Jewel City
TRANSFORMATION AWARD
This massive urban redevelopment project on the outskirts of the Maboneng Precinct in Johannesburg ’ s eastern CBD breathes new life into the previously walledoff former centre of the diamond and precious metals trade industry . The complex consists of six city blocks of industrial buildings , some dating back to the 1930s . The entire area was closed off to the public in the mid 1990 ’ s and has remained an isolated and forgotten node for decades .
Jewel City includes the reinvention of this pre-existing industrial complex as an open , vibrant mixed-use precinct that introduces a more sustainable dimension ( socially and economically ) and new diversity to early inner-city rejuvenation projects such as the Maboneng Precinct .
Jewel City is seen as a catalytic project that will enhance the eastern CBD ’ s urban potential , introducing facilities that include new , affordable residential space , a school , healthcare and retail facilities such as a pharmacy and a supermarket and other facilities that help to sustain an inclusive , prosperous and wholesome social , economic and cultural life in the inner city . Jewel City has been envisioned as an opportunity to undo apartheid-era spatial divides and transform the inner city in a way that also addresses much needed access to resources and economic opportunities in the face of a dire need for housing . Jewel City comprises of apartments , commercial spaces , retail spaces , offices , a school , a medical facility and a 5-a-side soccer club .
The industrial heritage of the buildings are honoured not just through the lightness of the architectural interventions to the façades by exposing the expressive minimalism of their industrial materiality – off-shutter concrete , brickwork and steel – but also through the naming of each building , which includes reference to their former incarnations as a centre of the diamond and gold trade , but reframed as more inclusive and representative of South Africa ’ s broader history .
The Jewel City complex has been reintegrated with the existing urban fabric , mainly orientated inwards to create and sustain a new pedestrianised section of Fox Street as its central axis ( further enhancing the link
84 SAPOA Awards