A Community-centred Approach to Shopping Centre Design
Cape Town's newest shopping centre, Gugulethu Square, is scheduled to open in October and promises to redefine the shopping experience for the residents of the greater Gugulethu area.
Construction is taking place on the site of the old strip retail facility known as the Eyona Shopping Centre in Gugulethu, a township 15 km from Cape Town. The N1 main route runs through the area and is close to the N2 bypass intersection. Gugulethu, along with Nyanga, was established in the 1960s due to the overcrowding of Langa, which was the only black residential area in Cape Town at the time. During the apartheid era, black South Africans were not permitted to live in the city of Cape Town and many people were removed to areas with poor infrastructure such as Gugulethu and Nyanga. Over time, there was growth and some infrastructural improvement but retail facilities have always been rather limited, necessitating residents to frequently shop in other areas.
The international commercial architectural firm of Bentel Associates International (BAI) were retained by the developers to design a practical yet upmarket shopping centre for Gugulethu while taking due cognisance of the local community and its culture and needs.
"This will be an exceptionally functional 25 000 m2 retail centre which will offer a diverse range of options to shoppers," says Stephen Roberts, BAI senior director and project architect. "The R350-million Gugulethu Square will be the first fully enclosed township mall in the city."
