THE BRIEF
BY E DI TO R G RAH AM WO O D
ED'S NOTE Every now and again, a building comes along that looks like it could be a game changer. It might not be the perfect building, but it pushes the boundaries and seems to show the way for other buildings. It tries something that not only proves that certain things are possible – aspects of passive design, natural ventilation or the use of new materials, for example – but also helps us learn something. It’s an experiment that improves our knowledge, that extends the realm of the realistically possible, and pioneers something that can be reapplied elsewhere. When I was interviewing the architects and engineers who worked on The Ridge, Deloitte’s new office at the V&A Waterfront, they constantly pointed out opportunities that, under different circumstances, could have made the building even greener (and it received a 6 Green Star Office Design rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA)). Some of the ideas might have been theoretically achievable, but would have required massive infrastructural development and expense, or to have been planned at different historical phases, even to be a consideration. Using the chilly Cape Town seawater to help cool the building, for example. It’s doable in principle, and might be possible for other
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buildings at other times, but wasn’t in this particular instance. It might even seem like pie-in-the-sky stuff to talk about; but the fact is, now we are talking about it. The building’s pioneering cross-laminated timber (CLT) façade was, for the most part, locally produced, but a section of the exterior had to be imported. Although it makes use of the same timber as the rest of the façade, certain processes to make it insect-resistant simply were not available here. But the building has shown that CLT façades are possible here, and we know the timber is available, and if the idea catches on and more buildings use it, demand might become such that the necessary treatments will become viable on home turf. So, the sense of achievement that comes with realising a project like this is one thing, but the sense of possibility that a building like this inspires is even more exhilarating. There are things this building does on a corporate scale that now means they have become considerations for other corporate buildings in SA; whereas before, they weren’t. That – not the green star rating or the even the remarkable performance stats – is what it means to be a game changer.
Graham
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