Residential Development – 69 on Main, Greenpoint

Laurence Grigorov, who is director of a leading residential development company, enjoys keeping track for new developments around the country. Such developments provide an insight to Laurence Grigorov on forthcoming trends and market changes which better allow the company to adapt to changing market conditions and customer needs and requirements.

A new residential project that Laurence Grigorov has recently seen, showcases modern design and a well thought out adaptation to the natural street environment is 69 on Main in Greenpoint, Cape Town. Developed by Abacus Development Company and designed by Bam Architects, the architecture of 69 on Main in Greenpoint is the result of a thorough assessment and analyses of its context. The contextual understanding of the site provided arguments for different positive interface proposals to respond to the differing conditions of the development site.

The site has a very important place along the Main Road Greenpoint streetscape and it was therefore important to ensure continuity with the existing fabric at street level in both scale and interface layering at pedestrian level. The building establishes an active wall edge facing the urban park across the road at the scale of the park. The circulation of people on foot was considered a priority over vehicular movement so that continuity of surfaces and materiality supports the pedestrian first.

69 on Main

The building reflects the transition in grain across the site from the finer grained southern edge towards a more course grain on the northern edge and as such the development had a responsibility to be the mediation between the fine grained residential neighbourhood of Green Point running along the slope of Signal Hill, as well as ensuring continuity with the Urban Wall consisting of higher intensity development along Main Road defining the edge of the urban park of the Green Point Common.

In its response the building therefore rises from a height of three storeys on the southern side, to eleven storeys on the northern boundary. The south side of the building responds to the finer grain of single residential houses whilst the north elevation responds to a carefully established height datum along Main Road with a clearly defined base, shaft and crown. The crown acts as a pulvinar or urban balcony overlooking the Green Point common. Buildings further up Signal Hill look down on the development and the design responded by treating the roofscape as a fifth elevation. Roofs are therefore occupied, textured and landscaped as far as possible.

The design utilises a rich pallet of modern materials and textures doing justice to its up-market location. The interior design concept was developed by BONE Design Studio and is based around creating a bespoke ’luxury living’ experience. Through the use of honest materials such as natural timbers, honed composite stones and a neutral palette of large format Italian tiles, every apartment exudes its own timeless sophistication.

Words and image courtesy of Architect & Builder magazine

Clifton Terraces Wins Residential Development Award

Clifton Terraces

Laurence Grigorov is director and founder of a Johannesburg based residential property development company. The company is constantly evolving in the architectural products it provides to its customers. Laurence Grigorov is an admirer of modern and contemporary architecture and styles and looks to development projects that promote these aspects.

As featured in the Aug/Sept 2018 edition of Architect & Builder Magazine, he highlight of the annual SAPOA Conference, the 2018 SAPOA Property Development Awards are seen as the most important award for any commercial project in South Africa. The winner of the Residential Development category was Clifton Terraces in Cape Town.

Clifton Terraces is a residential development in one of the most sought-after locations in Africa; surrounded by the world-renowned Clifton Beaches, nestled between Lion’s Head and Table Mountain. Each of the residences boasts large, open plan entertaining and living areas with a large terrace overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

A key consideration of the design was blending the building into the natural surroundings using its overall form, its deep overhangs and a restrained natural palette of materials. The building terraces back significantly to mimic the existing contours of the original site prior to any development. This sensitive approach to placement on site ensured that views from neighbours on all three affected sides were kept to a minimum and in most cases improved. The colours, tones and materials were specifically chosen to blend in with the surroundings.

Carefully placed landscaped terraces on each level will ensure that the building will further disappear into the natural environment over time. Clifton Terraces consists of eight simplex apartments, two duplex apartments and two large villas; each with private and secure garaging with direct access lifts up to each apartment. Clifton Terraces’ expansive views, modern technologies and finest natural finishes.

Laurence Grigorov keeps up-to-date on many new developments in and around South Africa in order to keep abreast of current market and design trends.

Modric - Winner of the 2018 Ballon d'Or

As director of a residential property development company based in Johannesburg, Laurence Grigorov is involved in all aspects of the development process, including land acquisition, rezoning applications, architectural design as well as the finance and legal components of these complex projects.

Laurence Grigorov, who is an avid football fan and follows global football news closely with special attention on the Spanish La Liga and the UEFA Champions League.
Real Madrid's Croatia midfielder Luka Modric was named winner of the 2018 Ballon d'Or, breaking Cristiano Ronaldo's and Lionel Messi's decade-long hold on the prestigious award. Juventus forward and 2017 winner Ronaldo came second, while Atletico Madrid and France striker Antoine Griezmann came third.

Paris St Germain's France forward Kylian Mbappe, who also collected the Kopa award for the best under-21 player, was fourth, with Barca forward Messi finishing fifth.

Olympique Lyonnais' Norway striker Ada Hegerberg won the inaugural Ballon d'Or for women's football, having led her side to the Women's Champions League title, scoring in extra time in the 4-1 win over Vfl Wolfsburg in the final.

Modric, 33, helped Real Madrid win a third successive Champions League title in May and also captained Croatia to their first World Cup final, being named player of the tournament despite his side losing 4-2 to France.

"It's a unique feeling. I'm happy proud and honoured, I have a lot of emotions right now, it's hard to describe in words," said Modric, wearing a tuxedo as he collected the award from presenter and former France forward David Ginola after a glamorous ceremony at the Grand Palais in Paris.

"It’s a big pleasure to be here among all these players. I am still trying to realise that I have become part of a group of exceptional players to win the Ballon d’Or throughout history."

Modric, who joined Real Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur in 2012 for a reported 40 million euros ($45.40 million), was criticised in his debut season at the Bernabeu and named the worst signing of the year in a poll by newspaper Marca. But the diminutive playmaker began to demonstrate the quality he had shown at Spurs when Jose Mourinho deployed him in a deep lying role in Real's midfield rather than the attacking role he had been given at the start of that campaign.
Modric said the positional change, which was first suggested to him by Harry Redknapp at Tottenham, transformed his form.

“The change of position helped me a lot in my career. I used to play more offensively. When I dropped back, I was able to read the game better and show my creativity," added Modric.
He is the first Croatian to win the Ballon d'Or and also picked up FIFA's 'The Best' award in October.
The Ballon d'or, voted for by journalists and organised by French magazine France Football, has been dominated by Barcelona's Messi and Ronaldo, first when he was at Manchester United and subsequently with Real Madrid, since 2008.

The last player to lift the award apart from the Argentine and Portuguese, who have won it a joint-record five times each, was Kaka in 2007 when the Brazilian played for AC Milan.
The Ballon d’Or was first presented in 1956 and partnered with soccer's world governing body FIFA as 'The Best' award from 2010 to 2015, until becoming its own entity again.
Words courtesy of www.supersport.com

Luka Modric

GLH Architects New Embassy Towers

As director at a residential property development company based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Laurence Grigorov follows current residential projects in South Africa. This allows Laurence Grigorov to read market trends in terms of design as well as functionality and to use these concepts in future developments he is involved in.

Embassy Towers

Situated in the prestigious suburb of Sandhurst and enjoying unencumbered views is the magnificent apartment building, Embassy Towers. Tucked behind the United States Consulate in Sandton, the building enjoys breathtaking views across to the Magaliesburg mountains as well as in the south, east and western directions due to the residential scale of the surrounding neighbours.
Embassy Towers sits on the crest of the Sandhurst Ridge, thus occupying a proud position on the southern edge of the Sandton CBD. The building itself is positioned as close to the street frontage on Empire Place so as to provide large, lush private gardens with many of the mature trees retained from the original residential property. This large gardenscape and the small residential scale of the surrounding properties ensure that views are unimpeded, thus creating the sense that one is occupying a large parkland property, but with the convenience of being within the Sandton CBD.
The sparkling lights of Sandton are juxtaposed with the ample privacy and greenery of the garden, reminiscent of the great apartment buildings of Central Park, New York or Hyde Park, London. The natural fall of the site allowed for the entrance floor of the building to be situated at street level while the elevation of the site allows for the ground floor public area to look out over the neighbouring properties. This allows for the view of Sandton to unfold as one enters through the large glass doors of the reception while also retaining a human scale on the street frontage.
The 12-storey apartment building is a seamless blend between contemporary and timeless charm creating an architectural gem with amazing exposure over the skyline of Sandton. The timelessness of Embassy Towers is amplified by the sleek and simple proportions of the building ensuring that the architecture will age gracefully, while the large window expanses allow ample light into the building making a luxurious statement for those that occupy it. The apartments all have large glazed windows to the north and south, ensuring that the units enjoy the range of different light offered at different times of the day and the different seasons of the year.
Oriented perfectly to maximise the northern aspect, the 90 unit apartment building enjoys full benefit of the sun as well as views over Sandton in the foreground and the rest of the city in 360º.
While the building is comprised of 63 two bed units, 18 three bed units, four simplex units and five penthouses, all apartments are sizeable, and the open plan allows the occupant enjoyment of ample living spaces and large bedrooms. The apartments have been specifically designed to ensure natural light penetrates deeply into the apartment from north and south. The interconnected lounge, living room and kitchen are bathed in light due to the large flush glazing elements that bound the apartment on the north and south façades. Even the bathrooms in the main bedrooms are fully glazed so as to allow the natural light to permeate into the apartment.
All of these elements have ensured that Embassy Towers has become the benchmark for luxury living in the city.

Photo and words courtesy of Architect and Builder magazine.

96 Rivonia Road by Boogertman + Partners

As director at a residential property development company based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Laurence Grigorov keeps abreast of development news and information. Current and upcoming commercial and residential projects offer Laurence Grigorov an insight in residential and commercial market trends.
The Sandton CBD in Johannesburg is a fast –growing commercial and residential hub that has many exciting projects that are of particular interest to Laurence Grigorov.
The new home of anchor tenant, Werkmans Attorneys, is the first building to be developed on the site of the new mixed use precinct in the heart of Sandton known as The Central. Continuing their long standing relationship with Werksmans, Investec Property sought out a high profile address for the development of an iconic building that would house the law firm for many years to come.
The Central will eventually include 100,000m2 of mixed use rights, which will include retail, office, residential and a hotel. Located opposite the Sandton Gautrain station the site is easily accessible and the construction of the massive multi story basement will ensure that the precinct has buildings with podiums that are pedestrian friendly and allows for public spaces.
“96 Rivonia Road is the result of a close tenant driven relationship between Investec and Werksmans that has accommodated the firm’s history and ethos into the design,” says Gavin Bernstein of Investec Property.
The original client brief was the need for a 20,000m² landmark building. Once Werksmans, as primary tenant, came on board with their designers – Stephen Rich Interiors, the brief was defined to an envisaged concept presented by Stephen Rich Interiors.
Investec Property and Boogertman + Partners developed the concept based on an understanding of the client’s culture & ethos and the design elements presented. With Werksmans as the primary tenant in this landmark building in Sandton, the concept for 96 Rivonia Road is derived from the firm’s historical and current legal prowess and dominant presence in the legal services marketplace. The stone base of classical form and proportions lays the foundation of the firm’s history which then projects into the future with the modern, clean lines of the black box. Almost as if it is a handshake between the old and the new in a promise to build on the past while striving into the future.
96 Rivonia Road stands as an iconic anchor building for the rest of The Central precinct and sets the standard for what is a world class addition to the Sandton CBD.

Photo and words courtesy of Architect and Builder magazine.

96 Rivonia Road 

Hong Kong High-Rises Containing Multi-Story Homes

Laurence Grigorov, as director of a residential property development company, constantly looks for inspiration from international architectural designs and trends in order to keep the development projects that the company is involved in, relevant and modern. Laurence Grigorov is well aware of space constraints around the world especially in modern dense urban areas and believes that novel and creative methods and designs are required to cater for future urban growth.
A new proposed project by Chicago studio Kwong von Glinow has caught Laurence Grigorov’s attention as it deals directly with this issue.
Apartments are made up of rooms stacked on top of one another in this extreme vertical housing proposal titled Tower within a Tower, the scheme tries to solve an issue that is typical in traditional "pancake stacks" of apartments – the lack of opportunity for neighbourly activity.
Kwong Von Glinow's proposal, which won a challenge to create new housing typologies for Hong Kong, reimagines the apartment unit as a collection of spaces stacked on top of each other vertically rather than arranged on a horizontal plane.
Each customisable apartment would be assembled off-site from a selection of modules, chosen according to the needs of future inhabitants. These units would then be brought to the site and stacked on top of each other to form an apartment building. Each successive floor of every unit would have a smaller footprint, causing the vertical apartments to take on a pyramid-like appearance and opening up space between the upper floors of the homes.
Alison Von Glinow, co-founder of the studio alongside Lap Chi Kwong, emphasises that the spaces between units have been opened up to foster community amongst the building's residents. "We realised that corridors are often an unused space," she said. "In Tower within a Tower, means of access double as a space for communal activity."
The pyramid-like arrangement of rooms in each living unit would create an internal network of corridors and landings between the homes. "Sometimes these spaces could be used as private balconies for owners of the tower units, or they could be be used communally as gardens, or places where people can hang their laundry between units," explained Von Glinow.
The modular proposal has been designed to offer residents of the buildings flexibility in the design of their homes. "The units would be assembled and brought to the site, and then more or less stacked on top of each other" Von Glinow said. "The interior could be manufactured level-by-level off site, almost like a custom kind of container box."
"The interiors are very simple fit-outs that allow the resident to customise their space in their own way."
This project is part of Dezeen x MINI Living Initiative, a collaboration with MINI Living exploring how architecture and design can contribute to a brighter urban future through a series of videos and talks.

Words and photo courtesy of www.dezeen.com