![236 Buitengracht Street / Team Architects - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6078/fa55/ebb5/fc2c/4a54/ab51/newsletter/fi.jpg?1618541212)
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Architects: Team Architects
- Area: 1250 m²
- Year: 2018
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Photographs:Adam Letch
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Manufacturers: Louis Poulsen, PERI
![236 Buitengracht Street / Team Architects - Interior Photography, Table, Sofa, Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6078/fa99/fa61/4333/0eda/c1b1/newsletter/6.jpg?1618541280)
Text description provided by the architects. This project is a small, mixed-use building in a mixed-use enclave on the interface between the central city of Cape Town and the Bo Kaap. The site was initially vacant; bounded on three sides by existing heritage buildings in poor condition, whilst further down the street, a diverse collection of commercial buildings from the second half of the 20th century have replaced the older fabric.
![236 Buitengracht Street / Team Architects - Interior Photography, Stairs, Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6078/fa9f/ebb5/fc30/1adc/3016/medium_jpg/4.jpg?1618541285)
The presence of the retaining wall to the service road gives these buildings a shared podium, meaning that they will always be seen as an ensemble rather than as slices of a city face only ever seen in close oblique. Because the zoning scheme allows for a five-storey building, the land price allows for no less be built, and so the stage is set for an interesting game – how to find a building form which incorporates into itself the tensions of this context whilst developing a coherent presence of its own.
![236 Buitengracht Street / Team Architects - Interior Photography, Chair, Windows](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6078/fa95/ebb5/fc2c/4a54/ab53/newsletter/7.jpg?1618541275)
![236 Buitengracht Street / Team Architects - Image 19 of 29](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6078/fa9f/fa61/4333/0eda/c1b3/newsletter/1-first-floor-plan-1-200.jpg?1618541234)
![236 Buitengracht Street / Team Architects - Interior Photography, Stairs, Beam, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6078/fa96/fa61/4333/0eda/c1b0/newsletter/5.jpg?1618541283)
Layered onto the complexity of context is a complex brief or set of briefs. The city demands on-site parking, the street would benefit from an active frontage, the architects need a new studio, and the client, an art collector, wants a ‘skypad’ and insists that it is all made from concrete. The key to the solution is a tightly planned circulation core located front and centre of the site.
![236 Buitengracht Street / Team Architects - Interior Photography, Table, Lighting, Shelving, Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6078/fa88/ebb5/fc2c/4a54/ab52/newsletter/8.jpg?1618541264)
![236 Buitengracht Street / Team Architects - Image 15 of 29](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6078/faa0/fa61/4333/0eda/c1b5/newsletter/10-section-a-a-1-200.jpg?1618541235)
The building line restrictions mean that the lift cannot rise to the top floor, and so a two-level penthouse comes into play, with living spaces located at third floor level and bedrooms and a lap pool, en suite to the en-suites occurring at fourth floor level. This placement allows for the mass to be broken down forming a picturesque skyline stepped away from the street edge, with a viewing balcony facing the city and a sheltered terrace looking up to Signal Hill. The pad is held up in the sky by a base, consisting of a pair of double-volume studio spaces flanking the internal circulation.
![236 Buitengracht Street / Team Architects - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6078/fa9f/fa61/4333/0eda/c1b4/medium_jpg/team-architects-236-buitengragt-003.jpg?1618541287)
Their spatial arrangement has a built-in flexibility with shared common uses, allowing it to function as singular studio in the future should the need arise. The lane-way adjacent to the south-west elevation results in a narrow separation in the solidity of continuous facades, sufficiently so to place a diagonal emphasis on this corner of the building when viewed from the street.
![236 Buitengracht Street / Team Architects - Image 23 of 29](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6078/faa2/fa61/4333/0eda/c1ba/newsletter/9-north-east-elevation-1-200.jpg?1618541275)
The lowest level is a podium of parking, sliding seven bays into the slope of the site through a single slatted-steel screen. Most of the street wall is given over to glazing. A giant order door at the scale of the older adjacent faҫades gives entry to a double-height hallway; overlooked by a bridge that joins the lift access to the studios. Adjacent to the lobby is a small gallery, displaying art to both patrons and to the street.
![236 Buitengracht Street / Team Architects - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6078/fa5a/fa61/4333/0eda/c1ae/newsletter/1.jpg?1618541165)