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When it comes to the AFGRI Head Office, the architects – Paragon Architects – can be seen as magicians. They have waved their architectural wand and have defied gravity, creating a building that holds the illusion of levitation. With its stark white contrasting colour and large glass curtain walls, the AFGRI head office is an immaculate floating apparition.
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SPECIAL REPORTAFGRI Head Office
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AFGRI HEAD OFFICE Architecture that floats
By Stacey Rowan
When it comes to the AFGRI Head Office, the architects – Paragon Architects – can
be seen as magicians. They have waved their architectural wand and have defied
gravity, creating a building that holds the illusion of levitation. With its stark white
contrasting colour and large glass curtain walls, the AFGRI head office is an im-
maculate floating apparition.
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LEFT: The basement levels
and four office levels are all
supported by columns.
RIGHT: As an immaculate
floating apparition, the
building holds the illusion of
levitation.
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When it comes to the AFGRI Head Office, the archi-
tects – Paragon Architects – can be seen as magicians.
They have waved their architectural wand and have
defied gravity, creating a building that holds the
illusion of levitation. With its stark white contrast-
ing colour and large glass curtain walls, the AFGRI
head office is an immaculate floating apparition.
Located between the John Voster and Botha Avenue
off-ramps in Centurion, the AFGRI head office, the
first building in a future office park complex, is nes-
tled next to the N1 highway. As the site is visible
from the highway, this, for the client, gave rise to an
opportunity. With the environment being the big-
gest influence of design, this was a chance to show-
case an image of a forward-thinking company,
through the visible architecture of the building.
“The brief, from M&T Development, was to design
a building that would take full advantage of the ex-
posure to the highway, while maintaining more pri-
vate external seating and landscaped areas. The build-
ing we designed turns its louvered North façade
towards the highway – it is striking and sculptural.
The curved louvers seem to flow with the movement
of the traffic, while screening the occupants in the
building from the noise and any direct sunlight. Pri-
vate seating areas were also created on the South
side of the building, taking full advantage of the
wetland area,” says Estelle Meiring, Project archi-
tect & associate, Paragon Architects.
AFRGI Head Office comprises two square-shaped
basement levels and four office levels, all supported
by columns. The basement is dedicated to parking
and effectively lifts the levels of office space off the
site. Pushing the basement out of the ground meant
that the ground level had to be raised higher than
the usual office floor, which in effect, made it ex-
tremely light. The lightness was achieved by weaving
curved glass walls along the slab. The glass itself
only has fins, rather than an aluminum structure,
which would have weighed the façade down.
Post-tensioned slabs from the first floor to roof level
were used. Concrete slabs were cast as post-ten-
sioned structures in order to speed up the construc-
tion process. Conventional slabs were however
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used on the ground level and for the basements.
The gable walls were then constructed as in situ
concrete structures and the curtain walls installed
on the edges of the slab. The design of the support
work for each completed wall slab was most critical
for successful construction of the gables and had to
be specifically engineered. The engineers designed
the support work for 2m-high wet concrete with all
the weight if the shuttering and rebar. A platform
was built from the ground floor to the beginning of
the wall being cast. Support work is then erected
from the platform up to the curved shuttering. As
each new section of the wall is cast, it juts out further
over the platform. The support work is then shifted
and realigned to support the next wall slab until it
cures. This process is repeated six times per wall. The
gable walls, top and bottom slab edge and soffit,
were then cladded in white broken tiles. This broken
ceramic tile facing, known as azelejos quebrados, was
made popular again by Santiago Calatrava in recent
years. “The broken tile cladding that was used is, we
believe, a first in South Africa and we are very pleased
with the outcome.”
The atrium, at the centre of the kappa-shaped struc-
ture, houses the lift and the toilet core. Two pavil-
ions of offices, joined at the hip and set at a rakish
angle, are cocooned in a curvaceous concrete skin.
They sit above the lifestyle zone spread on the ground
floor. The glass line follows a different tune of its
own, shielding compressed and expanding spaces
from the sun, weather and noise. Where the glass skin
is too indecently exposed to the sun, a curvaceous
second skin of laser-cut shimmering aluminum lou-
vers, tailored to suit, covers the denude areas.
The building, in its design, is striking and sculptural.
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“All the materials that were used are standard and
readily available, however, they were used in innova-
tive ways. It took lots of faith from the client, lots of
planning from the main building contractor, lots of
inspection and feedback time for us on site and, lastly
but most importantly, a very skilled and dedicated tiling
subcontractor,” adds Estelle.
Considering the colour palette used, externally and
internally, Estelle explains: “the external colours were
kept simple. The curtain walls have a dark grey appear-
ance, due to the performance glass used, and the shells
are covered in crisp white tiles. The internal colours
LEFT: An external view of the
building at night.
CENTRE: Where the glass skin is
too indecently exposed to the
sun, a curvaceous second skin of
laser-cut shimmering aluminum
louvers, tailored to suit, covers
the denude areas.
RIGHT: Two pavilions of offices,
joined at the hip and set at a
rakish angle, are cocooned in a
curvaceous concrete skin.
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were also, in general, quite simple, with flashes
of colour to give interest.”
It is through the use of all these materials, the col-
our palette and the implementation of the different
design elements that makes for an utterly unusual
Paragon-designed building, which boasts an overall
floating effect. Leaning to the more sculptural side
of Brazilian Modernism, the building’s distinctive
silhouette has already made waves in the architec-
tural industry.
Obstacles overcome
After a geographical investigation of the site, the
team realized that piling, instead of a conventional
raft foundation, had to be used due to the dolomitic
conditions. “The soil conditions meant that we had
to use a special type of pile in certain areas and this
caused quite a large delay to the start of the project,”
says Estelle. When discussing other challenges,
she comments: “The East and West in situ concrete
shells were also quite a challenge, both structurally
and from a building contractor’s point of view. The
construction of the scaffolding alone was quite a
process and it ended up looking very much like a skate
boarding half pipe.”
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The difference between mediocre and great
Although the building is owned and developed by
M&T Development, the building was also designed
according to AFGRI’s requirements. In terms on
designing for an office, one thing that distinguishes
between a mediocre office building and a great one,
is “how usable the office plates are; how many people
can be comfortably fitted onto one plate,” says Es-
telle. She continues: “We achieved a highly efficient
plate by placing the bathroom core and lifts in the
atrium space, linked with bridges from the two office
plates.” Another factor to consider when designing
for an office is good communication. As Estelle ex-
plains, “people from different departments need to
be able to reach each other without passing through
long corridors. This was achieved by the central
atrium, with its link bridges, allowing natural light to
filter into the floor plates, while creating a covered
link between the different areas.” When designing
for any development, the purpose of the building and
its future function takes top priority in terms of
the list of things to keep in mind. “AFGRI is well
suited to its function. We have created a building
filled with natural light, that feels spacious and in-
viting and offers a lot of lifestyle components,
while still retaining privacy and quietness where
needed,” says Estelle. Fulfilling its purpose as a work
environment, the building also has a basement park-
ing, canteen area with internal and external seating,
meeting rooms and training rooms.
When it comes to AFRGI head office, there is no com-
parison. What makes AFGRI interesting, according to
Estelle, is that “…it has an aesthetic that cannot be
compared to anything else built in South Africa up to
now. We really enjoy the fact that the general public
seems to be noticing and discussing the building; eve-
ryone has an opinion about it,” concludes Estelle. <
The atrium, at the centre of the kappa-shaped structure, houses the lift and the toilet core.
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