Science Centre and Digital Dome. Photographs: Ray Truter photography and Jamie Thom.
The project clinched the “Other Development” category, as well as the Best Overall Award, in a first for the Eastern Cape.
Nonku Ntshona, the Chairperson of the SAPOA Awards Committee, noted that the Property Development Awards for Innovative Excellence is the most prestigious programme of its kind in the South African commercial real estate industry.
The awards recognise innovative developments that enhance the built environment. The categories also acknowledge all buildings, including institutional and cultural buildings.
The state-of-the-art Science Centre, designed by SVA International, entailed the construction of a 150-seater digital planetarium dome, exhibition areas, lecture theatre and auxiliary spaces. Opening this year, it has already become a landmark on the Ocean Sciences Campus of Mandela University.
SVA architect and associate, Tony Danev, said the idea was to position the building to create a gateway along University Way, leading to South Campus. It was part of the larger thinking to link North and South Campus.
“The decision was taken to set the building on the eastern edge, creating a public plaza and gathering space. The edge, along this plaza was then extended as a landscape onto the public realm, creating a ‘living edge’.
The R54-million building, funded by the Department of Higher Education and Training’s Infrastructure Efficiency Grant, aims to give the public more access to science. It will become a space where scientists share complex concepts with the public and engage in discussions in interactive exhibitions.
Mandela University’s Infrastructure Planning head, Graham Gouws, said “the two-storey, 137-seater dome had extensive open-plan exhibition space, a 100-seater interactive teaching laboratory, another 60-seater digital space, a boardroom and office space.”
“The dome’s equipment is of very high quality, with the projectors and material coming from Munich, Germany, while the screen comes from America” he said.
In addition to being the overall winner at the SAPOA Awards, the Science Centre also won recognition from the South African Institute of Steel Construction (SAISC), which focused on the use of steel, which was used extensively in the project.
The Science Centre won first place in the architecture category, best regional project in the Eastern Cape and a commendation in the tubular category.