Ponte City: Back to the future

THE CORE (1)

Special attention is being paid to the inner core of the building, with the intention of creating a strong relationship between the inner core and the outside world - particularly on the retail floor. “You can see outside from the inside, and vice versa.

Your experience in the building is both intimate and expansive; both inward and outward looking,” says Kgaswe. “The first thing we did was to get rid of all the clutter. The building was designed to actually let in a lot of light – there were skylights in the retail area which had been covered up,” she explains. “We’re stripping the building to its pure structure, clarifying the original architectural intention.

Strydom Tower original CoreBefore, when you looked into the inner core, you had a feeling of plunging into an abyss. Now, there are rays of sunlight dancing around the bottom. You actually get a feeling of curiosity, of wonder.”

As for looking up from the lower levels, Kgaswe is introducing 86 ‘viewing platforms’ to the inner core; glass boxes which treat the core as a giant sculpture.

“The ‘firefly’ boxes are something completely new, something completely magical. Eighty-six ‘light boxes’ of coloured glass, half a meter wide, will be scattered in the inner core to look like stars. At night, it will feel like an extension of the sky. You can step into the boxes and either look down through the glass bottom into the atrium below, or look up at the clouds overhead.”