Waltloo Corner - Fuel Station

The previously dilapidated municipal owned site is located on a prominent intersection of two regional roads. Waltloo road is one of the primary feeder routes to Mamelodi that connects the CBD and the N4 & N1 highways. Simon Vermoten flows into Waltloo street and directly connects Mamelodi and the N4. The proximity of the site in relation to these high traffic roads held significant development potential.

The project aimed to exploit the economic potential of the site’s ideal locality and to provide the local community with a dignified facility that can act as a catalyst for future developments to improve the quality of the surrounding area. The prominent location and unique shape of the site required a responsive and iconic architectural solution that would result in a memorable landmark facility at the urban scale.

Unfortunately traffic restrictions only allowed for access to the site along Waltloo road beyond the road site boundary which meant a right of way servitude had to be registered over the neighbouring site to the South. A wayleave application to construct a road at the intersection of Simon Vermoten and the Ford Motor Company Assembly Facility was recently approved and will allow access to the same neighbouring site to the South to which the fuel station site is now being consolidated to. This will in turn provide the required access for the fuel station.

Building placement was critical to ensure ease of access and maximum visibility towards the forecourt area. Current access to the site, the position of the future development, irregular shape of the site, and proximity of the assembly facility informed the placement of the convenience shop to the East of the site along Simon Vermoten.
The diagrams to the left show the development of the building form:

1. A typical (cookie cutter) facility superimposed in the site.

2. Office component placed on first floor to increase scale towards the intersection

3. Site shape, roads and fuel carrier circulation in and around the site carve away the mass on plan. The Northern edge of the building is pushed back to accommodate an outside seating area to form a visual interface with the road intersection as well as a “landing” platform for pedestrians that access the site from Simon Vermoten road where a future taxi stop will be located.

4. Views from Simon Vermoten towards the canopy of the forecourt as well as the opportunity to provide visual access from the office component to the retail facility furthermore manipulates the building mass to integrate the aforementioned.

The structure was clad with corrosive resistant profiled sheet metal to respond to the corrosive industrial microclimate and blend in with the surrounding architectural typologies.