URBAN REGENERATIONS

During the first phase of this project, the re-purposing of a 1960’s 4-storey clothing factory and the addition of a 5th floor provided our client with 14 000 m2 of Commercial and Retail space and 124 residential units. Following its successful completion, a much larger adjacent development was commissioned to provide accommodation to receive soccer fans arriving for the 2010 FIFA world cup. Phase 2 consisted of 4 storeys of basement car parking with 7 storeys of mixed-use office and residential space above. As demand changed, the design was adjusted to allow a hotel with commercial, retail, and residential areas, including conference facilities, restaurants and a gym.

Individual infill feature items were added in steel to adapt to the fast-changing market. These included a feature staircase in the hotel lobby and provision of a roof to the podium. The steel and glass helical stair was designed as the ‘centerpiece’ of the hotel lobby providing access to the mezzanine and conference rooms levels above.

The courtyard was enclosed to form an ‘all-weather’ podium space onto which surrounding shops, restaurants and cafes serving the hotel could open. To allow natural light into the space below, continuous glazed strips were provided running the full 17.5m length of the roof, above the fish-belly roof trusses width and along the north elevation. The completed phase two added 22 000 m 2 of mix use space, a 183 roomed “bespoke” hotel, a 450 seated conference venue and 158 Residential apartments.