DRAFT FOR COMMENT BY INTERESTED AND AFFECTED PARTIES IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT

Transcription

1 DRAFT FOR COMMENT BY INTERESTED AND AFFECTED PARTIES IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT ADDRESSED TO HERITAGE WESTERN CAPE (to meet the requirements of sections 38(3) & (4) of the National Heritage Resources Act) Regarding a proposed development Werdmuller Centre, Erf 54472, Cape Town Prepared for New Property Ventures by Ashley Lillie (with Prof Andre van Graan) 11 November 2013 Ashley Lillie Heritage Specialist P O Box 109, Cape Town, ashley@ashleylillie.com Tel:

2 CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Property location 1.2 Legal requirement 1.3 Client 1.4 Author 1.5 Declaration of independence 2. ORIGINS AND EARLY YEARS OF THE WERDMULLER CENTRE 3. ROELOF UYTENBOGAARDT 4. CONSIDERING THE WERDMULLER CENTRE: AS ARCHITECTURE 5. CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WERDMULLER CENTRE 5.1 Considering the Werdmuller Centre Motivation by planners for New Property Ventures 8. CONSULTATION WITH INTERESTED AND AFFECTED PARTIES 9. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 9.1 Discussion 9.2 Conclusions 10. RECOMMENDATIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY ANNEXURE A Surveyor-General diagram 3522/ Elements of the significance of the Werdmuller Centre 5.3 Summary of significance 6. CONSIDERING THE WERDMULLER CENTRE: AS A COMMERCIAL VENTURE 7. MOTIVATION FOR DEMOLITION 7.1 Current owner - Old Mutual 7.2 New owner New Property Ventures 2

3 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Property location The affected property is Erf 54472, Cape Town (see Annexure A). Erf (Diagram 426/1970) measures 6,451m 2. The property is located in Main Road, Claremont, Cape Town (see figures 1.1, 1.2& 1.3). The property currently accommodates a commercial building known as the Werdmuller Centre, completed in Figure 1.2: The site is located in Main Road, bounded by Newry Street, Claremont Boulevard and Ralph Street. Figure 1.1: The site is located in the Claremont Central Business District. 3

4 should address Section 3 of the Act; and that a specialist component of the Heritage Impact Assessment must address the significance of the Werdmuller Centre as a Modernist architectural resource. 1.3 Client The report has been commissioned by New Property Ventures, which company is in the process of taking transfer of the affected property from Old Mutual Life Assurance Company SA Limited. 1.4 Author This report was compiled by Ashley Lillie, who was assisted by Professor Andre van Graan in preparing section 5 of the report. Ashley Lillie has, since 2004, been an independent heritage consultant primarily engaged in preparing heritage studies designed to meet the requirements of section 38 of the National Heritage Resources Act as well a heritage statements to assist in informing section 27 and section 34 applications. Figure 1.2: The affected property is Erf 54472, Cape Town. 1.2 Legal requirement As required in terms of section 38(1) of the National Heritage Resources Act, Heritage Western Cape was notified in a letter dated 7 December 2010 that that owners of the affected property propose demolishing the existing structures located on Erf 54472, Cape Town. The activity invokes the provisions of section 38(1)(c)(i) in that it will change the character of a site exceeding 5,000m 2 in extent. In an Interim Comment dated 20 February 2011 Heritage Western Cape advised that a Heritage Impact Assessment must be undertaken; that it Ashley s experience spans some 30 years as a heritage specialist in various capacities. Since 1988 he has been directly involved in the field of heritage resources management. His experience includes seven years with the National Monuments Council as a regional manager (consecutively in the Northern, Eastern and Western Cape regions) and three years as the Director of the Cape Town Heritage Trust. Ashley is a graduate in history from Rhodes University. His first professional appointment was as a military historian and subsequently archivist in the South African Defence Force (where he served for seven years). Ashley is a Professional Heritage Practitioner accredited by the Association of Professional Heritage Practitioners and a member of Docomomo-SA. 4

5 Andre van Graan studied architecture at the then University of Natal before completing his studies at the University of Westminster in London, where he also worked as a restoration architect on a number of restoration projects including Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle. From he was the Director of Architecture at the SA Institute of Architects in Johannesburg. He was appointed as a lecturer at the Peninsula Technikon in 2000 and currently heads the architecture programme at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He completed his MPhil degree in Architecture at UCT in 2004, with an examination of post-slums Act public housing in Cape Town. He also received a PhD from the University of Cape Town in 2011 with a thesis that examined the introduction and adaptation of Modernism in Cape Town. In addition to his academic work he is also the immediate past President of the Cape Institute for Architecture and served on the National Board of the South African Institute of Architects. He is a member of the South African branch of Docomomo and a past chairman of the Vernacular Architecture Society of South Africa. 1.5 Declaration of independence by Ashley Lillie and Andre van Graan We hereby declare that we have no conflicts of interest related to the work of this report. Specifically, we declare that we have no personal financial interests in the property and/or development being assessed in this report, and that we have no personal or financial connections to the relevant property owners, developers, planners, financiers or consultants of the development. We declare that the opinions expressed in this report are our own and a true reflection of our professional expertise. 5

6 2. ORIGINS AND EARLY YEARS OF THE WERDMULLER CENTRE store and apartments on the later-acquired portion to the finally built ground floor retail with offices above 1. The context within which the Werdmuller Centre would come to be built was described at the time as follows 2 : The Commercial area of Claremont is fast developing into the most active centre in the southern Suburbs. The L.H.C. site is unique by virtue of its position in respect of transit systems both local and urban, and further in finding itself centred in an established commercial situation serving a hinterland comprised of a well mixed community ranging from high income through middle to low. The Claremont suburb and the immediately adjacent suburbs it largely serves, but in common a twin spine of transit, Main road and Railway line, that interconnect them. The Werdmuller Centre, shortly after completion (UCT Manuscripts and Archives, Uytenbogaardt Papers) Conceptualised in the late 1960s and completed in the mid-1970s, the Werdmuller Centre was in many ways a product of its time. Built by the Old Mutual, founded in Cape Town a little over a hundred years earlier, and designed by one of South Africa s most prominent 20th century architects, Roelof Uytenbogaardt, the development sought to provide a shopping centre unlike any other in the country. The design development of the project underwent various changes arising from firstly, an increase in the size of the site following acquisition of an additional parcel of land to the Claremont Station side of the property, and then secondly, the switch from a proposed department Two proposed new roads, one linking Bowwood and Protea road, west of the Main road and the other, the proposed Claremont Bypass East of the Main Road, will add further stimulus to the commercial area by assisting to provide more rapid vehicular access to the vicinity of the site from the West, North and South. From the East a connection over the physical barrier of the railway line is made two blocks South of the site. 1 L.H.C. 2 : A development project for L.H.C. Properties limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of The South African Mutual Life Assurance Society, situated at Claremont between Newry and Ralph streets A department store and apartments, undated [early 1969], UCT Manuscripts and Archives, Roelof Uytenbogaardt Papers, BC ibid 6

7 The site is lodged precisely between four strategic elements of enormous importance to the viability of commercial development in Claremont: 1. The Main road to the West. 2. The Railway Station to the East. 3. The Bus Terminus and Taxi-Rank to the south. 4. A large parking area to the North. No other site in this commercial area enjoys this rich distribution of accessibility to the same extent as does the L.H.C. site, immediately surrounded as it is by origins of dense pedestrian movements, representing a considerable purchasing power. The proposed development consists of two portions. The first L.H.C. 1, is informed by the concept of drawing the public well into the heart of a multi-level court surrounded by shops of great variety both in size and spatial characteristics. A generous public circulation system encourages the public to move from street to street by means of a series of short cuts through the scheme, each partaking of the central space that reveals what is available to the shopper. The second portion of the development, L.H.C. 2, consists of a multi-level Department Store, and as such is characteristic of a totally different spatial organisation than L.H.C. 1, but both along Ralph Street and Newry Street frontages it develops and continues from L.H.C. 1. On the Ralph Street frontage, the Department Store in fact penetrates right into the shopping court of L.H.C. 1 at ground level and makes itself immediately available to the shoppers that have been drawn from the Main road. Along the Newry Street frontage, the spacious and shady loggia of L.H.C. 1 is elaborated and terminated in a system of entrance ways that give access to three floors of the Department Store. In considering how to extend the original design (L.H.C. 1) to include the land acquired later (L.H.C. 2) Uytenbogaardt set three objectives 3 : 1. The economic viability of developing the site, not necessarily as a separate entity but as a total development in conjunction with the present proposed scheme. 2. A development which will complement and enhance the potential of the present proposed scheme in Economic terms and in Architectural and Planning terms. 3. The inclusion of housing within the total development to expedite the granting of permission to build by the Department of Community Development. The solution that emerged was that providing for a department store and offices on the L.H.C. 2 site. Uytenbogaardt cautioned that the proposal was however dependent upon a tenant being found whose space requirements are possible within the design. Because of this prejudice and the limitations it could impose, an alternative proposal will be discussed; but it is not included in this report. Unfortunately the process of design development of the Werdmuller Centre is not well documented. Fortunately colleagues of Uytenbogaardt have recorded aspects of their recollections of the processes and 3 Feasibility study for the development of Erven and Claremont for L.H.C. Properties Ltd February

8 challenges relating to the Werdmuller Centre. Prof Fabio Tosdeschini 4 recalls 5 : many discussions and even disagreements (some very heated) about how to realise the fundamental idea of a bazaar of shops, with which we all agreed. This particularly in a context of a seemingly endless expansion of the very site for the building, as the Old Mutual progressively continued to purchase adjacent sites as the months and years went by. At stages, working drawings were virtually complete and additional sites were made available to the project. Even a veritable magician would have been hard pressed to take some parts as given and try and remodel the balance into a coherent whole. Moreover, because the theoretically attainable bulk kept on increasing virtually exponentially, as sites were added seriatim over time to the original narrow core site that bounded Newry Street with only a small frontage onto Main Road (not including the north west corner of the present building) yet total redesign was ruled out of court as time progressed, so the gap between attainable bulk and the legal maximum kept widening disconcertingly. It is obvious from Stuart Finlay s report 6 that the client was not really clear on what they were asking, was unsuccessful in getting an anchor tenant for the easterly portion of the expanded building and did their sums way too late. Todeschini also comments that: with the benefit of hindsight, the evidence suggests that, over the period that The Old Mutual appointed Roelof Uytenbogaardt to develop plans and their land-holdings for the 4 Todeschini worked with Uytenbogaardt of a full-time basis from July 1965 to January Letter from Fabio Todeschini, dated 14 February Stuart-Findlay, D Werdmuller Centre, Claremont: an historic perspective as a property investment, November 2007 project continued to expand as proposals were framed therefore, Claremont tended increasingly to be overtraded in the retail sector, particularly as it related to goods and services for the lower income group. Consequently, no amount of ingenuity would have rendered the proposition a financial success. This in particular because the site was located to the east of the Main Road and, in contrast to Cavendish Square shopping centre located to the west of the Main Road, it had to mainly cater to a lower income group. This is borne out by the inability of The Old Mutual to attract an anchor tenant for the easterly portion of the expanded building, which therefore, had to be limited to small shops and offices. 7 Derek Stuart-Findlay 8 recalls that Professor Roelof Uytenbogaardt had been appointed to design a retail structure for the site and had evolved a unique concept, a model of which he had presented to Old Mutual s Property Committee. Virtually the whole of the valuable Main Road street frontage was used to crate an entrance which was intended to draw customers into the entrance via a series of ramps to upper and lower floors. No large draw-card tenant was planned for. By early 1969 the rear third of the site had been acquired and the initial plans for the additional area were to rectify this and incorporate a department store. A year later no tenant had been found for this space and the plans were amended to construct more small shops with offices above, but with minimal linkages to the main structure. Stuart-Findlay provides some insight into the problems of the viability of the building. He notes inter alia: the relatively low levels of rentals in the area, close to the rail and bus stations; the forfeiture of income from the important Main Road frontage; the lack of a draw-card tenant; the lack of safe parking for customer only 15 bays were provided and these were 7 Letter from Fabio Todeschini, dated 21 January Stuart-Findlay joined Old Mutual Property Division on 1 January 1970 as Property Investment Analyst 8

9 allocated to the office tenants; the excessive amount of public mall and light well area in the design the ratio of lettable area to gross building area was extremely low at some 50%; although this ratio should have indicated above average common area costs for security, cleaning, maintenance etc., the viability study had made no attempt to quantify these and had merely assumed they would be 25% of the gross income; a decision was made to go to tender, but unfortunately construction costs were affected by both a later decision to air-condition the project and by the fact that, as the design concept incorporated constantly changing levels, potential building contractors had great difficulty in reading the plans and loaded their tender process accordingly. The Werdmuller Centre opened in 1975 and a contemporary article in the Cape Times 9 comments VALID ARCHITECTURE grows naturally out of recognising the nature of a site and the human dynamics involved. In these days, when commercial men and public authorities foist upon us one misbegotten apology for architecture after another, it is a pleasure to visit a site where sound architectural and commercial principles seem to have been combined... Not only is it interesting architecture, but it is beginning to create a hub of convenient and useful shops and places of refreshment that continues the pattern and tradition of Claremont. The same edition of the newspaper contains an advert for the Centre that trumpets the place for people. The text of the advert reads You ve never had somewhere quite like Werdmuller Centre to make shopping a pleasure instead of a chore. Come and experience its unique design, which gives new and exciting meaning to the term window shopping. Come and find the kind of quality and price that suits your pocket for Werdmuller Centre has 46 speciality shops covering an extensive range of goods, from fashion to foods to flowers and more. Come and find out why we say You won t want to go home, when you do your shopping at Werdmuller Centre. The most detailed contemporary description of the recently-completed Werdmuller Centre was that by Laurie Wale published in Architect and Builder in May Development in central Claremont has favoured the mountain side of the main road which over the years has become the more exclusive shopping zone. It was therefore a brave move for the Mutual to build, on land they already owned, the Werdmuller shopping centre on the railway side of the road. Normal judgement might have turned away a less adventurous promoter, but the architects won their way with a project designed to catch an additional flow of pedestrian traffic between Claremont station and the established shopping zone. Ramps fanning out to shops in all directions tempt one to explore a building that is exciting in concept perhaps even bewildering. Time will be needed for locals to get orientated to multi-level shopping without conventional stairs, lifts or rectangles. Forbidding to some, are the exposed concrete walls, ceilings and columns but as the shops fill with tenants and merchandise, the grey loses its sombreness and becomes a neutral background against which the merchant and high wares are high-lighted. Flat slab construction was chosen instead of column and beam because of the flexibility it gave. This is a fluid building, abounding 9 Benzon, John Fine architecture graces Claremont, Cape Times, 21 November Wale, L Werdmuller Centre, Claremont, Cape, Architect and Builder, May 1976, pp

10 in curves and angles. Although concrete is seen everywhere from a distance, it has not been allowed to meet the eye at close range. Slate tiles have been used for shop surrounds and on the sides and tops of ramps. Glass bricks give a touch of elegance to a section of the office block. The ramp system serves four levels and creates an atmosphere of pavement shopping lined with numerous stores each having its own character. The building, in fact, offers sanctuary to smaller merchants displaced by the big supermarket and therefore carries an air of individuality. Stainless steel window members were chosen instead of aluminium because of the lightness of appearance, strength and flexibility. A system of stainless steel drawn over a steel core was used to give a structurally sound framing without the attendant girth problems that relate to the traditional stainless steel and wood core sections. These slim sections could be welded together, thus avoiding bulky mechanical joints that occur with other materials. Interlocking angles and slip joints in the heads of the shop front take care of possible deflection of the concrete slab. Ramps, arcades, gardens, voluntary set-backs and services consume 50 per cent of the building leaving the remaining half of the area as lettable. It is obvious therefore that this is not a project seeking to squeeze out the maximum revenue-earning footage. Many of the offices, for instance, have a delightful atmosphere fronted with elevated walkways and greenery. It is unlikely that any of these will want for tenants. With the shops, however, it is a slower process. They depend on passing trade and only time will tell if this daring venture will bring the attention it seeks. The City Council has just announced plans to make the main road a shopping mall. This is a windfall that may well blow the balance the right way. Elevated gardens and flower boxes grace the building especially at the upper levels. In time, these plantings will cascade down the sides of the ramps and give softness to the concrete. Werdmuller Centre really consists of two buildings, linked with bridges and a service core. After the front section abutting the main road had been planned, the rest of the site on the railway side was acquired and the remainder of the scheme added. This rear zone consists of shops with offices above. Only 60 per cent of the overall allowed bulk has been used. 10

11 A larger structural scale is found on the north side facing the station parking area. There is a big voluntary set-back behind the pillars which takes shopfronts some distance from the pavement. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 3) Front entrance showing how delicate glasswork follows the fluid lines of the building. This is the commercial point of the ramp system serving several shopping levels. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 2) 11

12 The curve on the right marks the extremity of the front section of the scheme, planned before land was acquired for the erection of the remainder of the project on the left. Ramps, bridges and a service core link the two sections. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 3) Ramp from the front section of the building leading to the post office and showrooms at first floor level of the building in the rear. Steps lead to offices above. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 4) 12

13 Entrance to parking and loading areas. The floating egg-shaped structure houses toilets adjacent to the post office. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 4) Ramps to post office and showrooms are on the left. On the right is the level connecting the front and back section of the building. On the top floor is a nightclub style restaurant (not yet occupied). Above everything is a flowerbox. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 5) 13

14 South side of the building showing, at first floor level, the contrast of off-shutter concrete with glass and delicate stainless steel members. Plantings re-echo flower sellers and trees opposite. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 7) One of the public spaces in the building seen from the post office. Ramps are under hole on right. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 7) 14

15 General view of ramps. Plants will cascade down to soften appearance. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 8) Clerestory windows to offices which face south on the Wynberg side of the building. Flowerboxes form shelter to the walkway below. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 9) 15

16 Restaurant terrace which overlooks the main road at first floor level. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 10) Ramps as seen from the Main Road side of the building. Above are storage spaces which will eventually become covered with ivy. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 11) 16

17 The elite top floor of the Werdmuller Centre fronted with a walkway and plantings. Screens pivot to give privacy or shelter from the wind. The offices on the right are occupied by the architects of the building, and those on the left by Professor Prinsloo, head of the U.C.T. School of Architecture. There are five firms of architects in this wing. (Architect & Builder, May 1976, p. 11) 17

18 3. ROELOF UYTENBOGAARDT In 1999 a panel appointed by the Financial Mail (Lindsay Bremner, Ozi Nkabinde and Khotso Moleko) selected Roelof Uytenbogaardt as South Africa s Architect of the Century. The motivation for the selection was as follows 11 : Born in 1933 and marked out early as a person of unusual ability, Uytenbogaardt obtained his Bachelor of Architecture (with distinction) from the University of Cape Town in The following year, in competition with young architects from all over the UK, he won the RIBA Rome Scholarship, allowing him to spend two years at the British School in Rome. His studies were completed in the US, at the University of Pennsylvania, where he worked under one of the greatest architects of the century, Louis Kahn, and from which he graduated in 1961 as a Master of Architecture and a Master of City Planning. He received one of the seven American Institute of Planners awards for academic achievement made to students at universities throughout the US. Uytenbogaardt returned to SA in 1963 and went on to become the senior partner in a series of practices, undertaking richly diverse architectural, urban design and planning assignments. These included almost 70 buildings and unbuilt architectural projects, the earliest of which attracted the attention and admiration of his peers and provoked the debate and controversy that marks work at the cutting edge of a discipline. 11 Stafford, Linda Architect of the century: Roelof Uytenbogaardt Financial Mail Millenium Issue, 17 December 1999 (retrieved from His first Cape Town practice was awarded the Cape Provincial Institute of Architects bronze medal in 1965 for the shop for Hugo van Zyl in Paarl. He went on to win eight other Cape Institute of Architects' medals and awards of merit for completed buildings, as well as three Architecture SA awards. His award-winning work included the Truwell [Bonwit] Factory (1967), the Belhar Housing Development (1985), the Steinkopf Community Hall (1985), the University of the Western Cape Sports Stadium (1987), the Hout Bay Library (1991), Springfield Terrace Housing (1993) and his own house at Kommetjie (1993). Uytenbogaardt also won several competitions, including the prestigious national competition for a new museum and library for the city of Durban. What is notable about this list is that so many of the buildings were for poor communities, where there were severe constraints on resources. Yet they clearly were invested with the same care and attention, the same impulse to find the subtle plan and the elegant detail as any other project Uytenbogaardt undertook. SAIA gave him its Gold Medal of Honour because these buildings and projects "constitute a body of work of exceptional quality, which has enriched the practice of architecture in SA through their formal virtuosity and the dissemination of the theoretical principles that they exemplify". Uytenbogaardt's work was regularly published in SA and abroad. He was invited to contribute to exhibitions at the University of Pennsylvania and his work is held in its collection. He regularly lectured on his work in SA and internationally, and was invited to deliver the Sophie Gray lecture at the University of Bloemfontein and to mount an accompanying exhibition. This was also shown at 18

19 the SA National Gallery, in Johannesburg and in Namibia, and Uytenbogaardt was invited to send it to Australia and Switzerland. Bremner says: "Roelof's buildings were quite extraordinary and there is a whole school of thought and practice that has formed around him in Cape Town." Uytenbogaardt was not only distinguished as an architect but also as an urban designer and planner, having made significant contributions through practical projects and by scholarly publication. His concern for the pressing urbanisation issues confronting Cape Town and other SA cities was expressed in seminal design projects for affordable housing. He was a founder member of the Urban Problems Research Unit, one of SA's most productive research groups working on urbanisation problems. And he co-authored two books on the subject: Housing: A Comparative Analysis of Urbanism in Cape Town; and SA Cities: A Manifesto for Change. He also made an exceptional contribution to architectural and planning education in SA. He began his teaching career in 1963 at UCT as a senior lecturer, eventually assuming the post of professor of planning, which he held until his death. He was also head of the university's School of Architecture & Planning and Dean of the Faculty of Fine Art& Architecture. He was a visiting critic at the universities of Pennsylvania, Harvard, MIT and Columbia, as well as at the Boston Architectural Centre. In 1995, Uytenbogaardt received UCT's coveted Distinguished Teacher Award. 19

20 4. CONSIDERING THE WERDMULLER CENTRE: AS ARCHITECTURE (The text which follows in this section is extracted from an earlier draft impact assessment report prepared by Peter de Tolly & Associates for Old Mutual 12 ) The three design informants defined by Uytenbogaardt in his text entitled An approach to architecture contained in the monograph by Giovanni Vio published in October help to provide an understanding of departure point for much of Uytenbogaardt s architecture (considerable portions of his text are repeated because they provide the necessary platform for evaluation). Uytenbogaardt wrote: I believe in architecture of discovery, an approach which rejects preconceptions leading to predetermined ends, in plan, section or elevation. Further, that, the process of discovery can be described in terms of a sequence of need, programme, idea and context. The process, in the first instance, should be informed by a sensitive understanding of human needs and requirements, physical, social, psychological and cultural. Human needs give rise to a programme of requirements. The programme has no form but has implications for form. Programme has two main informants. The one is the requirements generated by the activities and functions which will be housed in the building and by the needs of the people who carry out those activities. The other derives from the special consciousness of the individual about the art of architecture. This consciousness substantially impacts on the way in which the problem is finally defined. For my part, architecture is a continuum of past, present and future and 12 Peter de Tolly & Associates Proposed redevelopment Erf Claremont, Heritage Impact Assessment prepared in compliance with Section 38 of the National Heritage Resources Act, April Vio, Giovanni Roelof Uytenbogaardt: Senza tempo/timeless, 2006 the great search is for the timeless qualities of architecture. The fact that most people of any one generation live in, and use, buildings made by past generations and that most buildings today will house future generations is an important realisation. It underscores the fact that the qualities, which make buildings truly enduring, are capable of recognition beyond cultural change. This qualitative, non-programmatic dimension of architecture transcends, but still incorporates, the programme of the immediate client. No really significant architecture can ever result from an approach, which is informed simply by the immediate programme of functional requirements. Great architecture results from an approach when the non-programmatic and programmatic dimensions of buildings are brought into appropriate relationships with each other. In summary, every project (should) respond to three major informants: the programmatic (the translation of human and cultural requirements and activities into the language of a building); the non-programmatic (the art of architecture over time in many contexts); and context (the dictates of place). Taken together, these provide the constraints which are of enormous assistances to design (emphasis added). The following text from the exhibition on Uytenbogaardt s work held at the South African National Gallery explained the building : This building (was) designed as an alternative to the internally oriented shopping mall, an exploration of light and interconnected space in which one always would be aware of the building as a whole and of the world outside...the building responds to the pedestrian desire lines from Main Road to Claremont Station, the route from the former picked up at street level and wound up through the building in the form of a ramp, to terminate in an upper terrace with a view towards Devil s Peak and overlooking the road. The offices are given views into the building and open into planned terraces with sunlight and external views. The next sections will explore the recorded key influences underpinning the design, how the above informants and objectives were realised and 20

21 their success or otherwise over the 30 years since the construction of the development. The influence of Le Corbusier in the design of the building According to Uytenbogaardt the Werdmuller Centre reflects an exploration of Le Corbusier, ʺ one of the most innovative space makers we have known. Even in making the drawings I was influenced by him 14. Lange has suggested that the Werdmuller Centre was produced during a period of infatuation with Le Corbusier s work 15. The Werdmuller Centre is certainly a distinctive and unusual building. The remainder of this section explains its stylistic origins, placing the building within its architectural historical context. It traces the aesthetic to Le Corbusier s purist and brutalist phase, lists relevant theory and other Corbusian features. It also includes Uytenbogaardt s own contribution in extending the Corbusian language. It alludes to the link between modern art and modern architecture, both the stylistic qualities and motifs as well as the shared strategies and gambits employed by the modern artist and modern architect. The design of Werdmuller Centre can be firmly placed as being directly influenced by the controversial Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier (Charles Edward Jeanneret Gris, ). He was arguably the most influential architect of the twentieth century and also had a great effect on modernist town planning. It closely resembles Le Corbusier s Carpenter Centre, the notable Harvard visual arts building built only ten 14 Nuttal, Jean Carey Roelof Uytenbogaardt, Transvaal Institute of Architects Journal, November 1993, p. 14, 15 Lange, Rory Character and Composition in the Architecture of Roelof Sarel Uytenbogaardt : the ordering of place. History Essay, University of Cape Town, 1996 years previously. It shares the use of Le Corbusier s five points of architecture, the use of ramps, materials, finishes and details. Le Corbusier and Ozenfant founded the Purism (an avant garde painting) movement in Leger is perhaps the most famous artist associated with the Purists. Theirs was a reaction to the fragmentary nature of cubist painting. The machine and industrial motifs were given a stripped, classical quality. Simple, platonic forms were used, devoid of detail. Similar such forms and motifs can be found in Le Corbusier s architecture such as the simple column, rectangular composition, stripped forms and the use of the serpentine curve. Twenty years after the purist movement ended Corbusier embarked on his brutalist period, using beton brut (raw concrete). Rough concrete was exposed, as well as services. This movement was popular amongst architects in the 60 s and 70 s. The brutalist aesthetic is evident in Werdmuller in the sheer, solid towers and unplastered concrete and exposed plumbing services. Dark slate and tar are used in a brutalist fashion as they are materials without positive tactile qualities. Uncompromising forms and harsh materials are used rigorously and consistently throughout the building in a highly sculptural way. Le Corbusier s five points were published in a booklet written for the Stuttgart Weissenhof housing exhibition in They are as follows: 1. Le Toit Terasse or Roof Garden The space occupied by the building on the ground floor is recaptured by the roof garden. It allows for additional outside 16 Roth, Alfred Zwei Wöhnhauser von Le Corbusier und Pierre Jeaneret,

22 space and the garden maintains constant humidity ensuring protection of the reinforced concrete roof slab. 2. La Maison Sur Pilotis The house is lifted on supports, away from the damp ground. Piloti are plain, simple, undecorated columns. Their role is to support the floor without beams, allowing the slabs to float as a horizontal square plane. Their use implies a logical grid. This sets up a pattern of columns which gives rhythm and sense of scale. The use of a structural grid frees up the walls to operate independently to structure. No structural compromises are necessary for the making of space. In the Werdmuller Centre the columns do not necessarily support the floor immediately above, but may skip a level or two, supporting a slab or roof at a much higher level. 3. Le Fenêtre en Longuer -The horizontal window Long spans are possible using reinforced concrete. Increased illumination is possible Ribbon type windows accentuate the horizontal character of modern buildings, in contrast to the vertical quality of traditional architecture. 4. Le Plan Libre The Free Plan The piloti support system carries the load of the structure, enabling freedom in the design of the plan and the movement system. 5. La Façade Libre The Free Facade The pilotis are inside the building. The floors may project, thus freeing up the façade from its supporting role. The façade can thus be designed without compromises to reflect the internal use or to act as a screen of some kind, and can be separated from the building. It can be designed with various thicknesses and can mediate the zone between inside and outside. A Corbusian feature, not listed in his five points, was the use of the ramp as a device to move through a building. In addition to these principles, other modernist conventions include simplified and abstracted forms, no decoration or ornament, and the building structured by movement. The five points were a radical departure from the architecture of the past. They were originally intended for domestic architecture, though Le Corbusier used these principles in later, non-residential projects. The Werdmuller Centre is one of the few buildings in South Africa which follows Le Corbusier s Five Points of Architecture. Uytenbogaardt extended the possibilities using the vocabulary of the five points by sophisticated use of complex geometries, the use of pilotis skipping floors and supporting levels higher up as well as the tilting of floor planes (Lange). The architect has pursued his intention to work in this particular mode with almost uncompromising rigour. The self imposed rules have been relentlessly pursued and sculptural effects have been taken extremely far. The qualities of reinforced concrete have been exploited, both structurally with daring spans and its plastic, sculptural opportunities with curved and serpentine forms. The qualities of the rough materials are laid bare in an unabashed exposure of raw concrete, slate and tar, unashamedly expressed. 22

23 There are many parts of the building which display a virtuoso s skill in sculptural articulation and the manipulation of space, most evident in the north entrance on Newry Street. It is important to note that the modernist project articulated by Le Corbusier was in opposition to traditional architecture. It was utopian, anti bourgeois and socialist. The programme of this new architecture was a negation of the past, which was thought to have no relevance in the modern world. It ignored history, place and identity, hence the name international style, a generic term for modern architecture. Nuttal quotes Uytenbogaardt as saying that: You slightly lose your head in the way you want to form that space. It was idealism, a love affair. For Lange 17 : If the Werdmuller Centre is Corbusian, it is the Corbu of L Œuvre Complet; black and white, heroic, polemical. The modernist aesthetic, while championed by the architectural establishment to this day, has not been a popular style. It could be argued that it was always the intention of the architect in the role of the modern artist to challenge accepted notions and to move forward to a new architecture appropriate to the changed circumstances of the modern world. This is consistent with the historicist idea of progress in art as well as the widespread notion of the spirit of the times (zeitgeist) demanding new forms. It was the intention of the early modern artist (Le Corbusier was also a painter) to react against the excesses of the Victorian and Edwardian times. There was a belief, still held by some today that traditional forms had been exhausted, and had degenerated into commercialized and sentimental banality. The modern artist, in reacting against this kitsch, made art that was purposely difficult to fathom, and once appreciated through education and awareness, became an acquired elevated taste. This may go towards explaining why many architects have pursued and appreciated the modernist style in spite of its unpopularity with the general public. Werdmuller Centre is a good example of this. 17 Lange, Rory Character and Composition in the Architecture of Roelof Sarel Uytenbogaardt : The ordering of place History Essay, University of Cape Town, 1996, p

24 5. CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WERDMULLER CENTRE 5.1 Considering the Werdmuller Centre Regarded both as an architecturally iconic structure and a functionally problematical building from its inception, the Werdmuller Centre has been dogged by controversy. In considering its significance it is important to contextualise the building, both in terms of national and international architectural trends as well as Uytenbogaardt s oeuvre. It is also important, given his role as a leading architect and academic, to determine whether the building could be regarded as a seminal piece of architecture that either reflected a new direction that he took or that was to influence other architects in the region. Uytenbogaardt was a gifted architectural student at UCT and cites the influence of the head of the school, Thornton-White for his influence on him. Having completed his architectural studies in 1956 with distinctions he went on to win the RIBA Prix de Rome in the first South African to win this prestigious award. In 1958 he went to the University of Pennsylvania to embark on a masters degree in architecture and also one in city planning. Here he studied under Louis Kahn. He remained in the USA until In 1965 he was awarded the Cape Provincial Institute of architects Bronze Medal for shops that he designed in Paarl. The citation noted the fine creative concept that had been followed through and the manner in which the contained space and dramatic movement through the space has been integrated into the function of the building. This reference to dramatic movement is also suggested by Uytenbogaardt who says that he believes in an architecture of discovery, a notion which rejects preconceptions leading to predetermined ends, in style or form, in plan, section or elevation. (Vio 2006:31) This concept clearly manifests itself in the planning of the Werdmuller centre with its various circulation routes that suggest a journey of exploration and discovery- somewhat in conflict with the concept of a shopping centre. Uytenbogaardt goes on to speak of the significance of the programme. On the one hand there are the activities and functions which will be housed in the building and the needs of the people who will carry out those activities (Ibid: 31). He then refers to a second informant of the programme: the special consciousness of the individual architect about the art of architecture. This consciousness, he believed, impacts on the final design. He placed great stress on the fact that non-programmatic aspects shaped great architecture and not simply a good functional response. Yet, in the project completed shortly before he embarked on the design of the Werdmuller Centre, the Bonwit factory in Salt River, for which he was also awarded an Institute Bronze Medal, a clear response to the functional requirements of a knitting factory was evident. Here the satisfying of the functional needs and his non-programmatic aspects form a coherent unity and the citation refers to the building as an efficient technical solution. After completing the Werdmuller Centre, the next group of projects focused on domestic architecture and housing as well as urban design, before he designed the UCT Sports centre in In both the Werdmuller Centre and the UCT Sports Centre, the influence of Le Corbusier is evident, with both drawing heavily on the design of the Carpenter Centre in Cambridge Massachusetts that had been completed in There is also reference to the architectural language of the convent of La Tourette at Eveux in France, particularly in the horizontality and disposition of the upper office floor. But it is the Carpenter Centre, Le Corbusier s only American building, that was under construction when Uytenbogaardt lived in the States that appears to have had the most profound influence on him. Lucien le Grange also says that his work of the late 1960s and early 70s was strongly influenced by Le Corbusier and he goes on to suggest that Uytenbogaardt s engagement with the work of Corb gave direction to his students. In the planning of the Werdmuller Centre, the split in the development of the project from the Main Road phase to the subsequent incorporation of

25 the eastern portion is evident. The circulation through the building appears to be highly complex and confusing as a result. Although the lack of clear routes through the building is a consequence of Uytenbogaardt s concept of an architecture of discovery, it is also evident that there are a number of different approaches that have been adopted in the creation of circulation patterns in the building. The diagonal route through the building from the south east side that is accessed from the bus and railway station has much of the characteristic of a modern day interpretation of the arcade with its vertical links, which also bring light into the spaces, and the fairly direct movement pattern here. The access off Main Road leads into a system of ramps of discovery that lead upward through the building and originally terminated in an upper level terrace. Although this gives a diverse spatial experience to the vertical movement, the lack of a significant focus on the upper level somewhat weakens the concept. Uytenbogaardt believed that the idea behind a design ordered the whole and directed the manner in which the programme is resolved and it defines relationships between elements. But he stresses that ideas only become design when applied to context and it is the context which in his words warps, enriches and gives life to the diagram. (Ibid: 31) Strangely enough it would seem that it is in its inability to function in its context that has generated the most problems for the building. Designed as a permeable structure that allowed access from all sides, this permeability led to security problems and the routes of discovery have meant that the clarity of movement that is expected in a functionally efficient shopping centre is distinctly lacking here. Movement through the centre from the railway station had been planned for a largely white commuter population who would be drawn to a variety of small shops that would be located in the centre. This however did not reflect the actual shopping pattern of Claremont where shopping has always focused on the west side of Main Road and small, exclusive shops cluster around the anchor shops that are the inevitable drawcard. The Werdmuller Centre was, as a result of the idea behind it and the manner in which it celebrates the architectural language of Le Corbusier as re-interpreted by Uytenbogaardt, a masterful architectural showpiecearchitecture as sculpture and as a demonstration of the interplay of solid and void, light and darkness, a place of discovery for the intrepid explorer. This has led to its admiration by many as an architectural tour de force, but at the same time, its lack of understanding of the programme (which might never have been clearly defined by the owners at the time), of the demands of retail design, and its inability to respond to context has, inevitably, also led to its failure. 5.2 Elements of the cultural significance of the Werdmuller Centre The concept of "cultural significance" underpins the National Heritage Resources Act, most importantly because of its being a qualifying component of what constitutes a heritage resource that may in turn form part of the national estate. The Act defines "cultural significance" as meaning "aesthetic, architectural, historical, scientific, social, spiritual, linguistic or technological value or significance". Further clarity in terms of what constitutes part of the national estate is given in section 3(3). This section sets out a range of criteria that serve to further amplify what constitutes cultural significance and thus provides a framework for understanding the extent to which a resource possesses significance. In considering the Werdmuller Centre and the extent to which it displays cultural significance the following elements are noteworthy: The Werdmuller Centre is the work of Roelof Uytenbogaardt a prominent and award-winning 20th architect in South Africa [section 3(3)(h)]. 25

26 5.2.2 The sculptural qualities, spatial organisation and expressive use of concrete (although the cladding applied to the exterior diminishes that impact) are noteworthy elements of the building, which captures much of spirit of the Modern Movement [section 3(3)e)] The strong Corbusian characteristics of the building are strongly derived from the later works of the architect, most notable the Carpenter Centre The Werdmuller Centre is highly regarded by many South African architects [section 3(3)(g)] The controversial and somewhat unsuccessful nature of the building is reflected in it not being among the award-winning buildings of the architect Although seen as an attempt by the architect to celebrate the influence of Le Corbusier the building is in many ways a collage of Corbusian images rather than giving effect to the essential principles of that architect s theories As an attempt to pay homage to Le Corbusier the structural grid and circulation routes create a complex and confusing melange. prepared by Professor Ivor Prinsloo (who had his office in the building, see p. 17) Despite efforts on the part of the developer the building has not lent itself to adapt to commercial purposes, given the complex plan form, levels, multiple entrances (resulting in complex security issues) and lack of parking. 5.3 Statement of significance Designed by one of Roelof Uytenbogaardt, one of the leading South African architects of the 20th century, the Werdmuller Centre was built for Old Mutual, as a shopping centre with attached offices, and completed in Possessing strong Corbusian influences the building is an instantly recognisable product of the Modern Movement. The sculptural elements, use of concrete and spatial organization together create a building that elicits strong responses, not always favourable. The building has, since opening, had a fraught life that included early alterations and an unsatisfactory commercial performance. When balanced against other work of the architect the Werdmuller Centre it is considered to warrant a grading of 3(a) Unlike the architect s other successful buildings that have a lucid plan form and clear spatial hierarchy, the Werdmuller is complex and confusing The Werdmuller Centre is notably absent from Uytenbogaardt s award-winning buildings as well as from the landmark Architecture 2000 : a review of South African Architecture 26

27 6. CONSIDERING THE WERDMULLER CENTRE: AS A COMMERCIAL VENTURE The completed Werdmuller Centre soon evidenced difficulties for the owners, Old Mutual. In 1990, Stuart-Findlay was appointed Provincial Property Manager for Old Mutual in the Cape, Natal and Namibia. As part of his portfolio, he took over the management of the Werdmuller Centre. By then, he had already managed Cavendish Square for a number of years. He writes:...the contrast between the performances of the two buildings was startling. Tenants and shoppers could not relate to Werdmuller and it had acquired the nickname Weirdmuller Centre. Upper-income shoppers used Cavendish Square and middle-income customers used Kenilworth Centre. Many attempts had been made to rectify the inherent design faults at Werdmuller but none of them worked: A completely fitted out restaurant had been installed opening onto the first floor patio above the Main Road, but this had failed to attract successful tenants. The central mall had been roofed in to prevent the rain penetration in the winter which made the sloping malls extremely slippery. I was told that the theory of the original mall design was that rising heat would prevent rain penetration, but of course this had not worked. The restaurant and a number of individual shops in the upper mall had been incorporated into a large furniture store in an attempt to fill vacant space and to create a draw card tenant. The design of a larger retail space of this nature proved difficult as each of the small shops had been built on a separate level. The furniture store moved out and the space is currently occupied as a church on Sundays only. An additional link had been built to join the first floors of the separate front and rear sections of the building. The link was built through an existing shop which reduced lettable area, and was constructed as members of the public entering Werdmuller from the Main Road could never find Claremont Post Office which was on the first floor of the back section of the building. The Post Office eventually moved out. To fill vacant space, a number of shops on the basement level had been joined together to create Cafda Bookshop which could only be let at a rent which barely covered the operating costs of the shop. The lack of parking was a disincentive to shoppers and tenants. The numerous entrances to the building created a major security problem and deterred customers from visiting. Net income generated by the centre was so low or even negative that it was impossible to value the building on the normal capitalised net income basis and it had to be assessed on the theoretical value of the land only. Stuart-Findlay concludes his report as follows: As a retail design concept and as an investment, Werdmuller Centre has been an utter failure. It has inherent design faults which cannot be rectified. In my opinion there was always an arrogance in the concept that the building would always attract customers to the shops because it was so different. It defied all the normal criteria for successful retail design and unfortunately it has never succeeded. It stands today virtually empty in the centre of a potentially highly successful urban renewal scheme. It is 27

28 clearly inhibiting the redevelopment of the vital Claremont transport hub and should be demolished as soon as possible. The failure of the Werdmuller Centre to perform as expected was reported in the News round-up section of Architect and Builder late in Under a heading Shopping Centre under attack the article noted: The three-year-old R2,2 million Werdmuller Centre designed by Uytenbogaard [sic], Macaskill and Schneider has not produced the returns hoped for by its owners Old Mutual. Mr. Leigh Speakman of Design International, an American architectural consultency [sic] retained by the Mutual to examine the problem has suggested that a solution could be found only by knocking down the front half of the building, redesigning and rebuilding it. Returns from the office accommodation and shops in the rear near the Claremont railway station were satisfactory. It was only the front half that failed to produce business. Defending the building against attack, architect Julian Cooke, in a letter to the press, suggested that there is more to a building than its payability, such as the use of the natural environment to give it character, sun, light, air and greenery. He suggests that in time the merits of an imaginary design will be recognised and the economics will come right. He deplores the fact that advanced and interesting architecture should be maligned while so many shopping centres go up in the area that produce instant returns but create an environment that will be hostile for years to come. Bruce Ballard 19 in his report of 12 November 2007 updates Stuart- Findlay s report. To him, what is of key relevance was that the returns that were considered marginal in the 1970 s, have remained so, and have in fact worsened. The following is a summary of the eight reasons he advances as to why the Centre has not been able to perform as would be expected of any commercial investment: The building has a very low efficiency 52% compared to the industry standard of 80%. This has required achieving high rentals to offset operating costs and amortisation of investment. The Centre was planned to use only 10,750m² of the potential usable area of 21,350m², significantly precluding achieving an acceptable return. One of the fundamentals of retail design is to ensure that tenants have clear sight lines for shoppers to be able to see the stores which are not located directly on the busy circulation routes. The Werdmuller Centre s system of entrances and ramps has resulted in a lack of visual permeability. Shoppers have stayed away and tenants have been unable to trade effectively. There was a lack of connectivity between the two buildings, and even the construction of a bridge (to provide access to the Post Office), failed to improve circulation. The design precluded providing for a significant anchor tenant which would have provided the purpose for shoppers to visit the centre, who in turn would have sustained the small line shops. Centre managers have been forced to lease out larger spaces at 18 Shopping centre under attack, Architect and Builder, November 1978, p Bruce Ballard is a qualified Quantity Surveyor, formerly employed by the OMIGPI, as a Deal Originator on the Business Development Team 28

29 low rentals and this has precluded implementation of a considered tenant strategy. Although easily accessed by train, bus and taxi, the centre could not offer convenience (i.e. car access and parking) to the higher income shoppers that were required to sustain the tenants that would keep the centre profitable. Only 15 on-site bays were provided, as opposed to the 584 that would normally be provided in a centre of that size. The adjacent area has lacked a stable supply of secure parking, and in any event, higher-income shoppers require on-, not off-site parking. asset average rental yield growth at 4%, as opposed to the above 25% that is being experienced elsewhere in this asset class. Today and this has been the case from before 2000, the value of the property lies in the market value of the land less cost of demolition. The building has no commercial value. As has been previously stated, the design of the centre resulted in shoppers not supporting the original tenant mix and over time whatever strategic tenant mix there was has had to give way to a series of ad-hoc retailers, either very short-term or monthly. This has precluded the provision of a pleasant experience for shoppers. A successful retail centre must provide shoppers with a quality shopper experience: convenience, security, style, the right tenant mix, and first class management. The Werdmuller Centre is lacking all of these and so provides a poor shopper experience; this translates into poor financial performance. Today 4 114m² of retail space is occupied and 2 083m² is vacant; 72m² of office space is occupied and 1 902m² is vacant; 1 278m² of storage space is occupied and 837m² vacant, which translates to an overall occupancy of only 53 %. Ballard analyses Annual Revenue, Total Expenses, Retained Earnings/Loss for the Year, and Average Rental/m² for the Centre for the period 2000 to The resultant picture is not good for the shareholder, with the total 29

30 7. MOTIVATION FOR DEMOLITION Building Area (GBA) constitutes 51% of the total building area; this is 29% below the required efficiency of 80%. This requires the buildings income to generate higher rentals than market levels to offset operating costs and to pay for the amortization of the cost of the land and development. 2. Incorrect programmatic assumptions: The programmatic assumptions about the nature of retailing in that part of Claremont were wrong upper income (LSM 6-7) target market retailing is not sustainable in an area patronized predominantly by low income earners (LSM 3-4) using public transport. Commuters are not shoppers that will sustain retailing as provided in the Werdmuller Centre. Footfall statistics and data collected by Old Mutual show a declining number of visits to the Centre from inception to the current date. 7.1 Current owner - Old Mutual The proposal for demolition has been motivated by Old Mutual (the current owners), as follows. The failure of the building both economically and functionally can be summarized as follows: 1. Very poor retail GLA efficiency: The Centre was designed with an excessive amount of public walkways, mall and light well areas. The retail Gross Lettable Area (GLA) to Gross The assumption that shoppers would be prepared to negotiate the dysfunctional system of ramps to retail destinations is incorrect. Shoppers have resisted its complex layout (its internal circulation of ramps and spaces) and the lack of weather protection to building users. The design contradicted one of the fundamentals of retail design, which is to ensure that tenants have clear sight lines for shoppers to be able to see the stores that are not located directly on the busy circulation routes. As a consequence the tenants are not visible, easily accessed by shoppers and as a result tenants suffer poor trading densities. The configuration of ramps and levels is not disabled friendly for the aged, young children or physically handicapped customers; in addition trolleys and prams have difficulty in negotiating the dysfunctional access layout and ramp system. 3. On-site parking is totally inadequate: The number of parking bays in the basement of the building is totally inadequate for the amount of retail and office space for tenants, visitors 30

31 and customers, further reducing obtainable rentals. 15 parking bays are provided for tenants and none for shoppers. A centre of that size requires a minimum of 686 bays to function as a convenient retail centre. Parking requirements by national or anchor tenants are woefully inadequate and subsequently no potential tenants will be prepared to trade. The open parking lots, adjacent to the site, have been converted to public transport nodes and any available close proximity public parking no longer exists. The upgrading of Claremont Boulevard has removed parking bays to the rear of the site. Shoppers using private transport are therefore precluded from shopping in the centre. There is no other parking available in close proximity. 4. There was a serious lack of consulting retail discernment: Insufficient space was provided on the site fronting onto Main Road for an anchor tenant. It has proved impossible to secure a national department store tenant for which the design made provision. The lack of a draw-card tenant severely impacts on the small retail stores reliance on the footfall generated by a large national tenant. 5. The design of the building made it difficult to adjust the retail areas to new patterns of retailing: From inception a steady decline in tenants has been experienced and together with a high turnover of failed tenants, due to the lack of convenience and a dysfunctional retail design, the rental income was not sufficient to warrant the buildings viability. Critically for the success of the centre, it was not possible to provide sufficient space for any anchor or large national tenants to attract shoppers and sustain sufficient footfall. Over time the A and B grade shops have given way to C/D/E grade shops, and increasingly, to vacancies. There are today no tenants occupying the available space. The office component is also currently vacant. Similarly, the building is unable to be adequately serviced by delivery and related service vehicles, preventing any national or major retailer from taking anchor tenant space, or in fact any space. Ultimately the building proved unviable to operate at low occupancies and a decision was therefore taken to mothball. As a result Old Mutual has secured the building by way of boarding-up the site with no access to ensure inter alia the safety and security of the general public. 31

32 6. The design of the building to the Main Road: The street frontage design placed a vacant blank circulation core on the most important and critical corner, effectively blocking out the stores behind. Much of the rest of the Main Road frontage was left open with no street retail facing onto the Main Road. All retail areas were set back and difficult to see and access. In a competitive retail market where visibility and convenience are key, the design falls very short of accommodating either. Actual retail space on Main Road was less than 20% of the available frontage. The building failed to provide the overall minimum requirements for a modern competitive shopping experience convenience, security, style and tenant mix, and making for a successful centre. 7. Technologically inflexible, difficult if not impossible to adapt: The buildings construction of in situ concrete construction and brick infill is inflexible and impossible to adapt to changing technological demands; retail flexibility changes and tenant requirements. Its built form cannot be readily altered to suit the current market trends and cannot accommodate refinement or be adapted and its major faults corrected. Essential and necessary alterations to improve on the functionality and shopper convenience have altered the building materially as much as is feasible. The building has been altered over time to counter design and construction deficiencies. Construction detailing such as weather penetration, waterproofing and other poor construction detailing has been an ongoing exercise to rectify and improve the original design. All of these alterations were made to correct design and construction faults with some of the changes being irreversible. energy use is by and large not achievable. Some of the energy systems (electrical and mechanical) can be mooted but the intrinsic fabric of the building such as orientation, natural lighting and ventilation are not possible unless major renovations or alterations to the design are approved. The current building state is poor and is due largely to construction and design failures over time and not to building maintenance. Building design and systems conceived in the early 1970 s have proved to perform inadequately. The in situ concrete structure is suffering from structural failure such as spalling of reinforcing, flat concrete roof surfaces are failing to perform their original function and the mechanical and electrical reticulation is outdated and largely nonfunctional. Finishes and fittings are falling apart, glazing, ceilings, doors, balustrades and other detailed components are rusting and would have to be replaced entirely. The external cladding on the elevations has been removed as this posed a danger to pedestrians due to the panels collapsing onto the sidewalks. 8. Poor commercial return affects maintenance affordability directly: The building is expensive to maintain without adequate occupancy income and its current state of decay will require a capital injection not warranted by a building that has proved to be incapable of meeting acceptable economic returns. The progressive lack of a return on the building has led to a minimum maintenance approach. The buildings condition today is testimony to this. The building has no commercial value: The current valuation of Erf is today (and has been for over a decade) limited to the site only less the cost of demolition. The value of the building with all its inherent inefficiencies and decayed state has no ascribable commercial value. The current policy of Old Mutual to convert existing buildings to be more environmentally compatible and to reduce the overall carbon footprint of 9. A building perceived to be of dubious attractiveness and use: 32

33 It is significant that the majority of the opinion samples of professionals and the public felt that the building was neither an attractive nor a useful building. Non-architects, professionals, Claremont residents, surrounding business owners and numerous community opinions react negatively to the aesthetic of the building. Comments from shoppers reflect an aversion to enter the building. Prospective tenants see no value in locating to a building inherently dysfunctional, without convenience parking or visibility. expose the building users to growing criminal elements. This is clearly validated by the South African Police Services experiences with the building and plethora of criminal cases and incidents reported daily and weekly. Today, its convoluted maze of passage ways and hiding places, have made the building unsafe for people who work in it and who walk through it; according to the South African Police Services it is a haven for criminals with incidences of theft of motor vehicles, theft from motor vehicles, drug related crime, armed robbery, common robbery, assault and that its infrastructure is used by street drug dealers as a base and distribution facility, and a hiding place for robbers and shoplifters. The Werdmuller Centre was designed in an age when personal security, anti social behavior and the rise of criminal activity was much lower. To seal the entrance ways and permeable openings would be tantamount to major alterations to the current form. 10. A building impossible to secure: The most serious deterrent to retaining the building is that it is impossible to physically secure, there are too many penetrations to the surrounding streets, this seriously compromises shoppers and tenants alike and 33

34 11. Underuse of available bulk limited commercial return: Erf (5,738m²) has a bulk potential of 21,350m² with a height restriction of 7 storeys. The Werdmuller Centre utilizes only 11,439m² of its potential built bulk, this constitutes only 53,5% of available bulk. The under utilization of potential bulk precludes the site from being commercially viable. 34

35 35