Top Cape Town architects reveal their favourite city buildings
Downtown Cape Town’s architecture boasts a myriad of treasure which reflect the history and evolution of the city centre.
Buildings are living things. Structures full of secrets. They have stories to share with those that take the time to listen, says Tasso Evangelinos, chief executive of the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID).
“From beautiful heritage buildings to sleek skyscrapers, downtown Cape Town’s buildings represent the wide array of architectural styles and how they have interpreted urban living trends over various decades. We are privileged to work in this ever-evolving environment.”
Here, some of Cape Town’s foremost architects and heritage experts share their favourite buildings in the CBD, plus their visions for the city centre’s future.
JOHN WILSON-HARRIS: Director of Gabriël Fagan Architects and head of the Cape Institute for Architecture
- Famous for designing: The Barracks (yet to be constructed), 50 Bree St
- Favourite building: Mutual Heights, 14 Darling St
“In 1940, Louw & Louw put a building together which spoke to the street. There was public access into the building, which energised the area around it. It has a grand entrance, which was meant to signal power and wealth, but it also doesn’t turn its back on the street – it interacts with it in style. You can see the architects were proud of living in Africa; they were trying to make an African building, though they still followed the art deco sort of style that was prevalent at the time. The building has African heads and animals adorning it, in Cape granite – so the materials are from here as well.”
ROBERT SILKE: Founder of Robert Silke & Partners
- Famous for designing: Tuynhuys Apartments (54 Keerom St) and The Onyx (57 Heerengracht)
- Favourite building: Holyrood, 80 Queen Victoria Street
“Holyrood in Queen Victoria St (opposite the Company’s Garden) is a tall, spindly art deco apartment tower from the 1930s that is a 100 years’ ahead of its time and would sit comfortably in the centre of Tokyo. It comprises 40 of Cape Town's first-ever micro-studios (30 m² each) and was built with virtually no parking. It is sculpturally futuristic and resembles the lovechild born of a space rocket and a vacuum cleaner. If there were heritage authorities in the 1930s, Holyrood would never have been allowed because, at 11 storeys, it towers over its Victorian neighbours. Only now, in the 2020s, is the rest of Cape Town starting to catch up with similar kinds of new buildings.”
PIERRE SWANEPOEL: Director for dhk Architects (PTY) Ltd
- Famous for designing: 35 Lower Long, 35 Lower Long St
- Favourite Building: Mutual Heights, 14 Darling St
“I have chosen the Old Mutual Tower in Darling St, which dates back to 1940 and which was once the tallest building in South Africa. It typifies the Art Deco/modern period movement with its stepped massing and façade articulation. The architects were Louw & Louw, working together with Fred Glennie.
“The stand-out architectural elements are:
– The protruding prismoid (triangular) vertical window bays, which allow for solar shading.
– The granite cladding, with sculpted animals at high-level corners, and the series of sculpted figures on the Parliament St façade. Additionally, the 118m long frieze along the three sides of the building, which was carved by Italian prisoners of War (albeit problematic as the focus is on depicting scenes from the colonial history of South Africa).
– The spectacular interior spaces – the entrance hall (with black, gold-veined onyx, gold leaf and stainless steel); the banking hall (with marble clad columns); the assembly rooms with frescoes depicting the history of South Africa; and the etchings of animals on the lift doors are unparalleled in Cape Town.”
LAURA ROBINSON: Independent consultant and former chief executive of the Cape Town Heritage Trust
- Favourite building(s): The Grand Parade and City Hall, Central Methodist Mission, Old Town House, Mutual Heights and Mullers Optometrists
“I don’t really have a specific favourite, but there are certain parts of the city that ‘talk’ to me. I have a special love for the historic public squares in the city – and, by implication, the buildings that surround them. The Grand Parade and the City Hall are certainly iconic, as is Greenmarket Square and its historic buildings that include the fine Central Methodist Mission church, several Art Deco buildings and, of course, the Old Town House. I am looking forward to this being restored and reopened for public enjoyment. Being a fan of Art Deco, I have to add Mutual Heights and Mullers Optometrists in Plein St – both are fabulous, and the interior foyers of Mutual Heights remain a top hit every time.”
How cities and buildings shape each other
Here, Robert Silke shares how he sees this dynamic playing out:
“Cities like Cape Town are woven from some pretty ancient and heterogenous fabric, and new buildings can only achieve lasting beauty when designed for their complex context. Everyone gets excited by a new building, but it's no use simply designing for "newness" or fashion, if that fashionable new building makes its neighbours look dowdy, or if it looks bad as soon as the gloss of newness wears off. One must design buildings with good ‘bone structure’ so that there is some merit remaining once the fashion fades. Good, new buildings need to be good neighbours.
“I'm convinced that Cape Town remains one of the most exciting cities in the world to be an architect or a developer. The natural setting, as well as the compact scale, means that just one good new building (at a meaningful scale) can have a ripple effect with the potential to transform the entire city.
“I'd like to see a Hong-Kong-inspired future Cape Town – similar to that depicted in SABC's 1982 sci-fi series, ‘Interster’. There's a lot of work to be done to make the city centre home to, and accessible to, more people.
Building with the future in mind
Swanepoel believes that, to achieve an inclusive, sustainable, future-fit city centre, new buildings must be created with future design principles in mind. These include:
– Greater use of Parametric Computer Modelling to allow efficient design of any chosen form;
– Zero Carbon Energy Usage (embodied and operational);
– Prefabrication to improve the speed and quality of construction, using CLT timber structure, walls and floors, 3D-printed building components, increased use of pre-cast elements;
– Smart building technology – building management systems to optimise energy use and user-friendliness;
– Minimised on-site parking in buildings (once public transport is improved).
Protecting the Central City’s buildings
Robinson, who is a CCID board member, says that protecting the CBD’s buildings is top of mind for the CCID, which plays an invaluable role in keeping the central city crime and grime free:
“The CCID understands the value that these richly layered historic buildings bring to the Central City. The historic built environment adds a fascinating layer to the experience of this vibrant city centre area and the CCID has frequently promoted heritage within its boundaries by writing about and promoting buildings and architecture and monitoring new property developments. Part of my portfolio on the CCID Board includes that of architecture and heritage.”
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