Rosebank Link office development set to be a new steel-and-glass icon in South Africa

Home » Projects » Rosebank Link office development set to be a new steel-and-glass icon in South Africa

Located in the heart of Rosebank, adjacent to the Gautrain Station, The Zone and Rosebank Mall, Rosebank Link by Redefine Properties is a new office development at 173 Oxford Road. This project will transform the current building into an expressive steel- and glass-clad shell icon.

Practical completion is anticipated in October this year, with Paragon’s scope of work including design and documentation for all five stages. The project comprises a total rentable area of 18 744 m2 of office area and 1 553 m2 of ground floor retail area. At 15 storeys above ground, the building consists of two basement parking levels, a ground floor public/retail level, five parkade levels, and nine storeys of offices from the podium level.

The Paragon project team includes Anthony Orelowitz, Director; Duanne Render, Director; Warren Wesson, Senior Project Architectural Technologist; Alex Slaviero; Project Architect; Francois Mercer, Candidate Architect; Marli Swanepoel, Candidate Architect; Katy Harris, Candidate Architect; Aneesh Parbhoo, Architectural Technologist; and Michael Botha, Architectural Technologist.

The professional team consists of WBHO, contractor; Betts Townsend, project manager; MLC, quantity surveyor; Sutherland Engineers, structural and façade engineer; CKR, electrical and wet services engineer; Adaptive Resource, mechanical engineer; SFT, fire engineer; and WSP, green building consultant.

“The building showcases the corporate values and identity of Redefine Properties, which we achieved by our finely-honed ability to value engineer and design without the monotony often associated with corporate office design,” Wesson comments. “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.”

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 emphasized 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. “Once those parameters were understood, it allowed us to set a broad concept. Those parameters were then inputted into a 3D parametric modelling process that assisted in the visualization of a concept refined ultimately to meet all design conditions,” Wesson explains. All the consultants on the project are BIM-proficient, collaborating through 3D software to streamline the co-ordination process.

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.

About Paragon

Paragon, established in October 1997, is an internationally-active design business, based in Johannesburg. We deliver commercial architecture, master-planning, interior design, and space planning to visionary clients in all property sectors, from retail to residential and education.

We are committed to global urban development. We are able and agile. Paragon is flexible and diverse in its approach to design. Each project is unique and not driven by style, but by lifestyle and a response to user needs. Elegant and efficient planning form the core of our designs. We understand the needs of our clients, and know how to generate ever new architectural forms in a competitive property market.

We are known for hands-on engagement with all opportunities present in the modern global building industry. The true measure of our skill is our ability to engage at all levels and with all players that make up the colourful world of construction and property development. Our buildings look forward. We embrace the future, because we will be a part of it – part of its problems and responsibilities, and part of its great freedoms and achievements.