FIRST FLOOR SECOND FLOOR
Design Brief Jakupa were appointed by UCT to provide design services for a programmatic brief which called for a variety of learning spaces , including a student concession area with outdoor courtyard and a formal lecture venue at basement level . The upper two floors accommodate the Science Learning Centre and associated Science Faculty Administrative Office suite . The building is constrained on all sides , by University Avenue and Chemistry Mall to the east and west and by the John Day and the Molecular Biology buildings to the south and north .
Instead of discarding the old building form and replacing it anew , Jakupa instead embraced the opportunity to restore the existing heritage envelop whilst transforming the spatial layout and structure , giving the Chris Hani Building a chance to not only survive but to thrive as a renewed beacon for design . The firm challenges traditional boundaries of architecture to include other complementary disciplines as it believes strongly in research as a design tool , as each project bears its unique set of contextual issues .
Heritage Approach Built in 1948 , the Chris Hani Building was one of the first buildings on campus to reinterpret the typology of Modernism , playing with architectural form , material , elements , and a positive interface with the University Avenue ( including arrival portico , lobby and foyer ); all in “ grander manner than most buildings along the avenue .”
Regarded as a significant heritage building with a Grade II / PHS area status ( refer Abrahamse / Townsend , 2016 ), the exterior and façade treatment of the existing building incorporated textured university plaster details , sunscreen fins , travertine cladding elements and modernist steel columns . This represented an attempt to create a building of particular interest within the framework of the staid adjacent architectural forms . The building interface along Chemistry Mall to the west was decidedly back of house utilitarian , with ad-hoc additions and levels that did not facilitate either accessibility or a positive street interface .
The design approach considered four plausible options , namely :
• a simple renovation and alteration of the existing building ;
• retention of the façade only with a new building behind it ;
• a complete demolition with new infill ;
• a radical reconfiguration incorporating partial rebuilding . The latter was the eventual approach adopted as it delivered an optimum balance between the heritage criteria and the academic programme spatial needs . It needed to address a core heritage concern , i . e ., its interface with University Avenue and the proposed Grade II precinct . It called for a design of the building which by nature must respond to University Avenue on the east and Chemistry Mall on the west , effectively interfacing with two adjacent and dissimilar campus zones . The historic continuity of the mid-century design typology was to be retained , while the key elements of the 1948 building could be integrated .
NORTH ELEVATION
Chris Hani Lecture Theatre 37