Rosebank’s new steel-and-glass icon

A brand-new steel-and-glass icon is taking shape in the very heart of Rosebank.

The Rosebank Link office development by Redefine Properties is perfectly located at 173 Oxford Road, adjacent to the Gautrain station, The Zone and Rosebank Mall.

This exciting project by the Johannesburg-based design business Paragon will transform the current building into an expressive steel-and-glass-clad shell icon. Paragon is an internationally-active design business, based in Johannesburg.

If everything goes according to plan, the project will be completed in October this year, with Paragon’s scope of work including design and documentation for all five stages. At 15 storeys above ground, the building consists of two basement parking levels, a ground floor retail level, five parkade levels, and nine storeys of offices from the podium level.

The Paragon project team directors are Anthony Orelowitz and Duanne Render and Betts Townsend is the project manager.

“As a building standing foremost in the centre of a developing cosmopolitan area, it was important to have a unique design that served the needs of the client and its neighbours, as well as the public, in a new, exciting, and smart way,” said Warren Wesson, senior project architectural technologist.

“The east and west façades consist of a composite aluminium-clad shell with articulated strip windows to allow light and views to filter into every office module. These faceted façades have a visual quality emphasised by the articulated strip windows, which transform from day to night.

“The flush-glazed north and south façades allow for uninterrupted views over the greater urban area of Rosebank.”

The backdrop to the façades is a smooth and glossy flat finish that transforms itself into the underbelly of the building. The organic vaulting architecture of the underbelly raises the building from the ground, allowing users to traverse an unimpeded thoroughfare between the Gautrain station and the shopping area.

At the heart of the building is a multi-storey enclosed, north-facing atrium fashioned to capture the sunlight filtering down into a unique fluid underbelly of the ground-floor thoroughfare. This creates a conduit for a combination of green walls and indigenous planting brought to life in executive roof gardens, podium-level gardens, and parkade wall gardens that allow for a tranquil environment not normally afforded in multi-storey buildings.

Paragon’s design of Rosebank Link had to take many factors into account, from budget to programme, and the constraints and conditions of the site. Given the building’s strategic location in terms of the Gautrain station, Paragon had to pay particular attention to the surrounding area and infrastructure linkages. “This is very important. The unique nature of the area required connectivity so as to allow the precinct to function at its best.”

Wesson concludes that the building has been designed, and will be operated, in an environmentally-sustainable manner. Passive building design techniques and environmental considerations will ensure a 4 Star Green Star rating, creating a healthier and more productive environment.

Talk to us by emailing our news editor, Ashtyn Mackenzie, at ashtynm@caxton.co.za