Cape Town’s Sea Point Main Road Cape Town's Sea Point Main Road has a layered, eclectic architectural language, which reflects decades of design influences from decorative Victorian and Edwardian to quirky Art Deco, streamlined mid-century modernism and more recent urban infill. However, despite its distinctive popularity, these conditions have left the street fragmented in parts. This offers a particular challenge for developers and architects. Designed by dhk Architects for Blok, ONEHUNDREDONM is an example of how the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings and contemporary design can combine to transform the urban character from late-century neglect to contemporary vibrancy in a small pocket of a much-loved neighbourhood. This project demonstrates that urban heritage and contemporary development need not be in opposition.
Site background and challenges
The building is set on a small urban block in a prime Sea Point location. It has three street frontages to Norfolk, Wisbeach and Main Roads. The three streets have distinct personalities that contribute to the area's architectural character in the vibrant neighbourhood. The building announces itself between a series of buildings that stand forward and others more set back. This streetscape forms a gateway to a localised precinct spanning three or four blocks defined by urban renewal, street-level activity and tourist activity.
The existing building dating from 1903 is an example of light-industrial Victorian high street shopfront. Working within and above a historical façade required a response that respects heritage guidelines and preserves the Victorian fabric, balanced with the developer’s vision to achieve a viable contemporary development. The resulting seven-storey mixed-use development presented several layers of complexity which ultimately shaped a well-considered building.
Design concept
This is Blok’s 16th development, envisioned to express the developer’s philosophy that buildings should make a positive contribution to the interest and community of the neighbourhoods where they develop. The brief for designers dhk Architects was to repurpose the heritage building with a contemporary insertion, while also improving spatial integration and pedestrian permeability.
dhk’s architectural response is an ordered and graceful yet playful intervention that strikes a balance between architectural heritage and the realities of contemporary urban living. A standout feature is the adaptation of the original 1903 high-street façade as a base from which the new seven-storey structure rises and its integration with the internal open core. This balances the building's historic character with a more pared-back, minimalist contemporary design language, while emphasising the grand Victorian façade.
The rounded edges and curves of the ONEHUNDREDONM building reference the Victorian, Deco and High Modernist vernacular, grounding the building in its context. A consistent geometric language runs throughout the building, creating a sense of order and balance, which characterises dhk’s layered design approach to create spatial and conceptual richness. This approach to consistency throughout the building enhances the sense of coherence. A tactile red brick floor finish was selected for the ground floor. This winds its way through the heart of the building to evoke a continuous, welcoming and unified public realm beyond the building.
Apartments were designed with floor-to-ceiling glazing to help draw light deep into each unit, while a glossy, reflective joinery element near the entrance bounces light further into the space. Inside the apartments, a room dividing device is made from the same polycarbonate used in the canopy structure over the atrium. These material echoes reflect the building’s overall aesthetic sensibility.
Historic access routes are reinstated through the open core of the original Victorian complex. The ground floor is sunken internally by a metre below ground and is set back, while the street-level commercial edge is maintained all the way around the building. The dropped floor level offers a sense of enclosure and creates a threshold to the private spaces beyond the more public commercial spaces. The internal courtyard and lane system create a distinctive light industrial atmosphere that feels both sophisticated and soft. This approach also ensures the building remains porous and connected to the neighbourhood's rhythm.
The seven-storey atrium
The full-height atrium serves an aesthetic, social, environmental and technological function, in enhancing social interactions, maximising natural ventilation and offering protection from weather elements. The internal courtyard garden evokes a Victorian Palm Court, as an archetypal feature found in grand civic structures such as hotels and public palaces. This creates the rare effect of a secluded garden realm within Sea Point.
Roof engineering and geometric framing
The engineering of the roof and central atrium reference the building’s light-industrial character while performing an important function that improves the internal quality. The sawtooth roof is clad in polycarbonate selected for its environmental performance.
This slender roof structure and its translucent cladding floods the atrium with natural light. The width of the atrium draws natural light further down into the lower levels. Each sawtooth section includes louvres that improve airflow and meet fire regulations, enabling internal windows to be introduced into the apartment design. The roof draws in natural ventilation and uses the stack effect for passive cooling.
While many apartment buildings have internalised corridors with limited light and little sense of community, at ONEHUNDREDONM, the open core and generous garden act as a social concentrator. Balustrades along the passages are segmented into square openings to establish a deliberate geometric frame, resulting in a vertical promenade where residents can see and be seen, creating opportunities for neighbours to interact. The ordered geometry articulates movement and creates a human-scale framed snapshot of elements inside the building. This approach echoes the exterior language of the façade where square and rectangular openings similarly frame views out of the building. The consistent geometry within the internal circulation spaces echoes the external rhythm of the balconies and façade. In both instances, this careful act of framing directs attention inward and outward, producing a sequence of considered visual moments throughout the building.
Anchoring the development in the streetscape
dhk’s design, characterised by order and clarity, rhythm and structure, distinguishes the building among its neighbours. The original Victorian façade is one of few that remain on Main Road. The decision to retain and adapt the façade anchors the development in the history of the street while accommodating the confident contemporary structure that rises above it. The reinstated historic Victorian lanes restore pedestrian permeability through the urban block – a gesture rarely achieved in dense city developments. These routes activate the ground floor and return a meaningful connection to Sea Point's urban fabric. The way the new structure steps back and rises behind the heritage streetscape results in a clear, consistent and legible form that remains functional and forward-looking, while respecting the street's historical scale. This reinforces ONEHUNDREDONM’s status as a civic building with a direct relationship with the street.
Designed for the rhythm of contemporary urban living
ONEHUNDREDONM represents a maturing of Blok’s development approach; this is perhaps their most contextually complex project to date. The new addition is a successful product of the spatial system set out by the historical building and makes the building an extension of its context.
The building achieves high density, with 93 upper-floor apartments, ranging from micro units and studios to one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments in a private, tranquil internal environment. The rooftop pool with views of Signal Hill becomes a shared moment of pause above the energy of Sea Point Main Road. Throughout, the design prioritises natural light and a sense of connection to one of Cape Town's most loved coastal neighbourhoods.
The adaptive reuse scheme has strengthened the character of this stretch of Main Road and set a precedent for how heritage structures across Cape Town's inner suburbs might be thoughtfully transformed rather than erased.
