Architecture

Nestle into luxury escapes with the architecture and interior design of the exclusive Sandton Residence.

This three-story architectural marvel in Johannesburg East redefines sophistication with its innovative design; stacked and intersecting perforated ‘boxes’ elegantly perched on monolithic concrete-clad walls. The exterior, defined by dark grey aluminium screens and concrete panels, creates a cohesive and monolithic aesthetic.

The interior is both functional and luxurious, featuring seamlessly connected open plan living, which extends to the lanai and the pool area with a firepit, offering a captivating view to the east. The interior design introduces warmth and natural tones, balancing the heavy exterior with walnut timber flooring, Porcelanosa’s Xtone Liem Grey tiles, and metallic accents.

The residence is equipped with advanced technology, including a central hydronic air-conditioning and underfloor heating system, full automation for lighting, system operations, and access. Loadshedding concerns are addressed with PV panels, inverters, battery backup, and a generator.

M Square Lifestyle Necessities played a pivotal role in this project, supplying and installing the kitchen, scullery, pantry, and main bedroom wardrobes from Doca (Spain) and Porro (Italy). Gaggenau appliances enhance the main kitchen.

The clients’ desire for a unique and tailored living space, catering to immediate and extended family needs, is exemplified in this thoughtfully crafted home, which serves as a destination for generations to come.

Nico van der Meulen Architects designing ultra luxury dream homes

The combination of all three companies’ expertise inspires the architecture of living spaces. M Square Lifestyle Design is an interior design practice creating bold design solutions while M Square Lifestyle Necessities is an upmarket furniture and décor service with a selection of the finest imported furniture from design studios around the world.

M Square’s designs vision is centred around their client’s needs. As all their projects are bespoke, they continuously strive for excellence and staying ahead of the curve in regard to design trends and material specifications. M Square pride themselves in respecting the client’s vision and budget and always consider sustainable solutions. M Square Lifestyle Design’s capabilities stretch beyond decoration and interior design, their team of professional architects work in close relation with Nico van der Meulen Architects, offering a turn key design solution.

The talented and professional team has been carefully selected and is highly qualified, accomplished and competent at working on prestigious projects. Nico van der Meulen’s prestigious portfolio of high-end residential projects has enabled M square Lifestyle design to recently expand their portfolio into the hospitality industry. Having gained first-hand experience in the luxury residential market, M Square has dealt with Africa’s rich and famous. The team’s knowledge of luxury
living surpass many, which gives them the edge when it comes to designing hotels and luxury lodges.

Their carefully considered approach to design and commitment to meeting the requirements of individual clients has led to the practice gaining a reputation for creating exclusive luxurious designs from the ground up or transforming existing residences into inventive and extraordinary homes.

In collaboration with:
Interior Design: M Square Lifestyle Design
Furniture and décor: M Square Lifestyle Necessities
Kitchen: @doca_muebles
Built in cupboards: @porroofficial
Home automation: BNC Technology
Ceilings: Sky Gardens
Lighting: Streamlight
Aluminium and glass: @qonefenestration
Showers and glass: @radiantglassconcepts
Screens and shutters: @acscreenssa
Lifts: Hands on Lifts
Landscaping: @injabulolandscapes
Flooring: Teracoat Seamless Flooring
Engineers: Struxit Projects
Electrical Engineers: Inframid
Project Management and Quantity Surveyors: @agora_africa
Roof, interior door frames & blindbox profiles: PE Contractors
Outdoor and additional furniture: @illusso_za
Concrete: @elemento_concrete_concepts
Exterior screens: @tiltscreens
Shopfitting: @goodwoodboards

AMA Architects have achieved an incredible honour by winning a 5-star award for best mixed-use property by the International Property Awards, for our mixed-use project, Towers Main.

Johannesburg is in desperate need of decent and safe mixed-use accommodation for all income levels. AMA wanted to ensure that a mix of people can live, work, play, shop, gym, enjoy child-care, entertainment and exclusive dining overlooking the city. 

We intended for the public space on the plaza and ground floor to introduce a pedestrian-sensitive, human scale to a previously vehicle-dominated environment, connecting people and places and encouraging public transport use. Urban furniture and ample landscaping create an oasis within the harsh inner-city environment, while local sculpture art used throughout the space will reflect characteristics of local culture and identity.

The plaza has been transformed into a ‘village park’, with planted landscapes, outdoor furniture, public sculpture and an outdoor bleacher for street entertainment. This activated public space will draw people out onto the street and create a new focal point for the ABSA precinct.  

Common and public spaces will be maintained at the highest level, while contributions to area improvement organisations will ensure that the immediate and surrounding blocks are clean and safe day and night. The development will substantially increase the density of residents, workers and visitors, and spur further development that reinforces the sustainability of the area.

A compact and walkable neighbourhood with activated street edges

AMA employed principles of successful mixed-use development to create a compact and walkable neighbourhood with activated street edges. By opening the existing façade on ground level, we achieve a livelier public space and improve movement across the site.

This movement also generates interest and foot traffic for the retail stores. An increase in passive surveillance is accomplished by greater visual connections across the site on ground level, promoting a safe, open and comfortable environment.

Connecting this mixed-use facility through the newly developed Jewel City, to the well-developed Maboneng Precinct creates much-needed foot traffic to the area.

Visual connection from the village park to the retail space was created with a clear line of sight at pedestrian level required from the street through to the entrance of the shops. The interiors of these spaces are designed to express the urban nature of the site’s outdoor public spaces. Preference is given to sustainable, locally manufactured materials wherever possible. Designing in this way ensures that this campus incorporates the fundamentals of excellent contemporary South African interior design.

The coffee bistro, placed on the northern edge of the ground floor, promotes social activity and creates atmosphere. The outdoor area of the coffee shop connects to the amphitheatre, encouraging street performances and serving as a resting spot with shading trees.

An art gallery is placed right next to these spaces. ABSA runs an annual art competition called the L’Atelier Awards, showcasing Africa’s best artistic talent. The works of South African crafts people are showcased in the building’s interiors, with preference being given to ABSA L’Atelier artists. Complementing this are large sculptural works of art from the ABSA Art Collection, strategically placed across the park.

A modern and flexible space

A state-of-the-art ABSA lobby and business lounge is on the first floor of the building. At the top of the escalators, one will move directly into a formal reception desk area, and thereafter through access control and either into the lift lobby to office floors or into the business lounge.

The fit-out of the business lounge was led by ABSA, so AMA Architects proposed a modern and flexible space, with casual lounge areas for employees, open-plan desking and collaboration spaces for teams, playful seating and pause areas, and formal meeting rooms to hold larger meetings or host guests. We envisioned the space as a mix between a formal business lounge and creative co-working space.

The office floor leads out onto an outdoor terrace, situated above the existing auditorium, and overlooking the green landscaping of the village park. Adjacent to the exit, AMA created a small food and drinks bar and with seating both inside and outside. The perimeter of the terrace is planted, contributing to the greening of the building as a whole. Views of this planted terrace and the urban landscape below are seen from all internal vantage points, offering a continual connection to nature and the city beyond.

Residential units for people seeking an urban lifestyle

The residential units are targeted at young ABSA employees and other young inner-city workers, including families, who are seeking an urban lifestyle offering. The units were designed around a pin-wheel corridor to prevent dead-ends and open to light, breezy corridors that have planted elements at the openings.

To improve residential density, AMA increased the residential floor count by three. We believe that the market for inner-city coworking space is still limited, and that this change improves the long-term sustainability of the building.  A large residential community is key to a lively neighbourhood. This allows prospective tenants with a range of incomes to access the building.

To create a truly mixed-use experience in Towers Main, AMA Architects almost fully opened the 15^th floor, on the north-eastern side, with a glass balustrade giving unobstructed clear views of the city. The rest of the floor is clad with full-height windows with more city views. The 15th floor restaurant is a dual-purpose space, intended as both an offering to the public but also as a clubhouse for the residents. The interiors are airy, and fresh. Intricate tiling and bold colours are softened by planting.

Co-working spaces, gym, child-friendly areas

AMA Architects designed co-working spaces, close to a cup of coffee or food after a meeting, or just a work-session. Child-friendly areas are provided in enclosed play centres – plus a small indoor soccer field. With child-minding taken care of, residents are free to take care of other needs, and children have safe areas of play.

A gym is a modern necessity and this one has been installed with spectacular views. Opening the floor at the centre of the Tower changed the whole feel of the building. Johannesburg has gorgeous all-round weather, spectacular sunrises and sunsets, and minimal wind. Why not have an unobstructed view of the city? Who needs a television in the gym when the city provides all the entertainment? It’s not a feature found in any other skyscraper in Johannesburg – it creates excitement and energy, and a feeling of openness in an often-crowded city.

More than 56% of the world’s population currently lives in cities, according to The World Bank, with this trend expected to continue. In fact, The World Bank estimates that by 2025, almost 7 out of every 10 people will live in cities. In South Africa, this percentage is even higher, with 68% of the country’s population currently living in urban areas. As urbanisation has increased, however, so has urban sprawl and pressure on infrastructure. Philip du Toit, Project Architect at BPAS Architects, suggests that we need to look at our cities with a fresh lens to find sustainable ways of addressing increased urbanisation.

Du Toit proposes a concept he calls “Palimpsest  – layering (sub)urban fabric”. The term palimpsest was originally used to describe an ancient form of recycling, where parchment (which was expensive and difficult to come by) would be repurposed, scrubbing some or all of the existing text off of it to reuse it. Often, traces of the original content remained. This term has since been borrowed for other situations, such as artists reusing canvases and creating layered artworks.

Du Toit first became aware of the idea of palimpsest in art through the photography of Jason Shulman, who creates artworks by photographing  whole films  into single, abstract composite images. He began to implement the idea in his own photography, but using multiple photos of buildings and scenes in the real world.

As he was studying architecture, he began to consider how the idea of palimpsest could apply to urban design. “I ended up doing my thesis at the University of Pretoria on this idea, looking at how we can use existing buildings and build on them in a three-dimensional environment to create new spaces,” he explains.

Rather than developing empty sites or demolishing old buildings to make way for new ones, Du Toit suggests reusing the canvas of the cities to improve densification, minimise development costs, address housing pressures in urban and suburban areas and combat urban sprawl. This methodology also allows for wasted space to be repurposed, and for individuals – not only large-scale developers – to create solutions for themselves.

“It’s a green solution to use existing buildings,” says Du Toit. “It can help to address various issues, such as reusing buildings in cities that have become abandoned, or addressing changing population needs. There are examples of how this has worked internationally, and I think it’s something that could be very effective in South Africa too.”

Du Toit cites examples of how this methodology has worked well, and others where it could be improved upon. For example, in California, Jonathan Segal pioneered a model of architects as developers. To help address a shortage of rental housing in San Diego, he designed, built, and managed 15 projects that are credited with playing a key role in the city’s renaissance.

On the other end of the spectrum, Torre David, an incomplete development in Caracas, Venezuela, that was halted midway is an example of organic urban palimpsest. A community of homeless people moved into the development and repurposed the space for their own needs.

While these type of “urban slum” applications are not ideal, Du Toit says that when properly managed, urban or suburban palimpsest can be undertaken in a way that ensures existing infrastructure and property prices are positively affected, rather than compromised.

For example, it’s increasingly common in South Africa for homeowners in suburban environments to build a granny flat in the backyard to accommodate ageing parents or grown-up children. Instead, Du Toit suggests exploring vertical urban interventions, which, if applied correctly and on well-suited properties, could help make cities greener.

“Homeowners working with architects can ensure that these interventions could take place based on good urban design principles,” he says. “The redevelopment, or layering, of existing single residential properties could be used to help provide more houses, offering opportunities for more people to live closer to commercial, social and educational nodes. They also offer additional income for homeowners by way of rental.”

He says that the City of Cape Town has created a precedent for this by changing its town-planning regulations in recent years to allow for up to three dwellings per residential erf, which simplifies redevelopment procedures by negating a zoning change application.

There is also room for developers to get involved in bigger projects, particularly within urban nodes, by partnering with city councils and town-planners to relook existing properties with an eye for development. “This type of partnership means there’s proper consideration given to green infrastructure, such as rainwater harvesting and solar installations, which ensures existing infrastructure is not put under strain,” he says.

Urban and suburban palimpsest can help cities to evolve in the wake of COVID-19 and hybrid working, which has seen a downturn in the need for office space, as well as curbing urban sprawl, creating new economic opportunities and catering for shifting community dynamics.

 Many people think of architecture as work that happens on paper (or in a computer program), but the thought process starts well before pen gets put to paper (or designs get created onscreen), says Landseer Collen, principal, director and founder of BPAS Architects.

“If architects only operated in a paper world, we would never get our buildings evolved beyond paper,” he says. “Architects must be dreamers, visionaries, explorers and entrepreneurs. The principle of Avant-garde architecture whereby architecture is innovative, radical and always progressing,  becomes the focus in urban development when an architect designs for the future. To be able to take a commission from a client and translate that into a drawing, you first must be able to create a vision of the future. It takes imagination – plus the cognitive development of being able to think in a 3D environment.”

He says that architects not only translate a client’s need into an image, but have to be able to play with it to see what’s possible. For example, renowned architect Frank Gehry, known for iconic buildings such as the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain and The Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, USA, created the Dr Chau Chak Wing building, at Sydney’s University of Technology, based on the idea of a crumpled paper bag.

He was also said to have designed the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles by simply crumpling up a piece of paper and saying “there’s the design”, but he told CNN that this story was just a gag invented for the TV show The Simpsons and that his process is far more involved. Like Collen, he says it begins with gaining a deep understanding of what the client is looking for and the parameters of the job (from the budget to the specific site). Function comes first, but then the architect also has the opportunity to bring something special to the project that goes beyond an understanding of the engineering and technology – that will “engender an emotional response.”

Collen describes this quality of architects as “a necessary sense of playfulness” and says architectural professionals navigate the fine line between dreams and what is possible. “We have to be visionaries to understand what we’re designing – to interrogate not just the moment in time we’re being asked to design for, but the long-term vision for a building and how it will work 50 years in the future.”

This means that architects can’t view their buildings in isolation but must understand the community and environment in which they are located and be constantly thinking about how society is changing and what that means for the built environment.

“Architecture is science translated into art,” he says. “You can’t separate those two disciplines out if you’re an architect – you need them to work together in symbiosis. It’s a collaboration between the creative and physical environment. We must push boundaries to explore what’s possible. If we don’t, we’re no longer designing the future, we’re just a tool to replicate the same things in the now. We should not blindly accept limitations.”

He says that architects are by nature problem-solvers and innovators, which is something that is often overlooked by those outside the profession. For example, during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, BPAS turned its architectural skills to a medical need, creating a carton cubicle that could be used as an isolation space for a COVID patient wherever it was set up. “If that person tragically died, the box could be folded into a temporary coffin for transportation of the body without risk of contamination for anyone else, thus maintain dignity.” Collen explains. “We couldn’t help with the epidemiology or economic issues because those things are not our areas of expertise, but we can contribute to society with the skills we have. I think the contribution of architects to society is still undervalued, but we continue to work to show that we have an important role to play.”