AngloGold Ashanti Head Office
Typology:
Office
Date completed:
2010
Area (m²):
21,000
Location:
Newtown, Johannesburg
Introduction:
This is an adaptive re-use project of an abandoned Turbine Hall building along with other industrial buildings. The design wove all the buildings together providing a number of functions and sub-tenants. The scheme provided a new momentum to a re-energised civic centre.
Description:
Strict heritage compliance was required at every stage of the development. A new face brick office wing was designed to respond to the traditional brickwork elsewhere in the area. It was an efficient ‘8-shaped’ building for optimum planning efficiency.
The fundamental concept behind the development was to create a “fat, flat and walk-up” modern functional office for the tenant, preserving as far as possible the “ethos” of the existing power station complex. This was achieved through the demolition of one of the existing structures to make space for the new building and the subterranean parking structure. The offices are arranged in a “figure of eight” plan around two atria, and integrates well with the Turbine
Hall and the South Boiler house to create a set of layered public and private spaces.The existing steel structure to the south boiler house was left in its rusted state to preserve the contrasting original character to the new office space.
This intervention was sanctioned by the Heritage Authority in the interests of sustainability of the whole, and the detail design was executed under the covenant of an approved heritage management plan.
The success of the client-architect-contractor collaboration has led to the second phase in the development being the redevelopment of the Turbine Hall and South Boiler House as commercial office spaces.
