The history of Johannesburg's Ponte City Apartments is a provocative one: built in 1975 and designed by Manfred Hermer as the height of luxurious (white-only) living in South Africa, the continent's tallest residential building soon became a notorious vertical slum, filled with crime and poverty, its signature hollow core re-purposed as a trash dump and a suicide drop.
Ponte Tower: The Latest Architecture and News
Inside Johannesburg's Infamous Ponte City Tower
https://www.archdaily.com/493877/inside-johannesburg-s-infamous-ponte-city-towerRory Stott
A Glimpse of Hope for Johannesburg's Forgotten Ponte Tower
The Ponte Tower is a residential high-rise in Johannesburg, South Africa with a unique history and now a promising future. It was designed by architect Manfred Hermer in the 1970's to be one of the most desirable places to live in the city, with an iconic, hollowed out interior, three-story apartments and rooftop jacuzzis. Over time, however, the building fell into disrepair and instead of serving as an icon of extreme wealth and prosperity, it became an icon of poverty and indifference. In still racially-divided South Africa, this was marked by the moving out of whites and the moving in of a primarily black population as property values plummeted. It has been associated with high levels of crime, a lack of sanitariness and even suicides, thanks to the building's hollow core.
https://www.archdaily.com/349033/a-glimpse-of-hope-for-johannesburgs-forgotten-ponte-towerBarbara Porada