On 1 October 2025, Longkloof Precinct, delivered by dhk Architects for Growthpoint Properties, won a Cape Institute of Architecture (CIfA) award at a ceremony held in Cape Town to recognise excellence in architecture. Judges described the project as ‘a masterful piece of urban architecture, deftly stitching new and older fabric within an old industrial complex that offered many physical obstructions to movement through the wider urban block.’ Read the full assessment below.‍

The Longkloof Precinct is a masterful piece of urban architecture, deftly stitching new and older fabric within an old industrial complex that offered many physical obstructions to movement through the wider urban block.

The architects have demonstrated a remarkable sensitivity to and handling of this diverse and sprawling site, competently layering new fabric into existing streetscape rhythms, fragmentating bulk to create a responsive townscape, creating extremely light and transparent links between structures, all in service of carving civic places out of the spaces in-between (these often also negotiating awkward level changes).

The real joy of this scheme is in the translation of the relationship between old and new across the scales, from the placement of new volumes within the complex to the detailing and handling of materials: new timber shopfronts line a cobbled laneway, a reflective and projecting glass box denotes a new window inserted into a line of old steel-framed ones of the same proportion, and the repurposing of an old arched doorway as the primary entrance into the new hotel returns a sense of gravitas to a formal 1919 façade.

The competence of the design becomes only more evident when considering the commercial pressures of the brief, the deft concealment of a considerable parking footprint within the scheme, as well as the very stringent and convoluted approvals processes that had to be embarked on.

The shops and restaurants that have found a home in the precinct may not cater to every Capetonian, but the links and public spaces that have been crafted between structures have the potential to offer new opportunities for pedestrian connection within this part of the city.

The result is a very fine piece of urban adaptive architecture that, through the creative endeavours of its architects, now greatly contributes to this part of the city. The panel was unanimous in awarding this project. 

Find more project details here.

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