Apple offices and showroom
Workspace, Office, Retail
This jewel of a building gave the majority of it’s bulk to landscaping. The building was set back against the site, thereby giving the prominence and the views to the building. The rational efficient plan is simple and elegant. Space conditioning made use of the raised access floor to provide displacement ventilation HVAC to the spaces. All soffits were kept clear and clean, providing effective use of thermal mass. Every ferrule hole and shutter board was planned for the contractor.
Client: The Core Group
Location: Sandton, Johannesburg, SA
Size: 3,500m2
Cost: £7 million
Status: Completed (2009)
The landscape architect made effective use of the forecourt, sculpting the site into geometric forms. First floor slag edges pull back from the facade, permitting the upper floor to float within the space defined by the envelope.
Flexibility of both the retail space and offices was critically important. As was the paired down pallet of materials used in the building. The simplicity of the massing, the limited palette, and the fluidity of the space all work in harmony to create a small, but very successful building.
In order to ensure fire safety a smoke extraction philosophy was incorporated into the design that gave the building an intelligence and sophistication normally only seen in larger buildings.
