Amazon Corporate Head Office, Cape Town
SUSTAINABILITY AWARD | CORPORATE OFFICE DEVELOPMENT AWARD
The Amazon Corporate Head Office is situated at Riverlands in Cape Town- a groundbreaking 3.4ha precinct that redefines urban planning in South Africa. Supported by a 15 year lease with Amazon Web Services, the project combines advanced technology with sustainabality, cultural heritage and social inclusion.
Designed as a high performance, future proof campus, it features energy-efficient systems, solar PV, greywater recycling and smart building management. Beyond infrastructure, it honours place and people through a First Nations Heritage Centre, indigenous medicinal gardens, restored green spaces and the rehabilitation of the Liesbeek River. The precinct’ s commitment to sustainability has earned it a 5 Star Green Star Sustainable Precinct rating.
Taking Amazon’ s corporate culture and best practice as the main driver, the architectural design, took inspiration from the surrounding areas, with their roots in Cape Town’ s industrial heritage. The team spent a lot of time researching the different typologies and extended these elements into the modern industrial design of the buildings.
A series of beams and columns were cast to form the exoskeleton of the structures and the façade detailing was then worked onto the exoskeleton by breaking up the mass in certain areas and playing with the roof pitches to echo the form of industrial rooflines. A series of dormer roofs break up the roof mass and also allow light into the building. The base of the building forms a skirt, with a series of arcades allowing pedestrians to remain under cover. Double volume spaces crown the building, allowing for striking entertaining areas with expansive vistas over the precinct.
Curtain walling is set back from the column grid, providing shading for interior spaces. Façade materials were kept stripped back, with the focus on the concrete structure, in keeping with the industrial design elements. Handmade tiles in shades of blue act as focal points on the façade and break up the concrete.
The project entailed the construction of three parking basements and a podium level. Three of the five proposed office blocks that were constructed extend above the podium level. Provision is made in the design for the extension and construction of the other two office towers.
The three towers consisted of a two storey West Tower, four storey South Tower and seven storey Central tower. A total of about 6,100 tonnes of reinforcement was used in the construction of the three towers, podium and basement structure which is founded on approximately 1,200 piles. The pile sizes and types vary from 520mm diameter driven piles to 1,500mm diameter auger piles.
The project offered several structural design challenges, which ranged from designing a basement for a 1:100 year flood level to transferred lateral stability elements and unique geometries located on the suspended slab of the podium level.
106 SAPOA Awards