Winstead Gardens consists of 110 housing units, an action court and a coffee shop. This work involves the densification of a well known modernist apartment building in Parktown, which had been run down and neglected for 20 years. The project seeks to double the number of residential units through a restructuring of existing building, rooftop additions and a new wing, which is in line with the city’s Corridors of Freedom strategy for the area.

Since completing their Hillbrow offices in early 2015, Urban Task Force have appointed Local Studio on several large projects in the city. In line with Local Studio’s approach on working with existing heritage structures, all new additions are expressed as new interventions through the use of light-weight structural systems and translucent cladding.

One of the most important interventions in this project is the restructuring of the private open space on the site from bland monofunctional landscaping into a high-performance communal space. In an area where densification is inevitable, this project represents a much more urbanised way of thinking than other buildings in the area.

The site has been established and construction is underway. Neighbouring communities, while conveniently forgetting about the building’s previously desolate state, have proved to be resistant to change in the area, particularly to new communal spaces.

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