THE POINT
THE POINT Sea Point , Cape Town
CLIENT Permasolve Investments
ARCHITECT & PRINCIPAL AGENT Louis Karol Architects
QUANTITY SURVEYOR AECOM SA
STRUCTURAL & CIVIL ENGINEER Moroff & Kühne
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER Lewis de Kroon Inc
MECHANICAL ENGINEER WSP in Africa
WET SERVICES Benatar Consulting
RATIONAL FIRE DESIGN Neil Moir & Associates
ACOUSTIC CONSULTANT Mackenzie Hoy Consulting
DECORATIVE LIGHTING & DESIGN CONSULTANTS QDP Lighting & Electrical Design
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Viridian Consulting
MAIN CONTRACTOR WBHO Construction
PHOTOGRAPHY Courtesy of Louis Karol
The Point has revolutionised shopping in Sea Point . Louis Karol have transformed the old Galleria shopping arcade into one of Cape Town ’ s most vibrant and successful mixed-use developments . The redevelopment involved jacking up the building to create even more underground parking space - a process so difficult that National Geographic expressed an interest in filming it ! There are now 490 wide underground parking bays .
ARCHITECT ’ S REPORT What makes this adaptive re-use development even more exceptional is that the Checkers supermarket , which was situated in the original Galleria , never stopped trading during the entire construction process . Even though The Point is an internalised shopping mall , it is situated on Sea Point ’ s Main Road , and Louis Karol have reinforced and stressed the relationship to the pedestrians coming from Main Road bus routes and the plethora of flats in the area , in what Louis Karol believes is a successful attempt to connect to , as well as revitalise , the neighbourhood , in addition to creating a new and vital suburban shopping and office node .
Drawing on their retail design experience , Louis Karol realised that , as always , a shopping mall , no matter what the size , must be able to be immediately understood by the shopper
458 The Point