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		Cape Town Civic Centre Cape Town, Western Cape H VAN DER MERWE and PARTNERS: Architect 1976 UNICITY CONSORTIUM: Architect 2003

Date: 1976-1979 : 2003 Type: Public Buildings Style: Monumental Nationalism Status: Extant 2003 SAIA Award of Merit   Click to view map Coordinates: 33°55'15.60" S 18°25'40.80" E

The building was opened in July 1979. In 2003 alterations and additions were done by UNICITY CONSORTIUM for which they received an Award of Merit from SAIA. Award of Merit Citation The designers were proactive in encouraging the city executive to remain within the city. The 'discovery' of the roof of the existing building as a site not only helps to maintain the viability of the inner-city, but also saved on costs of services and infrastructure, all commendable when there are pressures to relocate to the greenfield sites proliferating at the edges of the city. The assembly becomes a symbolic centre of public debate, and the elaborate windvane enters into a dialogue with the dome of the Old City Hall on the mountainward side, creating in contemporary terms an urban marker. If there is criticism it is that the device could have been more multifunctional and through the availability of contemporary computer modelling become an armature for resolving some of the problems of sun-lighting. The transformation of a gloomy and oppressive building into something more user-friendly with spaces re-integrated into the public realm is an added distinction. The project is deserving of a national award of merit. Books and articles that reference Cape Town Civic Centre Greig, Doreen. 1971. A Guide to Architecture in South Africa. Cape Town: Howard Timmins. pg 101 Phaidon. 2004. Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture, The. London: Phaidon. pg 641