PORTNET HAS chosen an imposing design for a new port control tower overlooking the port entrance to Durban. A competition attracting 53 entries was held among KZN architects to design a new tower to house port control personnel, a search and rescue centre and the port's new vessel tracking system.
The new tower, which will be visible by day and night from both land and sea will cost nearly R7 million to build. It was designed by two young local architects, Rob Albert and Alex Pienaar.
The design uses imagery inspired from the land (budding sugar cane root), the sea (shells and fish) and nautical imagery (sails, masts, cranes and funnels). It will act as a barometer for the city, able to communicate fluctuations of the sun, wind and tide as well as perform port functions and is intended to become the visible symbol of the port's importance.
The tower's highest point is a 50 metre rotating spire rising above the tower, which will move up and down some 16 metres indicating the state of the tide. The tower below has a mesh cowl element to act as a wind vane, revolving in response to the prevailing wind direction A computer-driven sunscreen of horizontal and vertical blinds will track the movement of the sun and provide shade for staff inside the operations room.
This will constantly change the appearance of the tower becoming an indication of the time of day while also acting in a more down-to-earth aspect as a window-cleaning platform.
By night randomly changing colours within the cowl will provide an ever-changing spectacle, visible from all over the Berea and as far afield as Umhlanga and way out to sea.
Construction is to begin within weeks and Durban's millennium tower should be in use by March 2001.
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