ASSORTED PROJECTS

Mercedes Benz Paintline Facility

A competition proposal for the refurbishment of the Gateway Shopping Centre in Umhlanga, South Africa, the largest retail centre in the country. This design sought to develop a new sculptural aesthetic language, separate to the structural form of the existing centre and the disconnected architecture of the various parts of the mall.

Two parallel formwork patterns constructed of laminated timber beams in a crosshatch layout, were threaded throughout the centre’s circulation routes and node collection points, in varying ratios, depending on the pragmatic and iconographic requirements. This resulted in a final design that established a design language horizontally throughout the centre as well as vertically, connecting multi-volume spaces back down to ground level circulation. Whilst this proposal was one of three considered finalists, the project was ultimately shelved by the developers until a later date without any award being made.

This industrial expansion to the existing MB production facility in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, called for the creation of a new 240m long multilevel paintshop for the manufacture and finishing of car chassis and body parts. Visualisations of the space were developed to interrogate final finishes and material selection to conform with the client required specifications. Various structural proposals required evaluation for performance and spatial conformity of the manufacturing processes, each with associated material and final finish implications.