The Taj Palace Hotel in Cape Town was the first luxury hotel to be opened by the Taj Group in South Africa. The project comprised the partial demolition, refurbishment and extensive preservation of two important historic buildings – the Old Reserve Bank building and the Temple Chambers building – along with contemporary in fill and additions. The challenge was to celebrate the old and the new equally, creating a synthesis between the historic fabric and the more modern interventions on the site.

The concept was designed to retain and carefully restore as much of the two historic buildings as possible, which would house the grand public spaces of the hotel. The contemporary additions were an infill building on St George’s Mall and a new tower that rises out of the centre of the city block. This building accommodates the back-of-house spaces and 167 hotel rooms. A skeletal steel grid covers part of the tower facade to create a dynamic contrast with the historical aesthetic of the existing buildings.

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Alain Proust - Photographer