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The Colosseum Award, a new category of the
Halala Joburg Awards, was given to the Turbine
Hall Square development for its preservation of
the city's heritage.
TURBINE Hall Square has been recognised for its successful restoration and contribution
to preserving the heritage of the inner city.
Giving impetus to Newtown's regeneration
"It went from a sinkhole to a frontrunner
of progress," says Joanne Millan of Thabiso Consulting, the project managers of
the second annual Halala Joburg Awards. A project of the Johannesburg
Development Agency (JDA), the awards were made on 11 June.
Turbine Hall Square won the Colosseum Award, a new Halala category; the awards celebrate
those projects that are improving the inner city.
"The Turbine Hall Square development gave a
massive boost to inner city renewal and provided significant impetus to the Newtown regeneration
project," says Millan.
According to Neil Fraser, the urban consultant
who champions the inner city, the development is successful because it fulfils
some basic requirements, including the tenant - AngloGold Ashanti - and
investor being willing to work with and follow the spirit set by the heritage
authorities, and its heritage status.
Many elements from original structure and the
demolished sections have been retained in the redevelopment. New structures
have also been incorporated. New work was painted while the old parts of the
building were left as is, and every transition between old and new was emphasised
with diagonal elements.
"The project is agreed to carry weight, it
has landmark status, is seen as a gateway to the city and a counterpoint to the
iconic Nelson Mandela Bridge,"
explains Millan. "The developers and architects created a wonderful blend of
architecture and new green-thinking models of construction, shaped an
incredible combination of creativity and conservation and used exciting
materials which both challenge and please while preserving the historical
interest and integrity of the site."
Cecil Skotnes, the late artist, made the floating
trophy for the Colosseum Award. The award went to a joint venture between
Francesco Rivera and Fernando Cardosa, the managing director of the Tiber Group
and Barry van Wyk, Renalia development manager of Turbine Hall Square.
History
Turbine Hall is on Miriam Makeba and Jeppe Streets. It is a listed heritage
site salvaged by private sector investors. In 1990, the city council sold the
property to Turbine Square
(Pty) Limited for R22,1-million. Nedcor and Tiber Bonvic now jointly own Turbine Square.
Turbine Hall Square, a landmark in the inner city
For many years this neglected building was
home to squatters, during which time the building suffered structural damage.
The squatters were relocated in 2000 and in 2004, AngloGold Ashanti, the
gold miner, decided to set up its global headquarters in a portion of Turbine
Hall. The building was originally part of the Jeppe Street Power Station, which
supplied electricity to the burgeoning city.
"In the early 1990s, the property was
largely mothballed due to Eskom's surplus electricity
capacity, resulting in the city's reduced use of its thermal power
stations," says Van Wyk.
By 2000, more than 300 squatters occupied
the building. They were relocated by July of that year, all rubble was removed
and the site was used as an evening facility for launches such as Mini South
Africa and AngloGold Ashanti.
Redevelopment
The redevelopment project started in June
2005 and was completed in three phases by June 2009.
"The building subscribes to a three-dimensional
philosophy with respect to its interior space plan. This means that
organisational adjacency within the building can be achieved between floors via
internal stairs as well as on a single floor. Coupled with the atrium arrangement,
the overall effect is one of a highly integrated work space," Van Wyk explains.
The architecture allows steel structures to
borrow freely from the raking beams and connections evident in the existing
structure. The soaring spaces of both the existing and new architecture, he
adds, relate harmoniously to each other.
"The massing of the buildings takes strong
clues from the existing Turbine Hall as a ‘hard' edge to the city streets,
re-interpreting the structural rhythm and the strong tide-lines in the Jeppe Street
facade. The complex forms a semi-public courtyard on the eastern side, which is
bounded by the new wing, the South Boiler House, as well as the Reserve Bank
building on the south.
"The courtyard is realised as a mounded
garden, creating a surprising green space or ‘soft' interior within the city.
The garden acts as a social and geometric focus for the complex and
counterpoints the tough industrial environment of the interior."
The complete development is an interesting
mix of old and new. Its three components consist of the AngloGold Ashanti head
office, which is in the new building and was created specific to the company's
needs. The South Boiler House is another component that now houses offices that
were inserted within the existing steel structure; and the final component is
Turbine Hall, which is an insertion of the complete new building.
"Care has been given in the design to
exploit the visual axes inherent in the planning and to couple this with a
layered approach to the public spaces," Van Wyk says, "which adds richness to
the experience of the building and enhances its apparent scale and complexity."
Colosseum Award
The Colosseum Award originated a few decades ago when a group of Joburg
residents fought against the demolition of the old Colosseum building, which
was situated west of Carlton Centre.
Conserving the building
During the debate around destroying the
building, demonstrators set about trying to get funding to buy it and convert
it into an opera house, or alternatively to convert the Civic Theatre into an
opera house and the Colosseum into a theatre.
The heritage consultant and architect,
Herbert Prins, discovered that conserving the building was possible.
He said he approached the developers of the
building with sketch designs they were free to use. Peter Wharton-Hood, the managing
director of the Prudential Insurance Company, however, commented: "We were not
prepared to look at the work of an architect who came to us touting for work."
Prins consulted legal advice and took the
Prudential Insurance Company and Wharton-Hood to court for defamation for this
statement. The case was resolved out of court and Prins was paid damages. He
used that money to provide a heritage award, suitably called the Colosseum Award.
According to Prins he gave it this name,
"not to be nostalgic about something lost, but rather to use the name
symbolically to honour those who value heritage more than the Prudential did
when it demolished the Colosseum".
The Colosseum
General GC Smuts opened the Colosseum on 4 October 1933. The commission to
design the building was initiated by IW Schlesinger, who moved from the United States to South Africa where he established
and pioneered industries, including filmmaking through African Mirror; and theatre
and cinema through African Consolidated Theatres. He was also involved in the
establishment of radio in South
Africa.
The architects associated with the design
of the Colosseum building included P Rogers Cooke, HW Spicer and W Timlin. Timlin created the cinema's décor, which was referred
to as "outside-in" or atmospheric theatre design, recalls Prins, because it
emulated an outdoor space.
Cinema patrons sat in a space that
resembled a medieval town square surrounded by fantasy-like medieval buildings,
he adds. Above was a simulated night sky with twinkling stars and wafting
clouds. Atmospheric cinema was quite rare, in South Africa and the rest of the
world.
Judges
The Joburg Heritage Trust paired with the City's department of arts, culture
and heritage and the JDA to administer the award.
The Colosseum Award was adjudicated by
chairperson of the award, Herbert Prins, the heritage consultant; Eric Itzkin, the
deputy director immovable heritage in the City's directorate arts, culture and
heritage; Yusuf Eshak, the chairman of the Provincial Heritage Resources Agency
of Gauteng; Irene Mafune from the City; and Henry Paine, the architect and
heritage consultant.
The chair adjudicator, Prins, recused
himself from this round of voting because of his involvement as a heritage
consultant on the project.
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