The second EUNIC Architecture Studio was based in Hillbrow, a dense inner-city suburb of Johannesburg.
The studio investigated the Harrison Reef Hotel and Huntley Hall buildings. The projects ambition was to improve the building for its residents, assisting it to become more of a community asset.
The studio was assisted by Cristophe Hutin, Alex Ely, Sebastian Fischbeck, Iain Low, Karin Smuts and Jean-Philippe Vassal.
We devised a redesign of the commercially vibrant, but currently vacant, corner of the Harrison Reef Hotel by inverting it, and creating many other commercial opportunities within it. Together, they connected the underutilised basement of the building and the first floor to the street. A mezzanine level was inserted into the large ground floor volume. The interventions provided much smaller commercial rental opportunities, more viable for micro-entrepreneurs. These were coupled with community facilities such as a computer centre, recreation space and new entrance to the building’s apartment foyer. The project was named Public Inc. and received positive feedback from the building’s manager at its presentation.
The studio investigated the Harrison Reef Hotel and Huntley Hall buildings. The projects ambition was to improve the building for its residents, assisting it to become more of a community asset.
The studio was assisted by Cristophe Hutin, Alex Ely, Sebastian Fischbeck, Iain Low, Karin Smuts and Jean-Philippe Vassal.
We devised a redesign of the commercially vibrant, but currently vacant, corner of the Harrison Reef Hotel by inverting it, and creating many other commercial opportunities within it. Together, they connected the underutilised basement of the building and the first floor to the street. A mezzanine level was inserted into the large ground floor volume. The interventions provided much smaller commercial rental opportunities, more viable for micro-entrepreneurs. These were coupled with community facilities such as a computer centre, recreation space and new entrance to the building’s apartment foyer. The project was named Public Inc. and received positive feedback from the building’s manager at its presentation.