Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Lukasrand Tower Tshwane (Pretoria), Gauteng PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT: Architect H LENNDORF: Design Architect SOUTHBY BIHL DETERT and SLADE : Quantity Surveyor OVE ARUP and PARTNERS: Engineer STOCKS-FUTURUS: Contractor

Date: n.d. Type: Tower Status: Extant   Click to view map Coordinates: 25°45'58.60" S 28°12'19.95" E Alt: 1436m

The Lukasrand Tower is located on Muckleneuk Hill in the Lukasrand suburb of Pretoria, Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. Its primary purpose is wireless telecommunications (e.g., microwave transmission, mobile phone, etc.). It also features an observation deck. The tower is dressed with branding signs for Telkom SA. (Wikipedia, accessed 2021 07 19) ___________________________ In 1973 the Public Works Department (PWD) commissioned the construction of a new microwave tower at Lukasrand in Pretoria for the client, the Department of Posts & Telegraphs. The following requirements were put fourth by the Department of Posts & Telegraphs for the design of the new tower: Primarily the tower would have to function as an important link in the country’s microwave telecommunications system. Since the tower would have a dominant presence on the capital city’s skyline and since its location would place it next to other prominent buildings like Unisa, the tower would have to be of great architectural value. The tower would have to include a public viewing deck that would not interfere with the technical operation of the tower. The base of the tower would have to include a two-level building which would serve as an office block for the tower. Further the height of the tower would have to be limited to accommodate the flight paths of airplanes flying to the nearby Waterkloof Airforce Base. (McMillan, 1980: p12) The design of the tower came as a result of a compromise between the technical, structural, spatial and aesthetic requirements put fourth by the client. The tower was relatively short as compared to other towers of this sort with a maximum height of 187m which meant that a long and slender aesthetic would not have been practical. The spatial requirements of the tower to include separated public and technical areas would further increase the width to height ratio of the tower. A variety of designs were put forward but in the end it was decided to go for a assymetrial design with hexagonal slabs. This design satisfied the structural and technical requirements of the building while also creating a visual harmony between the tower and the dominantly linear appearance of the Unisa buildings. This asymmetrical design would also produce an iconic feature in the Pretoria skyline. Due to funding problems the construction of the tower only commenced in 1977 and was completed in 1979. (McMillan, 1980: p13-17) The Department of Posts & Telegraphs (later Department of Posts and Telecommunications) was broken up into Telkom and the SA Post Office in 1991 and since then the tower has been under the management and control of Telkom. The public viewing deck has since been closed to the public. The tower is also colloquially referred to as “John Vorster Tower”, “Lukasrand Tower”, “Lukasrand Microwave Tower” and “The Telkom Tower” (not to be confused with the Telkom Tower office building in Pretoria CBD, designed by Partnership Jan van Wijk) (Chris Maree, January 2024) Books that reference Lukasrand Tower Images Australia (Pty) Ltd. 1993. Building Professionals of South Africa, Volume 1. Melbourne: Images Australia (Pty) Ltd. pg 46-47 Johnson Barker, Brian, Maclay, George & Steyn, Alfie (Eds). 1987. Off the Beaten Track : Selected Day Drives in Southern Africa. Cape Town: AA The Motorist Publications (Pty). pg 75 ill McMillan, C . 1980. Design and Construction of the Lukasrand Microwave Tower, Pretoria. : The Arup Journal, 15(1). pg 12-17