The PwC Tower, in Midrand, which is nearing completion, has received a commendation in the buildings greater than three storeys category at the 2017 biennial Fulton Awards, hosted by the Concrete Society of South Africa.
The PwC Tower is the twenty-fourth tallest twisted building in the world and the only twisted building in Africa.
Arup was the structural consultant responsible for achieving the iconic twist in the tower, as well as for designing the façade, with the project being submitted for consideration by construction materials provider AfriSam and admixtures manufacturer Chryso SA.
The judges’ citation highlighted that “the design solution balanced gravity loads on the corner columns and reduced the torsion on the core of the tower, making stresses on the core wall decrease by a factor of four. This meant that the structure used a 450 mm core wall that is a similar thickness to what a typical straight tower of that height would have needed.
“By taking this approach, both time and cost efficiencies were realised resulting in better integrated and well considered design that satisfied the architectural vision of the building and space planning constraints,” they noted.