The project is an inhabited bridge over DF Malherbe Drive
that connects the University library with the rest of the
campus. It accommodates offices of the student centre at
top floor and restaurants, commercial facilities, conference
rooms and an amphitheatre at ground floor.
The architect has created a fragment of a city with intertwining
and overlapping functions. The language is modern. A single
mono-pitch roof serves as a structure across the road. As
with all lively districts of a city, varying public realms
of streets, squares, fore courts and suchlike are intricately
knitted together.
In order to counter the amorphous structure of the existing
university lay-out, the architect has set up parallel walls
and beams as a continuation of the theme of the bridge,
and uses them as a back-bone to attach the various functions.
This structure is extruded outwards to public open spaces,
again providing a backdrop for students to congregate.
The project emphatically demonstrates how architecture can
enable human interaction in a flexible way without regimenting
it.