130 Strand Street

The client’s brief was to modernise the existing building from a visual and organisational point of view. This entailed the redesign of all facades, the introduction of a new parking level to the building, activating the street edge by introducing new retail spaces to the street corners and the upgrading of the reception area, main staircase and roof top entertainment area. The main office floors were treated as ‘empty shells’ for which the tenants were responsible. All existing services were upgraded where necessary and all issues such as waterproofing etc. were assessed and addressed.

The concept was to divide the building into multiple focal points, breaking the old monotonous façade. Large areas of the facades remained unchanged barring a new Marmoran finish and the introduction of sun shading louvres, yet the building has been uplifted completely and presents itself as fresh and new altogether. The focal points are the main building entrance and the reception, the retail corners and the fire escape on the side street elevations. Vega uses red as its signature colour and this was used to highlight the entrance area at night while keeping the remainder of the building a two-tone neutral grey. The concept was to further utilise the existing roof space as a break away area for the students to get together outside of the classrooms and enjoy the beautiful view of Cape Town harbour.