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When it comes to the AFGRI Head Office, the archi-
The curved louvers seem to flow with the movement
tects – Paragon Architects – can be seen as magicians.
of the traffic, while screening the occupants in the
They have waved their architectural wand and have
building from the noise and any direct sunlight. Pri-
defied gravity, creating a building that holds the
vate seating areas were also created on the South
illusion of levitation. With its stark white contrast-
side of the building, taking full advantage of the
ing colour and large glass curtain walls, the AFGRI
wetland area,” says Estelle Meiring, Project archi-
head office is an immaculate floating apparition.
tect & associate, Paragon Architects.
Located between the John Voster and Botha Avenue
AFRGI Head Office comprises two square-shaped
off-ramps in Centurion, the AFGRI head office, the
basement levels and four office levels, all supported
first building in a future office park complex, is nes-
by columns. The basement is dedicated to parking
tled next to the N1 highway. As the site is visible
and effectively lifts the levels of office space off the
from the highway, this, for the client, gave rise to an
site. Pushing the basement out of the ground meant
opportunity. With the environment being the big-
that the ground level had to be raised higher than
gest influence of design, this was a chance to show-
the usual office floor, which in effect, made it ex-
case an image of a forward-thinking company,
tremely light. The lightness was achieved by weaving
through the visible architecture of the building.
curved glass walls along the slab. The glass itself only has fins, rather than an aluminum structure,
“The brief, from M&T Development, was to design
which would have weighed the façade down.
a building that would take full advantage of the exposure to the highway, while maintaining more pri-
Post-tensioned slabs from the first floor to roof level
vate external seating and landscaped areas. The build-
were used. Concrete slabs were cast as post-ten-
ing we designed turns its louvered North façade
sioned structures in order to speed up the construc-
towards the highway – it is striking and sculptural.
tion process. Conventional slabs were however