Kololo Summit OfficesKololo Summit Offices

Summit Offices replaced a 1970s three-storey block on one of Kampala's most visible corners. The client wanted grade-A lettable space; the planning constraint was a strict height limit and a requirement to hold the street edge on two sides.

The atrium as a machine

The plan is a simple doughnut: lettable floorplate around a full-height atrium that runs from the ground-floor lobby to a louvred roof lantern. The atrium is not air-conditioned. It works as a solar chimney — warm air rises and exhausts through the lantern, drawing fresh air in at the podium. Perimeter offices are conditioned; circulation, lift lobbies and break-out space are not.

Measured over the first full year of occupation, the strategy cut the building's cooling energy by 31% against a sealed-facade baseline of the same floor area.

Facade

A unitised curtain wall with 250mm aluminium fins on the east and west elevations. The fins are angled — 22° on the east, 34° on the west — so they cut low-angle sun without closing down the view. Vision glass is a low-E double-glazed unit with a 0.32 solar factor.

• Twelve floors of 780 m² net lettable area, column-free to 9m
• Three levels of basement parking, 186 bays
• Rainwater harvesting feeds cooling-tower make-up and WC flushing
• Standby generation sized for full building load, with a 2-hour UPS on tenant floors

Practical completion was reached in August 2023. The building was 84% let within six months.