Situated within Durban’s historic South Beach neighborhood—once anchored by the vibrant South Beach Shopping Centre—Black Prince Beach Condos is a bold response to the growing demand for dignified, well-designed mid-income housing. This adaptive redevelopment reimagines the now-vacant retail complex into a dynamic mixed-use development featuring five floors of residential apartments, ground-floor retail spilling into a landscaped central courtyard, and an integrated parking level.
The architectural design embraces a raw, expressive material palette—unplastered walls, exposed concrete floors, steel-framed open cabinetry, and minimalist finishes—that evoke a modern, downtown beach condo aesthetic. Rather than conceal cost-efficiency, the design leverages it to celebrate creative restraint and urban authenticity.
The proposal foregrounds livability and spatial efficiency, while simultaneously reconnecting the site to the social and commercial fabric of the city. With the rise of remote work and increased access to housing finance tools, Black Prince Beach Condos positions itself as an inclusive, future-forward model for urban regeneration in coastal African cities.
The lead designer in this project was Mr. Bartek Wenta