Lighting in Design February-March 2016

M ultichoice is the leading provider of premium broadcast content in South Africa. The new building, designed by GLH Architects, is sited on the corner of Republic Road and Braam Fischer Drive and serves as an extension of the group’s established Randburg headquarters across the road, creating an expanded corpo- rate campus. It provides some 35 000 m 2 of additional office space over four floors as well as four basement levels for parking. An underground tunnel links the two buildings and an overhead pedestrian bridge, traversing Braam Fischer Drive diagonally, provides a safe walkway between the old and the new buildings above the busy road traffic. Following the natural orientation of the site, the new building tracks a longitudinal north-south axis, with predominant east and west façades.The street entrance is from the west on Braam Fischer Drive, where the hard urban edge of the northwest corner softens into a curvilinear glazed façade, inviting pe- destrians into the building through a street- level garden of indigenous plants. In terms of the building’s sustainability and particularly with regard to energy con- servation – both key considerations from the start of the project – the long east and west façades presented a challenge and called for the use of thermally efficient glazing as well as effective shading. Deep roof overhangs, horizontal steel shading and, on the curvilin- ear west façade a distinctive brise-soleil of vertical louvres of reflective glass all play a role, together with integrated internal blinds which track the movement of the sun to maintain solar control and limit glare. These and other carefully considered design decisions that limit the building’s consumption of resources and support its sustainability contributed to its earning 5-Star Design and As Built Certification from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA). The central atrium with its transparent ETFE roof is a significant contributing ele- ment in this regard. Taking advantage of the Highveld climate and the sunlight hours it offers, the roof allows for optimum levels of natural light internally, reducing the need for supplementary electric lighting and therefore reducing energy consumption and related

Artificial lighting was specified selectively to complement the high level of natural light. Recessed troughs provide for mood lighting in public areas and more focused task lighting delivers required lux levels in the open plan office space around the atrium.

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LiD FEB/MAR 2016