Designed for Tricolt and Attacq, Ellipse Waterfall is located in the heart of Waterfall City, in Gauteng. The client brief was to create a unique residential complex of striking architectural impact to mark its status as the first high-rise luxury apartment development in the area

In response, we moved away from the traditional rectangular apartment block design in favour of a more unconventional form. We proposed four separate elliptical towers to make the most of the site’s elevated location and unobstructed views. The buildings' shape takes inspiration from an ellipse, a mathematical term for a curved plane surrounding two focal points, which is highly efficient in terms of ratio of surface area to internal volume. The lack of corners reduces the visual profile of the buildings to offer the most suitable form when considering multiple towers in proximity to one another.

The 45 000 m² precinct features 620 apartments, including executive one-bedroom, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units and multiple penthouse suites. Other amenities include The Luna Club, an exclusive multi-concept lifestyle destination.

The towers sit on a raised podium, creating an elevated ground floor with a parking garage and services infrastructure underneath. The podium level is extensively landscaped and includes a central piazza, running track, active and passive parks, lap and leisure pools, verdant gardens and The Luna Club. These spaces offer moments of connection between residents and encourage community activity. At street level, an elevated forecourt addresses the most prominent corner where retail spaces spill out onto the activated street edges to create a relationship with other users from the broader Waterfall City community.

The four towers have an identical footprint, though each is a different height. Newton has 10 storeys, Kepler has 11 storeys, Cassini has 13 and Galileo 15. The curvilinear façade of the towers is complemented by a mix of moveable and fixed screens which serve to animate the elevations. This produces an ever-changing collage responding to the movement of the sun and the moods of its occupants.

The interiors have a clean and contemporary aesthetic, complete with ultra-modern finishes, high ceilings and large windows that provide panoramic views of the Gauteng skyline. Designed with user experience in mind, everything has been considered to optimise internal functionality and flow. Ellipse’s design prioritises sustainable living. It incorporates green design practices and building features that contribute to a reduced environmental footprint.

Inspired by their mathematical origins, each tower is named after some of the world’s most celebrated scientists, namely Newton, Kepler, Cassini and Galileo.
This is one of multiple projects we have delivered for Tricolt. Visit One Rosebank, Brookfield at Royal and Olympus Sandton for more details.

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Tricolt - Aerial

Sean Gibson - Photographer