Modern Metamorphosis

The new Cape Town Station by Boogertman & Partners

Transported more than a century back while looking ahead for the benefit of the city, the legacy of the Cape Town Station carries a significant perspective of growth and transformation. The Cape Station has been moulded once more into something new and full of potential, located in the very centre of this urban hub. Led by Boogertman + Partners, this space has been placed on a new track — one that leads to the next stop in student living.

The forecourt of Cape Station, a landmark in the Cape Town CBD, has been reimagined by Boogertman + Partners for the Eris Property Group as a vibrant new mixed-use centre that includes 6700 m2 of modern retail space, Units on Cape Station (accommodating up to 3085 students), and a world-class public square. The new development was conceptualised to serve students attending the nearby Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), but is open to students from any of the many surrounding institutions, providing quality affordable accommodation in the city as part of the Rise Student Living group.

Site sensitivity
The site for this project is unusual for its place in the city, as it stands alone in the surrounding urban landscape rather than abutting buildings on all three sides. Great care and sensitivity to the urban context became imperative in the design process, but the site still offered multiple opportunities to celebrate aspects of the city’s heritage. What’s more, it was a chance to enhance its urban design while managing an important transition in the evolution of the city.

Parts of a whole
The space is presented in the form of two L-shaped blocks that are tied together to form a large courtyard. In the base level is the retail space, while the 20-storey student housing block stands tall above it. The ‘massing’ of the student block was carved out in response to the complex heritage of urban and contextual drivers, which include the permissible heights related to the scale of the nearby buildings. Careful consideration was taken of the views up and down the surrounding streets and vistas of Table Mountain, so each elevation responds individually to its own specific parameters, while the whole is resolved into a cohesive, flowing, unified design.

Along the main urban artery of Adderley Street, the building echoes the horizontal nature of the station concourse and reflects the scale of the buildings opposite. The northern façade relates to the height of the Paul Sauer building (at 60 m tall) and views of Table Mountain, while the southern façade steps down to relate to the buildings on Adderley Street. The eastern elevation is scaled according to the city blocks on the skyline, but also in relation to the large, flat expanse of the station platform and to the rhythm and proportions of the existing concourse building’s sandstone façade panels. From the ground to the fourth storey, the building creates a frame for the square.

Catering across the board
Cape Station involves a contemporary reinterpretation of the predominantly modernist face of the built environment in this area of the city, responding to the light material fabric of the surrounding buildings. Its scale is sensitively broken down into smaller portions on the façade, with variations in pattern and colour articulated with seamlines. Parts of the building even appear to be floating as a result of cuts in the mass, which allow natural light into the courtyards. Inside, the various-sized accommodations are bright and bold, designed with simplicity to cater to students across the board with perfect equilibrium.

The updated Cape Station precinct introduces a new civic icon and an important transitional architectural intervention into the evolution of the Cape Town CBD – densifying, diversifying, and breathing new life into this part of the city. It sensitively navigates the relationship between heritage and contextual factors, while strengthening, re-establishing, and restoring others. A proud feat by Boogertman + Partners, the Cape Station represents one wonderful stop en route to a brilliant future, for both city and students.