PURPOSE OF THE STRUCTURE:

To house a large indoor, multi-function space as a major educational facility for a premier girls high school and to increase their hall accommodation from 400, built in 1938, to 1400.

BRIEF TO THE ARCHITECT:

To create an indoor space capable of housing:

  • The school assembly hall and exam
  • An indoor playing field to comply with Olympic specifications for indoor
  • Use for indoor basketball, volleyball, badminton and
  • Multifunction venue for dramas, dances, fashion shows and
  • Stepped viewing terraces to seat 250 persons. Form of Building:
  • Essentially an industrial “shed” with various beautiful “diamonds” on it, as per the Porte’ entrance, stonework, raw hardwood terraces, facebrick, frameless glazing panels and timber movable ventilation
  • Elements of “African” identity are introduced as per curved walls, raw circular stonework, with chevron truss lattices reflected in side cladding polycarbonate V shaped
  • Main entrance Porte’ celebrates the existing outdoor court, and acts as a visual focus and entry inducement into the main space using tubular “tree”
  • Curved facebrick walls guide the ingress into the “shed” under the curved Porte’
  • Off shutter concrete, coated steel, raw hardwood timber and facebrick finishes are juxtaposed in achieving a low maintenance and a “raw” material
  • Environmental conservation to achieve a “green” building was applied where possible. eg. Water harvesting, no mechanical ventilation and utilising roof light daylight

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE STRUCTURAL FRAME:

  • An aesthetic decision was made to express the dynamics of a steel clear span structure, integrated with the translucent sheeting panels of the gable frames and south
  • The roof trusses feature tubular sections with profiled gussets framing into H section top
  • The purlins are standard cold rolled lipped channel
  • The terrace seating, stairs and handrails express

CHALLENGES IN THE FABRICATION OF THE PROJECT:

  • Approximately a third of the truss was erected as a temporary roof at first floor hall level during an earlier
  • To complete the Project the new roof was site connected to the existing structure and re- erected at the higher new roof
  • This required challenges in the site fabrication and restricted erection

INNOVATIVE AESTHETICS ABOUT THE STEELWORK AND CLADDING:

  • The Porte’ and main roof have intersecting curves on the main roof
  • Gable sheeting girts reflect truss V forms with silver heat polycarbonate sidelights which create a chevron lit graphic inside in the day, and externally at

THE PROJECT TEAM CHALLENGES:

  • Due to limited access to the site, being within a wooded suburban area adjacent to a swimming pool, the methodology of construction and erection required a team
  • The Main Contractor further shortened the steel construction critical path by 3 months, necessitating close co-ordination between Architect, Engineer and Steel

It is considered that the integrated aesthetic form of the tubular section roof structure, exemplifies the use of steel construction in public facility buildings, in an urban environment.

STRUCTURAL STEELWORK
Completion date of steelwork September 2017
Completion date of full project February 2018
Tons of structural steel used 46 tonnes
Structural profiles used Tubular, Hot and Cold Rolled
SA content – if this is an export project 100%
   
CLADDING
   
Cladding profile/ type used Colour Coated Saflok 700
Cladding area/ coverage and tonnage 2650sqmeters, 16 tonnes
   

Project Team

Project Team Role Company
Nominator Young and Satharia
Client/ Developer DBN Girls High School Governing Body
Architect Neil Hayes-Hill Architect
Quantity Surveyor Edgecomb & Hayes-Hill
Main Contractor Nichol Projects (Pty) Ltd
Steelwork Contractor Ogilvie Engineering (Pty) Ltd
Cladding Manufacturer SAFINTRA
Cladding Supplier SAFINTRA
Cladding Contractor Four Seasons Roofing (Pty) Ltd

If you were a part of this project, and your company details are incorrect or missing – please notify the SAISC so that the error can be corrected.