Durban's old Lion Match Factory refurbished

Sarah Fourie of Dean Jay Architects, said the bricks used in the refurbishment were a mixture of reused old bricks from one of the demolished warehouses, alongside Corobrik's range of terracotta satin face bricks and burgundy pavers.

"We wanted to match the newer bricks with the older ones while playing with different brickwork styles throughout," she explained. "We highlighted the new additions as obviously modern rather than trying to repeat the traditional design. While the new additions are modern, we have used the same colours and materials that were used in the original buildings."

Redefining spaces

Allin Dangers, director of coastal sales for Corobrik, said it was rewarding for Corobrik to have its products involved in redefining the spaces of this landmark. The terracotta satin face bricks were the perfect choice to blend with the older bricks and the variation in brickwork pattern gave character and charm to the individual buildings.

The interiors of the existing buildings have retained the industrial, factory design with exposed trusses and clerestorey lighting. The internal face brick has been painted in shades of white and grey which introduces different textures while staying in keeping with the industrial feel.

The older buildings have also retained the original English bond brickwork pattern on the plinth which correlates with a number of the signature building aspects such as the 'signage walls' which have been constructed using reused old bricks.

One of the newer buildings is the impressive six-storey building on the eastern side of the property, which comprises a parkade and office block, the top level of which houses the offices of JT Ross. The southern side of this has an immense 18m high face brick wall which proved to be a significant design challenge for the architects.

Different patterns

"The original idea was to reuse the old bricks from the demolished warehouse for the wall but, because it is such a vast expanse of wall, there just weren't enough," said Fourie. "We looked into the Corobrik supply and tried different patterns."

Corobrik's terracotta satin face bricks were the perfect choice, effortlessly blending the feel of the older buildings with a more modern look. The design selected for the wall was English bond brickwork with a relief pattern whereby every second half-brick protrudes from the wall by 15mm.

For the paving, Corobrik's range of Burgundy pavers was selected, used in a Herringbone pattern for the heavy vehicular traffic flow, and a stretcher bond pattern for the pedestrian traffic.