The significance of House Mckay lies in the fact that it combines boundary wall typologies and house typologies. Traditionally the two are separate elements and the resultant form of this building is a continuous wall that goes on an organic journey, enclosing various indoor and outdoor spaces along the way. The house is therefore secure, […]
The Arch for Arch stands as a tribute to the human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, affectionately known as “Arch” by fellow South Africans, as well as a monument to peace and democracy. Designed by Snøhetta and Johannesburg-based Local Studio, in collaboration with Design Indaba, the engineers at Hatch, and […]
This is an alteration to a famous art deco apartment building in Hillbrow, called Mimosa Square, which had been hijacked for 15 years and was the first urban renewal project undertaken by the client, Urban Task Force – a property development firm. The new structure places the public service centre at the top of the […]
House M consists of five bedrooms, living areas, an action court and a sukkah. It was inspired by Le Corbusier’s Maison Blanche, which he built for his parents in 1912. It makes use of modernist archetypes combined with traditional elements and was built around the needs of an Orthodox Jewish family. This includes the necessity […]
Braamfontein Gate is the conversion of the formed high-rise headquarters of the Total Oil Company into affordable rental housing. The development consists of 400 residential units, a rooftop event space, retail units, a coffee shop, a business centre, a gym, an action court and a swimming pool. The project is illustrative of the quote by […]
99 Juta is Local Studio’s most recently completed project, and involves the creation of custom studio and exhibition spaces for some of Johannesburg’s foremost product designers, most notably the firm Dokter and Misses. Apart from studios, the project also included the creation of a restaurant and bar at ground floor and a flexible event space […]
SPCNR stands for ‘Southpoint Corner’ and is a workplace development by the student housing company, Southpoint. The building consists of internal public areas, a roof garden, retail units and a restaurant. This is the renovation of a 1960s modernist office building designed by Silverman and Associates, previously known as Heerengracht. The building has historically housed […]
This project is the resurrection of four of the most important heritage buildings in the Johannesburg CBD, which had been owned by a large property fund and mothballed in the mid-1980s. The project creates 145 new, serviced office spaces aimed at young black advocates who require satellite office space close to the Central Gauteng High […]
Fulham Heights is one of the first projects to demonstrate the principals and guidelines of the Johannesburg Corridors of Freedom policy. The policy looks to promote mixed-use development and residential densification in neighbourhoods adjacent to the recently-completed bus-rapid transit (BRT) network. The building is a conversion of an old corner shop, which was a Chinese […]
The Outreach Foundation currently provide a very impactful counselling service to migrants in Hillbrow, an area rife with crime and violence. Counselling facilities are currently scattered around the site and the new building will bring them together into one counselling centre. Facilities will include counselling rooms, a meeting room and a roof garden. This has […]
This is the pilot school in African School for Excellence’s (ASE) inner-city schools programme, which looks to place small-scale, low-fee private schools in over 100 locations in the Johannesburg CBD over the next ten years. Naturally, very few commercial spaces in urban areas are entirely suitable for school purposes and the project is one application […]
Westbury Pedestrian Bridge comprises a pedestrian bridge with access to a BRT station, an amphitheater and a park. This project forms part of a broader precinct plan, an NMT network, also conducted by Local Studio in the area. Initial research established that the on-grade crossing between Coronationville and Westbury was extremely dangerous for pedestrians, particularly […]
One of the few remaining structures from old Sophiatown, the AB Xuma House, is situated at the corner of Edward and Toby Streets. The house belonged to Dr Alfred Bitini Xuma, who was elected president of the African National Congress in 1940. In 2007, the City of Johannesburg acquired the Xuma House and signed an […]
The ASE educational model was designed specifically to address the needs and challenges of African secondary school scholars that are eager to learn, but with barriers such as school funding and tuition costs keeping many of them from reaching their full potential. A construction firm had originally won the contract to provide a turn-key service […]
The Outreach Foundation Community Centre is one of the first new social infrastructure projects to be built in Hillbrow since the 1970s. The project is situated within the broader Hillbrow Lutheran Church/Friedenskirche precinct, a site given to the Lutheran church by Paul Kruger at the turn of the century. The actual building site is the […]
The Hill Café is a steel restaurant pavillion built as a temporary structure on the foundations of a demolished lunatic asylum in Johannesburg’s historical Old Fort. The original building had been demolished to make way for a parade ground for the Transvaal Scottish Regiment. The design went through numerous iterations, all of which were rejected […]