203 Oxford is a premium commercial development designed for Intaprop. It’s located in the Oxford Parks precinct in Johannesburg, an urban design framework which we developed as a component in the Dunkeld Design Manual. Covering 11000m², the building has four floors with 500m² of ground-floor retail space as well as a 200-seater atrium. It's been occupied by Life Healthcare, one of South Africa's largest private hospital operators, since its completion in 2020.
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The shape and orientation of the site influenced the dynamic form of the building. A small portion of the site faces busy Oxford Road, acting as a catalyst and gateway into the precinct. This prominent location demanded an iconic and striking design. In response to this, we introduced a distinct architectural feature – a geometric protruding glass box. Adding interest to the form, a large, recessed terrace wraps around the top floor with a projecting white roofline podium that provides shade and frames the building.
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A large portion of the building stretches along Eastwood Road. We introduced two contrasting facade treatments to reduce the monolithic linear form. The first includes vertical scattered punctured openings sheathed in glass, while the other is clad in aluminium panels and punctured by horizontal openings. A recess above the vehicular entrance further fragments the building and balances the architecture to a more human scale. This is one of several dhk-designed buildings in the Oxford Parks precinct. See 6 Oxford Parks, Radisson RED and One Rosebank for more detail. We also designed the super-basement under the precinct.

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Sean Gibson - Photographer