Reinventing stone

PERSONALISED DESIGN SERVICE
Homeowners, paving contractors, architects and engineers all make use of Pavatile's free CAD layout service.

PERSONALISED DELIVERY SERVICE
Our specialised delivery methods reduce breakages and speed up installations.

CUSTOM PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Where the size and nature of the project demands it, landscaping professionals and architects can depend on Pavatile to develop new products according to their requirements.

A renewed trend

I had first become aware of this trend when speaking to architect Michéle Sandilands about Lake Michelle, a vast lifestyle development near Noordhoek. I saw it again in Steyn Swanepoel's barrier-free approach to the hard landscaping of a part of downtown Cape Town, and later heard about it in detail in a retail context when talking to Paolo Viotti of Vivid Architects about Willowbridge. I also heard it expressed by Deon Bronkhorst as the philosophy behind the upgrade of Cape Town's Church Square and the expansion of downtown Cape Town's pedestrian zones, and now too when talking to Tanya about Claremont Library, where numerous Pavatile products have been specified not only to provide structural and engineering benefits but also to add to the ambience through the use of specific colours, textures and patterns.

Tanya de Villiers of CNdV Africa

The right kind of spaces

In a country where so many people have become pessimistic about the fight against crime, and where the feudalism of fortified housing complexes seems like the only option for those who can afford such cynical luxury, the notion of bringing people back out onto the street may seem naïvely idealistic.

However, this is not simply about leaving space (we all know that frightening crimes are committed in the fallow land between densely populated areas); instead, as Tanya puts it, "If you create the right kind of spaces, it brings people together" — in a good way. "The focus is 100% on the experience," she explains. "A lot of projects that have failed are big, dead, monumental spaces, where the person doesn't feel comfortable wanting to sit in the middle of the thing."

People space at Church Square

Urban renewal Downtown Cape Town has undergone a number of cleanup initiatives during the past few years in an effort to reduce petty crime and to stimulate urban renewal. As a result of these initiatives, people have started moving back to town, not just as commercial tenants, but also to live there. Cape Town's City Spatial Development department realised that the moving-back trend required the development of leefruimtes — "living spaces" — and embarked on a series of projects in which pedestrians are the chief focus. The work currently being completed centres around Church Square, but eventually the Adderley Street and Wale Street areas will also get more of a "town square" look, with wider pavements and other measures to reduce traffic. A stage set for change For many years, Church Square had been an odd area, where hurried pedestrians weaved their way between parked cars like actors scuffling between offstage props and surrounded by impressive scenery facades, none of which were being used onstage. What used to be the wings is now the stage, and this stage is set for a change of scenery. Pavatile's ClassiCobble 75 reflects the natural stage lighting, bringing out the colours of the scene. Now that there is space, a tree-planting scheme can be initiated, and the cast — food sellers, and the clientéle of pavement cafés — will soon enter to perform their roles.

Deon Bronkhorst of Ian Ford Deon Bronkhorst Landscape Architects. Ian Ford Deon Bronkhorst Landscape Architects Ian Ford started the practice around 1985. Deon joined him from Pretoria in 1988, having been a landscape architect with Nature Conservation. (Nature itself was all well and good, but Deon hated having to write so many reports, and found urban landscaping much more stimulating!) After Ian’s murder in 2001, Deon continued with the Ian Ford Deon Bronkhorst practice. The office now has a staff of around 7, and are in constant demand, particularly for projects involving historical sites.

The square behind the Groote Kerk was where the slaves would sit and wait with the carriages while their masters went to church, Deon explains. The original "Slave Tree" under which they gathered is no longer there, but a new tree has been planted to commemmorate it. The old slave lodge — now a museum — lies diagonally across from the square. Games were probably played in the area too, and the churchgoers congregated there after services to chat. (A tourist route focusing on slave history is being planned and will include Church Square.)

The original laterite gravel used in the square was later replaced by granite cobblestones, with Dutch style klompies being used on the steps. There is now a building where once there was a graveyard, and the possibility that some graves may still lie under the Square precluded the present renovators from creating an underground parkade. So the area was paved in a simple manner, with ClassiCobble 75 and exposed aggregate pavers.

Adjacent buildings are also being renovated.

People space at Claremont Library

Giving back to the community The upgrade of Claremont Library (now encompassing 1,500 square metres of library space) is really an upgrade of the entire civic centre site. In the words of dhk Projects Director David Talbot, the project is about "giving a lot of public space back to Claremont". The design is focused primarily around the needs of pedestrians, and the products were chosen on the basis of both aesthetic considerations and practical needs, such as the requirements of wheelchairs. In referring to the dhk approach, David is careful to substitute the words 'contemporary' and 'forward thinking' for the all-to-ambiguous 'modern' and 'progressive'. He traces the current trend towards people space to le Corbusier's philosophy of 'live, work and play', but is quick to point out that the trend begun by le Corbusier did not always lead to an environment that actually worked. David describes the new approach used by dhk as "trying to put the human element back into architecture, but still using a Modern theme".

David Talbot of dhk.

A hierarchy of space

The science of people space

While forward thinking architectual practices and environmentally concerned landscape designers can do much to create such environments, it is difficult for such endeavours to come to proper fruition without the shared vision of clients and collaborators, particularly because those providing the money and those implementing the plan (the suppliers of goods and construction services) can make or break a project by working according to conflicting sets of priorities. People spaces such as those at Culemborg and at Claremont Library, Church Square, Lake Michelle and Willowbridge are victories over the forces of division.