RETREAT
PEDESTRIAN
The Pedestrian Retreat provides an interlude along a busy Wynberg Main
Road, re-imagined as a pedestrian oriented street. The scheme calls for
a mediation among informal traders, pedestrian and motor vehicles. As
part of an urban strategy, the pavement is enlarged by eliminating parking
bays along main road. Most delivery bays are relocated on the side roads
and parking towers are to be erected at a few strategic locations. As a
result, the commercial quality of the street will be enhanced. Further,
the planting of trees to create a green alley offers a more comfortable
environment, softening the edge conditions and providing shades.
The chosen site is an existing parking lot with 2 elongated derelict
buildings and a tower block forming a u shape around it. The fluidity
of pedestrian traffic at the site is hampered by the constant incoming
and outgoing flow of motor vehicles. The site strategy thus proposes
that the parking lot be turned into a green park and the tower block at
the far end of the site be turned into an automated parking, accessed
from an existing side road. The proposed building, housing a food
court and staff and student accommodation, and a future library/
youth centre will replace the two derelict buildings on the sides.
The scheme has a progressive variation from public to private which
influenced the spatial organisation and the tectonics of the proposed
building. The food court which is on the ground floor is an extension of the
public realm into the building. The floor to ceiling glazing is a subliminal
threshold between the food court and the green park. The same glazing
which is repeated on the upper floors is equipped with timber screens used
both for sun shading and privacy. The main entrance of the accommodation is
located off main road into a circulation core, which is a microcosm of the green
park, mediating between semi private and private. The structure gradually
changes from concrete for the ground floor to steel for the upper floors.
Conceptual Montage
New Pedestrian/Vendors Pavement layout
Kurvin Virahsawmy
2
Wynberg Main Road
Upper Second Floor
Roof Plan
Ground Floor
First Floor
Program Disposition and structural DIagrams
Architecture Portfolio 2014