Structural Considerations The existing 3 level basement was a key structural component that was essentially supporting the two towers . Foundations were cast within the existing basement and new columns were extended through the core of the building – punching through the floor slabs as the columns were extended .
Exterior Design and Façade While the building represented a triumph of precasting on its original completion , the external finishes , composition of forms and fenestration had not weathered well and the building had not aged gracefully .
Renovation was evaluated and weighed against a range of alternative interventions and given the dramatic planning interventions which would be implemented , it was decided that the aesthetic proposal should be as bold and that the building externally should reflect the radical planning changes being made . The exterior needed to express this bold new agenda and allow the building to form a proud and distinctive part of the Cape Town skyline .
To achieve this , Redefine selected Boogertman + Partners as architects to work with them on developing the proposal . Contextual references were collated , site informants gathered and cues sought in international best practice . These were workshopped in a structured process with the City to allow the responses to be tested against the City ’ s urban plan and to optimise The Towers contribution , both at the fine grain of the pedestrian circulation and interfaces as well as at the cityscape level .
Once the principles were bedded down and agreed upon , an intensive series of conceptual design developments , seeking ways of meeting these requirements commenced ; with feedback from the specialist façade consultants , Pure Consulting , these were developed into workable systems for discussion with Redefine . being recessed in curves . The fin configurations are conceptually derived from the topographical features facing each of the façades , Lions Head , the Peninsula and Robben Island . These features are emphasised at night when the LED lighting highlights the outlines and the façade literally becomes a giant map .
The slightly clumsy chamfers at the corners have been replaced with more delicate birdsmouths which still respect the original intent of the forms in meeting the corners .
Parking Garage The new parking garage forms an important part of the overall composition forming the link element joining the two glass towers but with its own expression , reflecting the modular nature of the glazed office towers in its façade arrangement but expressing the dynamic by a variance in colour rather than shape .
A giant canopy spans the public area in front of the parking garage , linking it to the towers situated on either side .
In Situ Tenants While developing the conceptual schemes , a fundamental requirement was that the entire activity would take place in and around an operational building . Simply this meant that an external envelope needed to be created before the internal ( existing exterior ) could be punctured or removed .
Façade Design The final double glazed proposal used a moderately reflective external high performance pane which , while expressing the form , also allows for the reflection of the sky and surrounds , creating a dynamic surface , the inner pane is clear . The fins reinforce the dynamic nature of elevation creating a horizontal dimension both by their physical projection and by the shading effect which creates an illusion of the glass panels
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