The competition winning design for Hurudza House was commissioned by the Agricultural Finance Corporation to house their new headquarters, in the then rapidly growing western part of the central business district. In this 16 storey building Mick Pearce {Pearce Partnership} - of Eastgate fame - made a significant attempt to respond to issues of climate, place and appropriate materials. It however "suffered from an artificially imposed formalism which dilutes the significance it could have achieved" as noted by Peter Jackson another local architect. Situated on a corner site, the building is composed of a reinforced concrete frame with natural yellow ochre brick infill, and is punctuated every three floors by landscaped balconies. The accommodation comprises basement parking, a ground floor banking hall and 15 storeys of typically 680 square meters open office space.
The building is naturally ventilated, and there is no central air conditioning. Pearce attempted to shade the windows from direct light by using protruding balconies. A central atrium running east-west up the entire length of the building to allows direct late afternoon sunlight to the inner offices suites, with good ambient light throughout the rest of the day.
Constructed by local contractors Grinaker, the building works began in July 1989, with an initial budget of ZW$23 million and the project was completed in November 1991. Hurudza House tucks well into the 1960s building precinct, and succeeds in steering away from the unfamiliar and usually nonconformistganite-and-mirrorglass cliché that was sweeping its way across most Harare during this period.
1991
Mike Majome
