Cape Gate Industrial Canteen

Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, South Africa

With Clive Chipkin

The Canteen, office accommodation and an enclosed garden courtyard is located at the heart of the sprawling Davsteel and Cape Gate industrial complex. The factory employs some 4 000 staff and the building was designed and built in the last decade of the apartheid regime. It was specifically intended to create a non-racial social facility for staff as a catalyst to help breakdown the workplace segregation that characterised South Africa Industry. 

The steeply sloping roof covers a tall dining space, overlooked by offices and training rooms. The roof scoop enhance natural ventilation, drawing in air through the walled garden. A shop with meeting room above is set off against the slope of the canteen roof.

The project was widely published as a groundbreaking social initiative by a forward looking industry leader.

Completed  1989

East stairs 

North approach along factory spine road

Entrance

Main stair view