January 29, 2004
By Lucille Davie
THE Gauteng provincial government has finalised plans for its proposed new precinct in Johannesburg's CBD, centred around a new square to be created alongside the Beyers Naude Square.
The precinct will encompass a street underpass, skywalks joining buildings, underground parking, and the focal point, a square called the New Heritage Square, to the south of and adjoining the present Beyers Naude Square. The square, to be created from the demolition of 10 inner city buildings, will contain an amphitheatre, a multi-functional Tswana homestead and a symbolic obelisk and "Orientation Wall".
Gauteng government offices at present
The precinct is to be called the Kopanong Gauteng Provincial Government Precinct, and a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) report outlining the plan, is presently lodged with the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) for approval, and consideration and comment by the public. The reason for this is that five of the 10 buildings proposed for demolition are older than 60 years and therefore need SAHRA approval prior to demolition.
At present the Gauteng government's departments occupy offices stretching across the city, with some departments being split among different buildings.
The proposed plan brings those departments together in central area focused around the new square.
The location of the future GPG Precinct
The precinct, designed by NOA Architects, is an effort "to ensure the democratisation of the urban environment whilst securing the historical significance of the CBD".
The precinct is to bordered by Pritchard Street in the north, Fox/Main streets in the south, Kort Street in the west and Rissik Street in the east, in what is referred to in the HIA as Complex 7.
Complex 7 is one of four options suggested by NOA, which they say offers "the highest overall ranking" in terms of the criteria stipulated by the province:
- the need to locate provincial government departments closer to one another for better communication and service delivery;
- the desire to remain within the city as an expression of confidence in the CBD; and
- the desire to "encourage property and business interest and confidence towards commercial/retail and inner city residential developments".
At present the GPG occupies eight buildings within the vicinity of Beyers Naude Square. Two of these buildings, SA Perm (People's Bank) and Litorn House, both in Commissioner Street, are to be demolished. Three additional buildings - Library Gardens Chambers, the Old Mutual Building, the Old Reserve Bank Building (a national monument) - are to be refurbished and occupied by the GPG in the future.
Demolitions
Two buildings owned by the GPG and presently vacant - Clegg House and SARB House on the corner of Simmonds and Commissioner streets - are to be demolished and replaced by a new building, to be called the Matlotlo Extension.
Another eight buildings on the edge of Beyers Naude Square are to be demolished to make way for an adjoining square, an effort to revive the present square and extend it to expand open public space in the inner city. The report indicates that at present only three percent of space in the CBD is open public space.
In total 10 buildings are to be demolished, in terms of the HIA.
The report makes it clear that the architects are sensitive to the historic and architectural value of the buildings, but at the same time they need to acknowledge the "previously marginalised" who need to have their identity recognised in the city.
"Another complexity is how one introduces the values and identity of those who had no role in the defining and making of the urban environment without devaluing or erasing elements of historical significance or undermining the heritage of those whose values and identity makes up the existing built environment."
If demolition permission is granted, the SA Perm (People's Bank), the FNB Building, Litorn House, the Absa building, and Volkskas building between Market and Commissioner streets will be demolished. In addition, three buildings on the adjacent block - the New Library Hotel, the Rand Water Board building and Custom House - will also be demolished.
The façade of the Rand Water Board building will be preserved and become the façade of the new Matlotlo Extension, on the corner of Simmonds and Commissioner streets. It was recommended in 1976 that this six and a half storey building be declared a national monument, but this never happened.
The façade of the Volkskas building (now Absa) will also be retained, to remain where it is while the rest of the building will be demolished. The façade has engraved marble panels and bronze door panels, and the building is considered to be the "first major piece of architecture to be erected in Johannesburg by the emergent forces of Afrikaner finance capital . . .", according to renowned architect Clive Chipkin in his Johannesburg Style, Architecture and Society, 1880s-1960s.
New square
The new square will be called the New Heritage Square, and with the extension of Beyers Naude Square across Market Street, the new, larger square will have six heritage facades facing on to it. These will be: two facades of the Central Library, two facades of the historic Corner House on the corner of Simmonds and Commissioner streets, the Harrison Street façade of the City Hall, and the reconstructed Rand Water Board façade on the corner of Simmonds and Commissioner streets.
New Heritage Square
Click on the image for a better view
The new square will contain "indigenous heritage" in the form of a Stone Age Tswana homestead, constructed in steel and glass, "reminiscent of the pyramid located outside the Louvre in Paris", to be called the New Heritage Complex. A "New Heritage Bridge" will link it to Nedbank Place, on the corner of Market and Sauer streets.
"The building will be designed as a grand gateway or entrance on to the square from the underground parking," according to the report.
The building will have several functions: art and culture-related uses on the ground level, while the "upper levels will form a series of cascading terraces, housing restaurants and cocktail bars". Street trading will be allowed under pergolas around the complex.
There'll also be an amphitheatre just off centre of the new double-size square, with a 13-storey structure such as "an obelisk or column or feature within a fountain". Alongside this will be "an Orientation Wall" designed as "a link between the old and new facades" which will function as "a window of transparency, opening from government on to the urban community".
Near to the amphitheatre street vendor stalls will be constructed.
The ugly walls and non-functional kiosks surrounding the entrances and exits to the present underground parking of Beyers Naude Square will also be demolished to open up the square to the surrounding streets and proposed street cafes and restaurants.
The Nedbank Place wall facing the square will display digital advertising screens and billboards, "animating the square reminiscent to Time Square, New York". Seam lighting will be placed on the north-facing buildings, and restaurants and cafes are to be encouraged along this side, to allow a natural flow from the buildings on to the pavement and the square.
The square will be dotted with trees.
It is hoped that the new square will be used for a variety of events, including parades, religious gatherings, outdoor exhibitions, sporting activities and weekend markets.
Underpass, gateways and skywalks
Under the new square there'll be parking, and an underpass (to replace the four blocks of Market Street that will be incorporated into the square), which will begin before Kort Street to the west, and exit after Harrison Street in the east. The architects acknowledge that the underpass will "acquire sophisticated and innovative architectural and engineering approaches" to ensure that it "acquires conservation significance and be acknowledged as a heritage for future generations".
In addition, there'll be two gateways on to the square. The first is the Fraser Street Gateway, a decorative gateway on to the square from the Fraser Street entrance on the north side of the square. It will consist of a wire and perspex shelter, to be used by street curio traders. The second is the Market Street Close Gateway, and marks the start of the square from the west. The gateway will be defined by three rows of trees between Kort and Sauer streets, in contrast to the "hard materiality" of the Fraser Street Gateway.
The plan also includes four skywalks, linking buildings on the four corners of the enlarged square. The skywalks will consist of three floors, three storeys above the street level. Two of these skywalks will be enlarged to form two gateway towers, the Bank of Lisbon Tower and the Corner House Tower, both buildings on the western corners of the square.
These towers or skywalks will protrude over Market and Commissioner streets and will join the Corner House and the Avril Malan building, and the Bank of Lisbon building and Nedbank Place. They will consist of a triple volume open-air terrace with cafes, cocktail bars and restaurants overlooking the square. The facades of the towers will contain billboards and digital screens for advertising.
Democratic urban design
NOA Architects feel that the development optimises all the elements of "democratic urban design": heritage, open public space and indigenous architecture, as well as encouraging night life in an area that has traditionally died as soon as workers leave the city.
"The overall celebration of heritage is the ensemble of a collection of colonial buildings, modernist buildings and the inclusion of the Heritage Complex which itself is a building that introduces elements and values of indigenous architecture, expressed in 21st century design and construction techniques."
The GPG sees the development as assisting in the regeneration of the inner city.
The 120-page HIA may be viewed at the SAHRA offices in Parktown. Recommendations or comments must be submitted to SAHRA by 4 February.
The address is PO Box 87552, Houghton, 2041, or by fax on 011 482 8196, or by e-mail to Jennifer Kitto at jkitto@jhb.sahra.org.za.
So far 40 responses to the HIA report have been lodged with SAHRA, and only one of those is happy with the demolition proposal. Most do not give reasons for disapproving the demolition, just expressing their disapproval of the proposal. So far no heritage organisations have submitted objections.
The relevant committee will meet shortly after the cut-off date for responses on 4 February, and Thabo Kgomommu, provincial manager of SAHRA's Gauteng office, expects a final decision around the middle of February, if nothing unexpected comes up.
Permission to use web site material
Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as:
- Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website
(www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency
(www.joburg.org.za)";
- If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original
article on this website;
- The name of the article's author is acknowledged;
-
The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill
in this brief online form).
Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 |
