Green Park - 20F - Sandton

Right off the bat you'll realise that this isn't your average building currently under construction in Sandton. I personally feel that as a country we need to embrace more unusual buildings, as up until now we've been rather safe architecturally if we compare ourselves to other countries.


Where she's currently at...


I must say that she's currently one of my favourite buildings riding in Sandton. Whilst it's only 20 floors in total, it's rather imposing and acts as a great asset to Sandton's skyline!

Street art series - part 4

What a great way of making art functional.

BRT update

I just got word of some rather sad news. It seems Joburg's inner-city BRT system has been marred by a few issues, prompting the city to temporarily stop service completely. They plan to address the issues and relaunch the service early next year.

Problems noted include:

* A lack of policing of BRT lanes
* Vehicles and other obstructions at stations etc.
* Due to the above two points, it is in fact quicker to walk to many destinations
* Ticket vendors not being widely available
* A lack of customers, mainly due to the above two points

The full article can be read here.

Street art series - part 3

Above is a great example of how art can be cleverly used to aid in directing the flow of pedestrians, yet uplift an area at the same time. I love the looming tower in the background, which - whilst clearly is in no way a recent development - seems timeless.

The only issue I have is what appears to be some litter scattered about on the walkway. Hopefully the City of Johannesburg takes a tougher stance on littering. Littering is, however, an issue that spurts from the individual and could be attributed to a lack of pride in one's surroundings. South Africans should shame on those who have the audacity to litter in public spaces.

Soccer City - update

Above are some extremely beautiful photos provided by my mate Pule from Skyscrapercity.com

I'm not sure where he sourced them, so if they belong to you and you'd like recognition, feel free to let me know.

I must say that I was sceptical of the stadium's facade effect before and during construction, but the completed product is amazing.

Street art series - part 2

What a joyous day...I'm on a new laptop and Blogger is working once again. Above is the second image in the Street Art Series. Quiet an interesting piece, but reflective of its surroundings.

One thing that annoys me senselessly is organisations pasting advertising photos wherever they can find a place to, such as on the pillars of the highway in the photo in question. Cities should get far tougher on those who paste the unsightly things and don't remove them. It would be quite an easy job considering their contact details are right there on the poster.

Bye bye illegal stores

This is a great initiative! It's about time something be done to bring more formality to the CBD. It may sound heartless, but if people would go about doing their business legally, everyone would be much better off. Hopefully officials continue the trend:

IT was business as usual for most shops on Abel Road in Berea, on Monday 12 October - until their worst nightmare.

The operation started at the crack of dawn, with an energetic team of over 50 police officers ready to start their day, despite the morning chill and a bit of a drizzle.The Red Ants, the demolition company, showed up with the by-law enforcement unit of the Johannesburg metro police department (JMPD) and the South African Police Service (SAPS). The three groups were on a mission to tear down illegal buildings.

A convoy led by the wailing sirens of the JMPD and SAPS cars headed for Abel Road, where the crew's first target was a place called Pat's Restaurant and Fast Food.

Here they started by confiscating products inside the store before tearing the building down. As the bulldozer got to work, spectators gathered, watching in disbelief.

Next to the restaurant was a pawnshop from which the police officials seized televisions, sound systems, computers and fax machines. It, too, was torn down.

According to Region F's operations manager, Thys Pretorius, occupants of the illegally erected structures were given 30 days' notice to vacate the buildings.

Pretorius explained that the buildings were being removed as a way of restoring safety and security to the inner city and to curb crime, saying that they were usually associated with crime.

"The purpose of the operation is to enhance law enforcement in the inner city and surrounding crime hot spots, thus meticulously addressing prevailing lawlessness in certain parts of the inner city and to bring sense of safety and comfort to the many users of the inner city space," said the regional director of Region F, Nkosinathi Mthethwa.Other shops along Abel Road were also targeted - a hair salon, a cellphone repair shop, a public phone shop and a supermarket. All were destroyed as people watched in shock.

The demolitions formed part o f the inner city's crime prevention and by-law enforcement operation, which started on Friday, 9 October.

A number of blitzes have taken place in all four quadrants of the inner city, with many arrests made for property crimes, by-law infringements, vehicle theft, trading in stolen and counterfeit goods, and building hi-jacking.

More blitzes are still to take place, including closing down bad buildings, arresting people with summons against them, closing facilities used as prostitution houses, arresting undocumented people, and raiding the 100 most wanted criminals per cluster, including the Hillbrow and Joburg Central clusters.

The crime prevention operation is set to continue until Friday, 16 October.

Read more: http://www.joburg.org.za/content/view/4416/266/#ixzz0Tv4SE7LQ