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North elevation

Mazed pathways

View from south west

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A landscaped podium was created circumscribing the whole site; just above ground level on the north boundary and almost 2 meters on the south. A series of stairs, a maze of hedged paths and grassed slab leads to the entrances on the west and south of the tower, which rises 18 storeys. Finished in beton brut vogue of the era, the façade is monogamous along the entire length of the building, in contrast to the white terrazzo clad base.

The building provides some 16000 square meters of open plan office space for the building's developer Old Mutual Property Investment Corporation (OMPIC). Provision is made for two levels of basement parking above which a 350mm hollow block slab supports the landscaping podium. Balcony terraces are provided outside the glazing line at first and second floor level and the typical floors rise from the third. The typical façade is composed of precast concrete units supported on upstand beams along the edges of the slabs. The precast units have a ribbed fin exposed aggregate finish that gives the tower block a vertical emphasis. Above and below these sit the curtain wall of tinted mirror glass, thus giving rise to an almost maintenance free membrane.

Structural/electrical engineers Ove Arup and Partners and mechanical engineers Brian Colquhoun, Hugh O'Donnell & Partners complemented the design team while the joint venture alliance of International Construction Zimbabwe (ICZ) and Grinaker Construction completed the project group. The project was completed in January 1988.

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The Zimbabwe Engineer (Jan. 1989)

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