Wikipedia

Zeitz MOCAA

Location: Cape Town,South Africa
Design firm: Heatherwick Studio
Typology: Other
Years: 2013–2017
Status: Complete

Facade facts

Facade summary: A combination of historic raw concrete and modern pillow-like, faceted glass window inserts that act as a visual lantern for Cape Town's harbor.
Documented intention: Heatherwick Studio designed the windows to act like lanterns,activating the Waterfront at night. Conceptually, the pillowing effect references the bulging shapes that stored grain historically produced against the silo walls.
Street relationship: The building stands as a major visual icon in the Silo District of the V&A Waterfront, visible from far across the harbor and city.
Climate relationship: The windows are engineered to withstand extreme coastal winds. To manage solar gain in Cape Town's warm climate, a custom pattern of ceramic fritting was applied to the glass panels, helping to shade the interior while keeping the glass translucent.
Window pattern: Grid-based rectangular frames filled with triangulated geometric facets.
Glazing: Frit-patterned,high-performance laminated glass
Depth: The windows bulge outward, creating a pronounced 3D relief that protrudes past the plane of the concrete frame.
Rhythm: Regular, vertical bays defined by the structural grid of the historic grain elevator tower.
Reinforced Concrete: Reinforced Concrete — Silo tubes and main body of the elevator tower — Raw,weathered,board-marked
Structural Glass: Structural Glass — Upper levels of the elevator tower — Faceted, high-gloss structural glass with ceramic fritting
Steel: Steel — Elevator tower window apertures — Matte metal finish
Faceted Cushion Window System: Custom structurally-glazed,faceted steel-frame windows that bulge outward.

Description

The facade is an adaptive reuse composition. It maintains the original 1920s industrial concrete shell of South Africa's tallest building at the time of construction. The major contemporary intervention is on the elevator tower, where historic rectilinear window openings have been filled with three-dimensional, pillow-like window modules. Each window module is composed of individually hand-cut, faceted glass panes set within structural steel frames. These frames project outwards, altering the profile of the tower.

Visual analysis

The bulging glass panels reflect the sky in multi-angled fragments, transforming a once monolithic, heavy concrete industrial tower into a light-reflective, shimmering monument.