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mhlanga Arch is a R1.3bn mixed-use development in Umhlanga’s Ridgeside precinct in KwaZulu-Natal spearheaded by the Multiply Group. It is a destination-focused development located on a prominent, steep corner site on a busy intersection, which offers arguably the precinct’s best panoramic city and ocean views.
Pioneering work in BIM was used to coordinate this complex collaborative project.
The building has cut a striking figure on the Durban coastline for years and is nearing completion. It includes premium AAA grade offices within the glass facade of the arch allowing spectacular ocean and city views, luxury apartments, first-class retail, an authentic food hall dining experience along a European inspired cobbled high-street, an SMG BMW motor dealership and South Africa’s first Hilton Garden Inn hotel. The enormity of scale of this 90 000m2 project, its prominence of position and fact that it has the highest building rights in the precinct demanded a bold design and landmark place-making design from Craft of Architecture (COA), the architects of Umhlanga Arch. The vision behind Umhlanga Arch is a “live, work, stay, play” development to serve the
diverse people of South Africa and international travellers alike. The Hilton Group, the SMG BMW dealership and the developers all had their own briefs and specifications, which had to simultaneously be combined into a symbiotic whole. COA’s aim involved harnessing the potential of Umhlanga Arch’s mixed-use offering to create a vibrant sense of community through an eclectic people-centric design. COA designed a striking structure with two towers – one 30 storeys high – and an iconic curving arch, both set on an eight-storey plinth. The top of the residential tower, 109m from the ground, includes a private members’ club, the Pencil Club, which hosts a roof-top swimming pool. Conceptually, the buildings function more like a town square or piazza than a single building, combining a few different design languages that have been brought together and resolved as they all
Left: While Umhlanga Arch is positioned prominently on the corner of Umhlanga Rocks Drive and Ncondo Place, the eponymous ‘arch’ allows views ‘through’ the building and provides glimpses of life on top of the podium reflected in the glass.
24 LEADINGARCHITECTURE & DESIGN APRIL/MAY 2020
