Copperbelt Hotel

The new 130-room Southern Sun Garden Court in Kitwe, a commercial mining city near the DRC border, as well as its associated convention centre, has been designed not only to function as a business hotel with accommodation for longer-term residents working in Kitwe, but also to function as an urban hub and a major feature of the social and business landscape in Kitwe.

Hotel operator Tsogo Sun required in its brief that the hotel design should reflect the spirit of place while the Zambian National Pension Schemes Authority (the owner) was keen for the new buildings to have an aspirational quality.

Aesthetically, architect Robert Silke responded with a futurist-inspired design expressed in materials that include Kariba Slate, a locally sourced natural stone milled by local stonemasons. “Futurism was the last great decorative architectural movement,” says Silke. “Its sculptural forms reflect the optimism and positivity you find in present-day Zambia.” He also points out that design movements such as Art Deco and Futurism allow a genuine rediscovery of handcrafted construction.

Feature glazing on the main corner at the hotel's entrance give the hotel a strong visual identity while curved walls create a streamlined, modern impression.

Undulating curved feature walls create a streamlined forward-looking impression, while curved feature glazing at the hotel’s main corner, adjacent to a shopping mall, gives it a prominent landmark quality. The entrance of the hotel forms a glass and steel feature porte cochere and boasts extensive covered wraparound terraces to maximise the best of Kitwe’s tropical climate. The outdoor areas take full advantage of the views toward the nearby Kitwe Stream.

Silke, however, points out, “Designing a hotel on the Copperbelt is very different from designing one in South Africa, where the visitors are expected to spend a great deal of their time out of their rooms and visiting local attractions. In Kitwe, residents will spend more of their time at the hotel, which functions as a community hub, so we have catered for this with vast outdoor covered terraces for gatherings, events and leisure.” The interiors, also by Robert Silke & Partners, are similarly slick and modern. “Local and indigenous materials such as copper and pink sandstone have been introduced as well as subtle and elegant industrial references in a nod to Kitwe’s mining tradition,” says Silke. He points out that the local sandstone has a copper tint. “Everything here has a dusty pink hue,” says Silke, “It looks like it has been dusted with copper.” Complementary blue and teal colours have been used to contrast with the copper, while also referencing the oxidised patina that copper forms. Floors are an elegant oak herringbone, and occasional white marble finishes add glamour to selected public areas. “The artworks are by local Zambian and South African fine artists,” he says, referencing Jeannette Unite who explores industrialised landscapes through an artistic exploration of materiality using mineral oxides extracted from the earth.

Vast outdoor covered terraces cater for gatherings, events and leisure activities.

Adjacent to the hotel is a free-standing 1000m2 convention centre. Like the neighbouring hotel, the convention centre is modern and futuristic, and features dramatic wraparound covered balcony terraces. “The idea of the colonial-era club persists in Zambian social life,” says Silke, explaining that covered terraces are an important part of any traditional club design, reinvented here for a new era.

More than a hotel, Southern Sun Garden Court Kitwe and its convention centre function as a major feature of the Kitwe social and business landscape. Silke saw it as a major urban regeneration project, and designed it accordingly to provide a new heart and centre (and indeed a new way of life) for Kitwe’s up-and-coming residents.

Blue, green and teal colours, which reference the oxidised patina that copper forms, have been used to contrast with the bright copper features in the interiors.