Inner city gem

The redevelopment of the Jewel City precinct, six city blocks in Johannesburg’s eastern CBD by GASS Architecture Studios, reinvigorates the city’s urban revival.

PHOTOGRAPHY: LOUIS VAN ZYL; SUPPLIED

Divercity’s R1.8bn Jewel City redevelopment in Maboneng extends one of Johannesburg’s best-located integrated lifestyle spaces. The precinct connects to the landmark Arts on Main, and extends across six city blocks – which have been closed for decades and previously housed Joburg’s precious metals and diamond trade – towards Divercity’s redeveloped iconic Absa Towers Main.

This pre-existing industrial complex, which was completely walled off, has been reinvented as an open, vibrant mixed-use precinct. It comprises 2 700 apartments and 20 000m 2 of commercial space, including retail space, offices, schools and medical facilities, as well as plenty of open public space with lawns and play areas, sports, recreation and public art.

The brief to architects GASS Architecture Studios involved repurposing the existing industrial buildings, some dating back to the 1930s, as well as adding a new 13-storey residential building that opens onto a new public square. The industrial heritage of the existing buildings has been honoured through the lightness of the architectural interventions. Their exteriors have not been substantially altered, although their façades have been refurbished, repaired and decorated with local artwork. Eight massive murals by local artists adorn the walls of each of the eight buildings that make up Jewel City.

In the residential conversion, the central shafts have been enlarged and additional openings have been punched into the central cores of the building to improve the quality of light and ventilation inside. The residential units include a wide range of apartments, from micro-studios to family-size twobedroom flats, encouraging social and economic diversity. The new residential building has adopted a similar approach in its unit mix.

As lead architect Georg van Gass says, however, the major achievement of the project is not so much in the buildings themselves as in the spaces between them. The complex has been reintegrated with the existing urban fabric, making pragmatic provision for vehicle access at key points around the peripheries of the precinct – where there is safe parking and drop-off areas for deliveries and services off the busy main arteries – but the precinct is largely pedestrianised along its central axis on Fox street.

The introduction of lighting, trees and vegetation, seating and easy wayfinding prompts humanises the streetscape at Jewel City in Johannesburg's eastern CBD.

Seen from the rooftop of Block 6, it's clear how Fox Street forms a pedestrianised central axis through the precinct. The building opens onto a large public square.

Eight massive murals by local artists adorn the walls of each of the eight buildings that make up Jewel City.

A new 13-storey residential building was the only new addition to the precinct.

This urban intervention supports a safe, friendly and open public environment and urban infrastructure characterised by shared public space. All the buildings along the central axis on either side of Fox Street include retail pockets to encourage activity along the spine from east to west. Its pedestrian walkways integrate it fully into the Maboneng precinct.

GASS Architecture Studios has placed major emphasis on the precinct’s public realm. The quality of the shared public space is enhanced with single-level sidewalks, subtly broadening the walkable space on a level plane. The introduction of lighting, trees and vegetation, seating and easy wayfinding prompts further humanises the streetscape.

The newly built residential building features a large public square and urban park animated by fountains and public art. A zero-level fountain can easily be deactivated so that this central piazza can be used for events.

The quality of the public space and the broader architectural character of the precinct is designed not only to catalyse and support a greater diversity of people within the precinct, but also to invite and encourage further investment into the CBD.

Single-level sidewalks broaden the walkable space along the pedestrianised thoroughfare

The reception area of Block 6, the new residential building

The peripheral areas and sidewalks along the busy Commissioner and Main Streets have been upgraded, and additional lighting has been introduced to create a cleaner, safer space around the precinct. More broadly, the development opens up the potential for other key nodes of urban development, such as Maboneng, the Absa Precinct and further developments along Fox Street, to merge and form an integrated walkable city.

Sustained by a belief in the transformative potential of urban design and architecture to catalyse economic and social energy, dignity and prosperity, GASS Architecture Studios and Divercity have re-envisioned this all-but-defunct industrial complex as a series of thoughtful interventions that breathe new life into Johannesburg’s CBD.