OTP OMUTIMA – Redevelopment of the Old Taxi Park

OTP OMUTIMA – Redevelopment of the Old Taxi Park

OTP has been the place of arrival for passengers coming to visit, trade, shop or sell at the numerous shops, market places and arcades around. The character of this place and the value attached to it, make clear the task to sustain OTP as the most important place in the Downtown area and to make a strong spatial and functional plan for the site. Central to the concept of this plan are the symbiotic character of main place of arrival, central public space and a bustling shopping and market area. Strengthening these functionalities will enhance the symbiosis of functions and make the heartbeat of Kampala even more powerful. Therefore, the concept of the Master Plan emanates this heartbeat. As it is named in Luganda: OTP Omutima Gwa’Kampala.

The master plan covers a larger area at Nakasero hill to Nakivubo valley including a drainage improvement in street infrastructure and water catchment capacity of the lowest valley area, to balance the densification of the urban tissue with a green and blue concept for the former railway lands in the valley.

To allow for the coexistence of different functions, OTP is envisioned as a layered complex. This conceptual gesture is further supported by the twelve meter topographical height difference between the two sides of the plot. The transportation hub is located at the top of a deck which at the same time serves as a roof of a multi-leveled shopping center.

From the three main components of the OTP Omutima plan, the first to mention is the public transport terminal. The terminal is central to a nearby network of mobility functions that include the city bus, BRT and coach station and the pedestrianized Luwum Street. Without the public transport facility and terminal, OTP would not be the Omutima, but the reverse is also true: the commercial functions make OTP a very popular destination for many.

That forms the second component of the Masterplan: By adding a shopping mall to the large array of shopping and commercial activities in the city centre, OTP also enhances its attraction as key node to enter the city centre. The complex can be further enhanced by the addition of three high-rises with flexible programme depending on the market opportunities at the moment of implementation.

Thridly, the OTP is a public transport hub not merely consisting of infrastructure, vehicles and buildings. It is first and foremost a place for people. The OTP Omutima embraces the concept of making room again for people: providing space where pedestrians are comfortable moving through, stopping to wait, to meet, or to connect to the core of the city.  Adjacent to the NMT corridor at Luwum Street, there is a comfortable space for people that offers accessibility and a meeting space that enhances social relations and exchanges.

A sound business case proofs the preliminary feasibility outcomes positive. Further in-depth development of the plan will target the development agreement with a master developer party to implement the layered complex and lift Old Taxi Park into a next century of place of arrival for many.

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Urban Accelerator Bellville

Urban Accelerator Bellville

The City of Cape Town had pointed various locations in the urban fabric of the metropolis to become ‘catalytic projects’. These projects should help inclusive development forward at several areas. To find out whether this location could play such a role a series of workshops with city staff and various stakeholders had first of all answer the question: Could this opportunity area become an urban Accelerator?

The area of Bellville is one of the catalytic project locations. In this area the 2^nd largest train station in the Cape region is located. It sits besides the centre of the former old village which was connected via a long straight road (Voortrekker Road), and functioned as the intermediate stop from the city centre towards the Stellenbosch hills. Nowadays the Bellville area is fully emerged in the urban fabric. Still the potentials to grow as a strong second node of the metropolis has not been grasped fully. The teams analysis led to the conclusion that an integral vision for the area of which the Bellville station is the centre, is needed. In a series of ‘pressure cooker workshops’ with all professionals involved the contours of a Transit Oriented Development model appeared for Bellville. The position of the station is the perfect accelerator for all sides of the site and stretched over an area of influence much larger than the current CBD for instance.

The vast open and unused spaces around the station are typical for the Cape Town metropolis urban fabric. These need to be inversed and become the drivers of change for this area. Secondly the existing infrastructure needs to be used differently. Instead of investing in very expensive car infrastructure, which will contribute to only more car traffic, the train station needs to be more intensively connected to other mobility functions to create an efficient passenger transit hub. Therefore, a platform above the railway tracks is proposed which can be linked to the existing elevated expressway to accommodate taxis, buses and minibuses with a passenger concourse in the middle connecting the railway below with the other transport means on the sides of the platform. By bending the concourse to the ground floor levels a smooth connection to the existing old village centre can be made and the unused railway yards on the other side can be unlocked.

This Concept design for a masterplan process was welcomed positively by representatives of the City and PRASA (Rail authority of South Africa and owner of the station).                                      

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