14. W Design’s bold and stylish take on a laboratory building for Dagutat Science
W Design Architecture Studio’s Johan Wentzel and Grete van As have created a sophisticated building that combines elements of factory and laboratory to house the world’s first soil-less-grown truffle project.
Truffles are one of the world’s most desired delicacies. These rare finds are notoriously difficult to grow, and even harder to store – but that didn’t stop W Design Architecture Studio from confidently taking on the renovation of an industrial space in which Dagutat Science wished to realise its ambition to do so. In the organisation’s new building, Johan Wentzel and Grete van As have successfully created an environment that fosters growth.
“Dagutat Science produces edible mushrooms that are used as biological treatment in agriculture to deal with various diseases. It is the first company in the world to cultivate truffles in a moss chamber,” says Grete. “A few years ago, Dagutat Science bought an old factory building in Koedoespoort, Pretoria and asked us to refurbish it. We were inspired by their products and their approach to sustainable farming; this triggered our design concept.”
As she explains, Koedoespoort – located just east of Pretoria’s CBD – was originally surveyed and set out as a non-noxious industrial area. The site includes commercial and industrial properties – most of them, Johan says, “characterised by a uniquely industrial saw-tooth roof aesthetic”. He adds that the area is a dynamic, production-driven precinct with little concern for the streetscape or the “spirit of place”.
This is the backdrop for the Dagutat Science project, which required the renovation of a decommissioned small-arms ammunition factory.
The change in the building’s purpose was a true 180-degree turnaround, when you think about it – so it’s no wonder that, as Johan explains, the conceptual idea for the project was inspired by Dagutat Science’s focus on creating “conditions for life”. “If we view the city as a living, breathing organism, then this project serves as the ‘urban acupuncture needle’ that can revitalise the whole by healing a part,” he says.
And indeed, a sense of life is now evident from the moment one arrives in Eland Street, where the building is situated, Johan says, because the very first point of contact for any Dagutat Science visitor driving through the street is a new forest of lavender trees – representing grace, calmness and, most importantly, life.
The layout and design of the building itself was a considered process – after all, it needed to house not only a fully functional laboratory, but also a test kitchen, and every process that takes place between growth and cooking. “The new laboratory pods are seen as ‘floating and light’ units – not touching the solid structure directly, but holding inside them the secrets to life,” says Johan. “Behind the protective veil of the new steel screen – or peridium, in reference to fungi’s protective outer layer – the elevated unfinished concrete office building houses a boardroom with a Zeiss microscope, to illustrate and visualise the minuscule scale at which Dagutat Science operates to make its huge impact on the world. The test kitchen on the lower level is fitted for experimental cooking based on the company’s latest development of cultivated Mustérion Craft Truffles – Winter Black and Winter White.”
In addition, Johan says, the updated design is a nod to the notion of permanence. “Architecture is a mixture of nostalgia and extreme anticipation. While the primary existing structure was retained, almost as a skeleton or a frame, we made room for things that matter by removing everything that doesn’t.” In line with this principle, all the building’s 1970s construction was clearly differentiated from the 2019 updates via choices of materials, connections and detailing. “Buildings should be a reflection of an era, in a said instant,” says Johan – and it’s clear that this unique new creative space located in the heart of an industrial park is precisely that. wdas.co.za