Designed by Boogertman + Partners , who were also involved in the development of the masterplan for the entire precinct , Phase 1 is the first of a number of commercial buildings planned for Sandton Gate . Following on from an emphasis on a smart precinct , smart technology elements have been incorporated into the building , resulting in a 5 Star Green Star Office v1.1 rating .
Concept The architects followed a very defined brief with the best interests of the client at the heart of the design . This is a speculative building that needed to adhere to very strict common area ratios and project costings .
The building was designed to be as cost effective as possible , hence the footprint has been designed in such as way that the developers can obtain maximum yield and flexibility with regards to sub-divisibility . The building is able to be subdivided into 250m 2 offerings within the 2,300m 2 office floorplate .
Site Originally there were homes on various erven on the site . Over the years these properties were purchased by the developer and zoning changed from residential to commercial .
The site slopes almost 12m over the portion of the site that accommodates Phase 1 and slopes approximately 18m to the river edge , so it has quite a deep slope . The large amount of rock on site necessitated design elements to accommodate this . The river edge had to be rehabilitated as water use licence applications required this rehabilitation . A number of indigenous trees on site were transplanted where possible and alien invasive species were all removed .
The Building Designed over two podiums , the design of Phase 1 makes use of the existing slope and ensures that the podium on the corner created by the new link road and William Nicol becomes one of the corner anchors for the scheme . The piazza at this level is on grade , connecting the eye visually directly from William Nicol into the scheme . All the retail components are accommodated on this podium , providing a feeling of activity and connection to the urban fabric .
Dropping down , entry to the scheme is accessed from Minerva Road via the lower level parking . Visitors and tenants can access the retail and Planet Fitness via separate demarcated lift cores . An escalator also allows access from the parking basement and street level to the lower level podium . This podium provides access to the gym and will also act as the connection to future phases of the precinct .
All parking levels offer access to the two lift cores and Planet Fitness has a dedicated lift on all parking levels . Depending on the tenant / s utilisation of the 2,300m 2 floor space available , tenants can make use of the centralised lift lobby .
Design Language The Urban Design Framework document dictates the bulk accessibility , the interface between build-
Sandton Gate 697