| Standard Bank Centre | |
|---|---|
78 Fox Street | |
 The Standard Bank Centre, Fox Str | |
 Interactive map of Standard Bank Centre | |
| Alternative names | Hanging Building; 78 Fox Street[1] |
| Record height | |
| Tallest in Africa from 1968 to 1970[I] | |
| Surpassed by | Trust Bank Building |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Business-use; Office |
| Architectural style | Futurism; Modern |
| Location | 78 Fox Street,Central Business District,Johannesburg,South Africa |
| Coordinates | 26°12′24″S28°02′22″E / 26.206594°S 28.039383°E /-26.206594; 28.039383 |
| Construction started | 1966 |
| Completed | 1968 |
| Opened | 1968 |
| Height | |
| Architectural | 139 m (456 ft) |
| Tip | 139 m (456 ft) |
| Roof | 139 m (456 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Material | Concrete |
| Floor count | 34 |
| Floor area | 30,000 m2 (322,917 sq ft) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | Hentrich Petschnigg & Partners |
| Structural engineer | Ove Arup & Partners |
| Main contractor | Concor Limited |
| References | |
| [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] | |
TheStandard Bank Centre (also known as theHanging Building or the78 Fox Street)[1] is askyscraper inJohannesburg,South Africa. It is located at the corner of 27 Simmonds Street and 78 Fox Street in theCentral Business District of the city. Construction of the building started in 1966 and was completed in 1968. It is 139 m (456 ft) tall.[2] It was also home toStandard Bank, until the company moved to a new site in 1990.[1]
The building was built from the top-down, meaning that after the central core was built, the floors were suspended fromcantilevered arms with the top floors added first, followed by each lower floor.[3][7]
The challenge for the designers - the German architectHelmut Hentrich (1905–2001) and the Austrian architectHubert Petschnigg (1913–1997), who planned the skyscraper in collaboration with the British-Danish-Norwegian engineerOve Arup (1895–1988) - was to find a spacious square in the crowdedJohannesburg CBD to anchor an office building. To keep space used to a minimum, they adopted the "hanging" design.[9]
Apart from theconcrete core tower, the Standard Bank Centre was built byConcor of precastreinforced concrete slabs,glass, andsteel. The plastic molds in which the concrete slabs were cast gave them a distinctive shape. The steelgirders used for the balustrades are 1.5 m high and 24.6 m long. A specialslewingcrane was designed for the project to lift and mount a quarter of each floor level. Concrete was delivered by night to the construction site to minimize traffic obstruction.[9]
The office building stretches to 39 stories, of which five are underground. The lower two stories house the computer center, including the evaluation center with a staff of 300. The bank room offers access to thesafe tower stretching through all the lower floors, with delivery access through the lower parking lot. The windows use tinted glass with laminated doubleglazing for sunlight protection. No special arrangements need to be made forwindow cleaning, since the 60-cm balustrades make cleaning the outer pane easy. Air vents are located in the corners of the facade. The office is 9.7 m wide. The hanging design eliminates the need for pillars.[9]
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Tallest building in Africa 139 m (456 ft) 1968 – 1970 | Succeeded by |
| Tallest building in South Africa 139 m (456 ft) 1968 – 1970 | ||
| Tallest building in Johannesburg 139 m (456 ft) 1968 – 1970 | ||
| Building in Africa with the most floors 34 1968 – 1970 | Succeeded by | |
