“Each shed is shifted to allow light through the roof and walls which renders the interior space a warm dignified working environment and ameliorates its industrial aesthetic. This is its biggest accomplishment and a quality that is so often absent in these architectural building types. “
2019 AFA Booklet, Cape Institute for Architects
On Wednesday evening KUBE architecture received an Architectural Award of Merit from the Cape Institute of Architecture. The award which acknowledges excellence and noteworthy contributions to the field of architecture was conferred at the CIFA Awards for Architecture held at the Cape Institute for Architecture. All submissions and Award Winners are exhibited for public viewing at The Architect Gallery, 71 Hout street.
You can find out more about the Award Winning Mouton Citrus Packing Facility here
The full write up as issued by the Cape Institute for Architects follows:
“The architecture of factories is often overpowered by technical and functional demands leaving little room for architectural inventiveness. In the case of the Mouton Citrus Packing Facility, the operational conveying machine determines the spaces around which an enclosure had to be designed. Here the organizing of spaces is imagined as a series of operational layers. The processing of fruit, the movement of the factory worker, structure and then the envelope that allows light in, and the occasional view out, to the landscape. The result is a series of sheds stacked next to each other to cover the length of the packing machine.
Each shed is shifted to allow light through the roof and walls which renders the interior space a warm dignified working environment and ameliorates its industrial aesthetic. This is its biggest accomplishment and a quality that is so often absent in these architectural building types. The exterior shadows created by the shifting of the sheds further accentuates the roof profile creating depth in elevation resulting in a large building which is virtually broken up and which sits comfortably against the mountainous backdrop.
A simple yet delicate portal frame spans the width of the packaging machine and consists of a truss supported by steel columns. This enables a structural module that could be produced off-site and assembled on-site with minimal on-site modifications. According to the client, welding was required only once, which is a testament to the extensive planning and coordination that had to be considered to enable this 4-month construction period.”
