As one of Cape Town's oldest suburbs, Observatory is rich in potential and currently undergoing change and development, particularly in the area between Lower Main Road and the railway line, north of Station Road. Observatory was historically home to a variety of light industrial manufacturing premises, many of which have changed use over the years. The area's central inner-city location, strong strategic and local transport links and distinctive character have fuelled substantial interest in recent years. Our client, who had explored the development of several properties in the area, appointed us to prepare an urban design study to inform expansion of the St Michael's Road Precinct in Observatory. With further development on the cards, we needed to explore the relationships between these various properties and other existing and proposed developments in the area.

We conceived the St Michael's Road Precinct Urban Design Framework as a lever to drive growth and boost resilience in this important economic urban node. Our work examined the sites around the lower end of St Michael's Road and adjacent streets collectively to optimise their development potential and create a precinct in which the buildings complement one another and generate greater value as a whole. Following our analysis of the area, the urban design framework proposed several interventions for the spatial structure, vehicular and pedestrian movement, public space and landscape network, public realm and solutions to create active edges.

The result was an urban design framework that helped the client understand the value we could unlock in the precinct as a whole. This also included recommendations to guide the evolution of the architectural proposals for the various sites the client owned. The urban design framework defined a vision for the public realm at a precinct-scale to generate a shared interest amongst stakeholders