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PARK SQUARE: A LANDMARK DESIGNED WITH PEOPLE IN MIND Park Square, Umhlanga’s newest business and lifestyle development, opened its doors in November 2018. Interfacing beautifully with its surrounds, the development offers a future-forward, peoplecentred destination where the surrounding communities and professionals can shop, work and connect. In 2015, Jarryd Murray and Charles Taylor, directors at MAP Architects, and their team were approached by Nedbank to design a space that would accommodate their KwaZuluNatal team. The brief was to create a structure that would allow the easy flow of people through the development but also accommodate a 17 500m2 space to house their staff, in addition to general commercial and retail space. Murray and his team designed a space that responds perfectly to Durban’s climate and will be a connected urban landmark on the Umhlanga Ridge. They conceptualised an off-the-ground design that would see the commercial elements ‘hovering’ above a perfectly activated retail arcade and square, which people could use for shopping and simply enjoying the city’s unique outdoor lifestyle. The idea was to create a connected community, which would simultaneously be an exceptional business destination for professionals to work and socialise and a dynamic urban space to activate the local community. The emphasis at Park Square is undoubtedly on transparency. The simple and modular building design features raw concrete slabs, steel beams, generous concrete overhangs and glassed infills. Column

placements, exposed ramps and staircases are optimised to allow for easy foot traffic flow throughout the building. “Even though Park Square has them, our brief was for the design to discourage people from using the elevators,” says Murray. The development’s 36 000m2 commercial element is housed on the perimeter of its upper floors and features its own rooftop, which is punctuated with over 100 planters to be filled with indigenous landscaping. Abundant space to sit and take a break or meet informally is available to effectively take the office outside and into nature for the benefit of workers. “Here professionals can use the outside spaces to relax and unplug. All the offices are just a short walk from each other and this underpins the connected nature of this business community,” says Murray. More than 3 500m2 in size, the generous open square features an amphitheatre, grassed spaces and substantially sized planters with

fig trees that will ultimately grow to create a lush and shady canopy over the square. The retail section opens onto the square, which means shops and restaurants are easily accessible to the square as an extension of their premises. Linear directional paving channels people through the building’s elements, linking with the surrounding buildings and amenities such as the CJ Saunders Park, Gateway Theatre of Shopping and a proposed nearby GO!Durban Integrated Rapid Transport Network stop. The square’s paving is more static and encourages people to stop and use the common break areas like benches and incidental grassy areas. Murray comments, “This space is not overly designed and has been left open, dynamic and versatile for people to use in a way that comes naturally to them.” The retail section, approximately 4 500m2 in size, includes the Retail Arcade, the development’s main artery that seamlessly links the open

square on the western side with the CJ Saunders Park on the eastern side. The arcade’s orientation allows you to see the park through the main building. The connection between the two elements is framed by the park’s trees and those on the square to bring natural elements closer. Murray says, “There are no dead ends within the building, which reinforces the easy flow of people through the different sections.” Responding to Durban’s warm, outdoor climate, Park Square’s open design reveals the human activity taking place within the development. The result is a visibly connected, integrated and open community where people can come together in a vibrant, urban space. While final construction continues at great pace to complete the development, Murray concludes, “We look forward to presenting this landmark development to the community as we are sure it will be a place that everyone can enjoy and benefit from.” www.parksquare.co.za