Ponte City Apartments, Johannesburg, South Africa

History
The principal designer of Ponte was Mannie Feldman, working in a team together with Manfred Hermer and Rodney Grosskopf. Rodney Grosskopff recalled the decision to make the building circular, the first cylindrical skyscraper in Africa. At the time, Johannesburg bylaws required kitchens and bathrooms to have a window, so Grosskopff designed the building with a hollow interior, allowing light to enter the apartments from both sides. At the bottom of the immense building were retail stores and initial plans were to include an indoor ski slope on the 32,000-square-foot (3,000 m2) inner core floor. The building was so tall because developers wanted a large number of units but only had limited land to build on. The building was located 35 minutes from the Jan Smuts International Airport (now called OR Tambo International Airport) and almost within walking distance of the innercity with theatres like the Market and the Civic within 5 km (3.1 mi).