SPECIAL REPORTSEdIbEng bREwERy

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Sedibeng Brewery – Transitions in an African Landscape

Introduction:

The green tint of the bottle is synonymous with cool

refreshing international beer. It would be Osmond

Lange Architects and Planners and others that

would be at the forefront of making the develop-

ment of a brewery a reality.

“The design challenge was to create an architec-

ture of engineering, an architecture where the nuts

and bolts of the brewing process would be reflected

in the design of the buildings and their arrange-

ment within the landscape.” explains project archi-

tect, Vernon Schroeder, “Like the brewing process

which is a relationship or a collection of processes

so the buildings reflect this through interrelation-

ships – the positioning of buildings on the site, their

use of materials, detailing and colour.”

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A further challenge was to take the large volumet-

ric forms as determined by the processing equip-

ment, and transform them or integrate them so as

to be in harmony with the immediate and surround-

ing landscape.

Location / Context:

Sedibeng Brewery is sited just south of Johannes-

burg near Alberton, its backdrop a natural ‘koppie’

with the Kliprivier a notable natural feature – the

springboard for the designs sensitivity to the envi-

ronment. Being bounded by the R59 freeway, it was

a gleaning opportunity to open up the development

for visibility to passing traffic. The campus of the

brewery buildings, sits low slung, but for the grain

silos peering over the relatively flat-lined southern

landscape, sprawled across the vast red-earth site.

Vehicular access to the brewery is via an approach

road which winds itself through the industrial park

so taking cognisance of its connectivity to future

surrounding developments. From this road one is

guided to the precinct along an entrance boulevard

which opens up the visitor’s views to the extent of

the precinct, it’s array of differing types of buildings

and finally a glimpse of the focal building: the brew

house.

Site / Precinct:

The nature of the precinct demands large scale

shed-type buildings which can pose a rather de-

humanising industrialised experience. This magna-

nimity is brought to a human scale by introducing

smaller scale/people-related buildings experienced

on arrival arranged along the entrance boulevard/

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axis. Furthering the human scale, the pedestrian

approach separated from that of vehicular access is

delineated by a journey within a landscaped park.

All visitors arrive or park along the primary axis and

are immediately orientated towards the Brewery at

the People’s Courtyard that culminates at the end of

the axis. The People’s Court is bounded by buildings

with a less industrialised programme such as the

kitchen/canteen, the locker rooms and the main

gatehouse. These smaller scale buildings sited with-

in an sculpted landscape create a sense of serenity

in an otherwise harsh environment. The pedestrian

routes headed towards the Brew house are defined

by stone base walls placed in the landscape. Expe-

rienced in all buildings, these stone walls ‘anchor’

the earthbound buildings to the floating roofs.

Collection of Buildings:

“To achieve an interrelationship and for the precinct

to read as a congruous entity, the family idea of

parts/boxes necessitated that each building project

certain common elements.” This was achieved

through the juxtaposition of colour of parts, the em-

phasis of the building bases ‘emerging’ from the

earth, and the bright blue skyline incorporated into

the buildings through the use of floating roofs.

The Brew house:

The brew house sitting at the heart of the precinct,

although adhering to these principles of the family,

becomes the focus through its use of curved facades

as a primary feature. The curvilinear geometry reap-

pears subtly in other parts/blocks such as the can-

teen, gatehouse and administration building.

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“Although built to stringent quality standards and

specifications, the complex still manages to portray

a sense that the buildings are indeed rooted in the

South African context. The use of locally sourced,

textured materials – clay bricks, stone rock walling,

and low maintenance natural materials echo its Af-

rican sensibilities. The facades of the buildings are

made up of three definitive parts – the sturdy base

erected from clay brick emerging from the earth,

supporting a light weight steel façade encapsulating

the intricacies of the brewing process, topped by a

‘floating’ roof connecting the building to the sky.”

“Making use of the brewing process as aesthetic

inspiration,” says Schroeder “we drew on the rich

colours of the malt, the vibrant reds associated with

the fermentation process, and the clear water as a

palette to be applied throughout the buildings.”

It is a celebrated space by means of playful ele-

ments such as, the manipulation of solid and void,

by the use of light elements through the exposure

of the structure supporting the floating roof, also

enhancing structural integrity and by the façade be-

ing de-composed into projecting and receding ele-

ments giving it a human scale. It further plunges

itself into the African context by drawing on sym-

bolic elements of the South African culture-slit win-

dows resembling the stitches on the zulu warriors

shield and the domed woven wattle hut breaking

the internal rectilinear geometry.

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Solar control comes by means of horizontal louvers

further delineating the façade of the building.” All

buildings are naturally ventilated and predominate-

ly naturally lit. The buildings too are double insu-

lated, preventing excessive heat from dissipating

from the buildings skin during the southern chilly

winter months.

Conclusion:

The brewery is set to be developed in 3 phases.

Phase one has dealt with the main manufacturing

facility including malt and fermentation facilities,

brewery house, bottling plant and distribution cen-

tre with built-in flexibility to expand.

Taking into consideration the extent of the project,

the pace with which Osmond Lange delivered the

goods is quite phenomenal.

Without a doubt the fastest technically intricate

project relative to its size that Osmond Lange has

delivered to date, delivering 23 buildings in just

over a year. “We started on site in May 2008 and

delivered the first Phase on 30 June 2009 – in just

14 months,” states project director Deon van Onse-

len. Van Onselen goes on to say that over the last

two to three years the building industry in South

Africa has developed a capacity to deliver at “quite

a speed.” <

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