# Tshwane Towers - Mixed Use - 23F - Pretoria CBD

[Rib]

About

Tshwane Towers is an exiting new High Rise Commercial A grade Office Development located in the South of Central Pretoria, only 3km from the Union buildings. It serves as a Gateway into the City, and as such, it will be a defining building for the City of Tshwane. The building is located directly accross from the new Gautrain station and Pretoria Train Station , and is also near the new Bus Rapid Transport Hub for Pretoria.

The Building will be a full 25 storeys made up from 17 Office floors, 1 Showroom/Lobby floor, and 7 Parking floors of which 3 are basements. Therefore the building will be 22 storeys above Natural Ground level. With 484 available parking bays, the building will provide a total of 25,168 m2 in lettable area.

Given its location, Tshwane Towers will suite most large corporates or government departments, especially those who's employees rely mostly on public transport to get to the office. The development will be of the highest quality and can be fitted out to suite any tenant's requirements. Developments such as Tshwane Towers together with the exiting new Gautrain station in the city should have a snowball effect for similar projects throughout the city, thereby creating renewal and conforming to the urbanization framework as set out by the City of Tshwane.


Design
Form and Morphology

The strong geometric form of the site generated an equally strong building form. The building facade curves away from the south to the west, which accentuates the gateway towards Church Square. The glazed curved façade is anchored on the south-east corner with a concrete-framed offset, which emphasizes the verticality of the 22-storey high office building. The off-shutter concrete on the eastern façade cascades in irregular patterns towards Andries street – creating the impression that the façade “peels away” from the building the lower floors and interacts with the users of Andries street on ground floor level – be it pedestrians or motorists.


The simply articulated Northern façade creates a silent response to the strong Southern and Eastern expression of the building. The structured parking levels serve as a structural as well as aesthetic base for the tower. It is simply clad with a semi-transparent metal mesh to allow for natural ventilation and express the structure of the building. The parking podium is elevated above ground floor level, which is glazed and serves as a visually inviting entrance into the building.



Tectonics

The glazed areas on the South of the building are further articulated by random, diagonally spaced mullions and cables. This adds a dynamic to the façade since it breaks away from the horizontal context in a very subtle, ethereal manner.

The use of strong concrete elements contrasts successfully with the large glazed areas of the Southern façade of the building. The quieter Northern façade consists of unitized, composite panels which will create a simple, understated texture in comparison with the much articulated Southern façade.

Sources:
http://axedevelopments.com/index.php...id=7&Itemid=17

http://www.tshwanetowers.co.za/







The website shows another render, but I couldn't copy it at all... Anyway, looks interesting. The site is currently still occupied by other buildings, but they seem to be empty, if I am thinking of the correct one.

[Lydon]

Good find!

Here's a slightly better render:

image hosted on flickr

[Pule]

Rib, I had already thought that you RIP...welcome back from the dead buddy


This is gonna be a lovely tower.

[Rib]

No, Pule.. I still read the forums virtually daily. I have just been working like mad the past few months, so haven't had much time to actually post anything. But you guys won't get rid of me that easily..

As you say, this is quite a lovely design. It would be interesting to see the effect it has on the area around it, along with the new Gautrain station. There are quite a lot of new developments in Pretoria that aren't on here, as well as numerous renovations in the CBD, so I'm very excited about the city!

[hsark]

nice is this in the cbd ?

[SA BOY]

at last SA,s next high rise. been a while

[dysan1]

i would not hold my breath. Look at all the stalled/cancelled towers in Joburg, Cape Town and Durban...and this is Pretoria and the CBD too. Will be awesome to see, but every single one of the high rise proposals for Pretoria over the past few years have come to nothing.