By David Beer, on behalf of the Concrete Manufacturers Association
Jura Cobbles, manufactured by Concrete Manufacturers Association (CMA) member, Revelstone, have been used extensively for paving outdoor spaces at Bridgewater, a mixed commercial, hotel and residential project at Canal Walk, Cape Town, designed by Vivid Architects for Rabie Property Group.
Completed in August 2021 and covering an area of 4 000m² on three levels, the paving was installed by Seymour Paving. The civils and the preparation of the subgrade were done by Cornfield Construction.
“We firmly believe it is our responsibility as architects to design not only buildings, but positive urban spaces that connect these buildings to the public realm. For this project we collaborated with Planning Partners, who designed the soft landscaping.
“We seek to add value for our clients and aid them in selling or letting the commercial space. We do this by designing contemporary buildings and landscapes that have a stylish yet timeless appeal; spaces with a sense of place that people will want to inhabit. If people want to be there, the development will almost sell itself.
“Our landscape design ethos for Bridgewater was fairly simple. Where people need to walk, run and move, hard surfaces were created using Jura Cobble. We also specified timber decking in spaces where people can sit and pause. Other spaces comprised constructed planters and soft landscaping.
“Through the years we have specified clay pavers, natural granite cobbles and granite tiles for a variety of hard surfaces. For this project, precast concrete pavers, specifically the Jura Cobble range, provide the necessary robustness, size format, colour variations and the costing we sought to complement the architecture.
“We felt strongly from early on that the ground surfaces should be used to unify the development. The brief from the client, which we fully agreed with, was to design the buildings with separate identities within one development, the paving providing a unifying cobbled surface. We mixed three colours in an intentional design mix to appear random, but consistently random, and to create visual interest.
“We would apply this design ethos regardless of economic status of the development. If the project could afford the paver, we would push for this design. The design creates enough visual interest to handle the inevitable dirt on the surface, similar to speckles on a carpet, and helps maintain a neat appearance.
“We have been specifying the Jura Cobble for years. I recall The No 1 and 3 Bridgeway which was completed in 2014 Offices for Rabie Property Group, being the first. We specified the Jura Cobble again for the pavements and an internal retail street for the Signatura WEX1 project in Woodstock. The size format, surface finish, and grey colour variations are our prime reasons for choosing Revelstone,” said Louw.
Project Team (Paving)
Architects Vivid Architects
Landscape Architects Planning Partners
Civil Engineers Zutari South Africa and Cornfield Construction
Main Contractor WHBO Construction
Quantity Surveyors B&L Quantity Surveyors (Cape Town)
Paving Contractor Seymour Paving
