EXPLAINED: the Cape Town Standard Bank office design

So, have you ever looked at the brand spanking new Standard Bank glass offices in the Foreshore from Lions Head or Devils Peak or the elevated freeway and thought, “what have they tried to portray with that lighting / building design”?

Well, I for sure have looked at the building from various ends, travelling in on the N1 or N2, looking at it at night from Signal Hill, even frequently visiting the Food Lovers Market on ground level for some design clues.

I heard comments that it reflects the Standard Bank waving flag logo or the coast of Africa or even the ocean the building overlooks. Yet, photos of this new building did not accurately display this “word of mouth” design concepts.

Finally, I decided to contact the architects of the Standard Bank offices (Boogertman + Partners) to get a first-hand account of their thoughts and design process and what the LED lighting (that must have been a painstaking process and a lot of money) actually means.

Here are their comments - finally putting the guessing game to rest:



“We were employed as the facade architects for the glass curtain walling to the offices, aluminium screens to the parkade, the ground level canopies and screens.

Original building design pictured above.

The building was purchased by Redefine properties with two anchor tenants (Telkom and Standard Bank) already with the building; which had leases to be honoured. The tall tower houses Telkom as its major tenant and the small tower houses Standard Bank.

Part of the modernisation and / or improvements was to add a parkade structure and urban garden to improve the precinct, this was done in conjunction with the City’s landscape department and tall building committee. The tenants have leases in the building and consequently the owners rebranded the building utilising the new name - The Towers.”

The following extracts from their design and concept document at long last give an explanation for the LED designs:



SOUTH ELEVATION



EAST ELEVATION



In conclusion, I now know that it is not a Standard Bank building, but a Redefine property. I can also now sleep at night knowing that the impressive glass building in the Foreshore highlight the natural features of the Mother City and not any corporate elements of Standard Bank or Telkom.

“The LED lighting on the fins accentuate the designs (pictured above) and the red lighting bars represent the corporate colour for Redefine as the owners requested that their corporate colour to be introduced in the design. The colour red is further used in various elements around the building, lightboxes, screen walls and signage.”





Photo, design document and comment credits: Boogertman + Partners