TOUCHSTONE HOUSE
TOUCHSTONE HOUSE Cape Town
DEVELOPER FWJK Developments
PROJECT MANAGERS Key Projects
QUANTITY SURVEYOR FWJK Quantity Surveyors
ARCHITECT Axion Architects
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER Bergstan South Africa
MECHANICAL , FIRE & WET SERVICES Zutari
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER HAMSA Consulting Engineers
MAIN CONTRACTOR Stabilid ( Cape ) Construction
PHOTOGRAPHY Fiona Barclay Smith Louise Fenner-Solomon
Incorporating the old with the new , Touchstone House combines a heritage façade with a contemporary office building in the heart of Cape Town . FWJK Developments identified a significant shortage of sectional title offices for sale in the Cape Town City Centre and was offered the Touchstone House Development as a previously ‘ failed ’ development after its unsuccessful launch to the sectional title market in 2008 . FWJK detected poor design efficiencies in both office and parking levels as well as in the external façade as the probable causes for the failure of the previous design .
Client Brief Axion Architects received the design brief for Touchstone House late in November 2012 . The project had been in development for some time and previous architectural practices had done initial work on the redevelopment of the site , but the numbers did not work and we were briefed to rationalise the design efficiency of previous attempts . The site is located within the Cape Town Foreshore – an area that has seen rapid development in recent times . Consisting of several individual properties , all owned by a single owner , the brief was to optimise the site , but to remain within all the existing planning parameters . These included a set height restriction and challenging building setbacks from the two street frontages . No departures were allowed by the developer , as these would negatively impact the tight project programme .
Touchstone House is a historic building . Constructed in 1895 , but extensively damaged in a fire a number of years ago , it posed a further challenge to integrate parts of the structure that had remained relatively undamaged into the new design .
390 Touchstone House