditioning.
•
Lighting is controlled in the open plan
offices with occupancy sensors, in
102 Rivonia Road

19