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LiD
FEB/MAR 2016
M
ultichoice is the leading provider
of premium broadcast content in
South Africa. The new building,
designed by GLH Architects, is sited on the
corner of Republic Road and Braam Fischer
Drive and serves as an extension of the
group’s established Randburg headquarters
across the road, creating an expanded corpo-
rate campus. It provides some 35 000 m
2
of
additional office space over four floors as well
as four basement levels for parking.
An underground tunnel links the two
buildings and an overhead pedestrian bridge,
traversing Braam Fischer Drive diagonally,
provides a safe walkway between the old and
the new buildings above the busy road traffic.
Following the natural orientation of the
site, the new building tracks a longitudinal
north-south axis, with predominant east and
west façades.The street entrance is from the
west on Braam Fischer Drive, where the hard
urban edge of the northwest corner softens
into a curvilinear glazed façade, inviting pe-
destrians into the building through a street-
level garden of indigenous plants.
In terms of the building’s sustainability
and particularly with regard to energy con-
servation – both key considerations from the
start of the project – the long east and west
façades presented a challenge and called for
the use of thermally efficient glazing as well
as effective shading. Deep roof overhangs,
horizontal steel shading and, on the curvilin-
ear west façade a distinctive
brise-soleil
of
vertical louvres of reflective glass all play a
role, together with integrated internal blinds
which track the movement of the sun to
maintain solar control and limit glare.
These and other carefully considered
design decisions that limit the building’s
consumption of resources and support
its sustainability contributed to its earning
5-Star Design and As Built Certification from
the Green Building Council of South Africa
(GBCSA).
The central atrium with its transparent
ETFE roof is a significant contributing ele-
ment in this regard. Taking advantage of the
Highveld climate and the sunlight hours it
offers, the roof allows for optimum levels of
natural light internally, reducing the need for
supplementary electric lighting and therefore
reducing energy consumption and related
Artificial lighting was specified selectively to complement
the high level of natural light. Recessed troughs provide
for mood lighting in public areas and more focused task
lighting delivers required lux levels in the open plan office
space around the atrium.