Ponte City Tower — Johannesburg Aerial
152.80 £
The Ponte City tower in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, photographed from above — the cylindrical 54-storey brutalist residential tower open to the sky at its hollow core, the surrounding Hillbrow cityscape visible beyond.
Description
Ponte City in Hillbrow, Johannesburg — a 54-storey cylindrical residential tower completed in 1975 — is one of South Africa’s most culturally complex buildings: once the most desirable address in Johannesburg, it became a notorious crime scene during apartheid’s final years, then was partially abandoned, then gradually rehabilitated and is now a functioning residential tower once more. The building’s defining architectural feature — a hollow open core rising the full 54 floors to an open sky — creates one of the most dramatic interior atria in world architecture. The view from the roof parapet looking directly down into the core reveals a perfect cylindrical space, the different coloured apartment balconies visible on each floor creating a graphic interior canyon. This aerial photograph was made with rooftop access permission, shooting directly downward into the core from the parapet with a wide-angle lens. The surrounding Hillbrow skyline is visible beyond the building’s cylindrical rim.
