Laudium Plaza

A title-deed typo limited the height to 2 m, so the supermarket went underground.

The brief

A shopping centre on three sites in central Laudium, to be ready for tenants within a year, on a budget of R1 million.

The constraint

The title deed limited the height to 2 m instead of the 12 m allowed next door. It was an obvious typing error, but the council refused to approve anything taller until the deed was corrected, a process that could take a year.

The practice sank a semi-basement supermarket 1.5 m into the ground, showing that the building's average height above natural ground stayed under 2 m. Construction started while the deed was corrected for the upper floors.

The idea

Instead of the service backyards the council asked for, the open space was turned into a naturally lit central plaza that draws shoppers through the centre. No shop is tucked out of sight, and the centre has rarely had shops standing empty.

Exposed brick, unplastered off-shutter concrete and quarry tiles kept costs down. Ramps and lifts made every level accessible, unusual in the 1970s.

The result

The plaza was built within the year and within budget. Nearly 50 years later, shoppers still walk through the skylit central court, past the brick piers, and the glazed red tiles set into the quarry-tile floor still gleam.