Former silo’s stunning rebirth

A DERELICT building has been transformed into one of the world’s most luxurious destinations.

The Silo Hotel sits on top of the new Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. Picture: Alamy

TRANSFORMING an unused silo is not unheard of.

But few reach the dizzying heights a once-derelict silo in Cape Town has achieved

thanks to British designer Thomas Heatherwick.

And what a stunning transformation it is.

The lower levels of the former silo built in the 1920s now house a world class museum.

The upper six floors are now a stylish hotel.

Both are being lauded but for different reasons.

The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa is hailed as South Africa’s answer to London’s Tate Modern, thanks to its sheer size and drama, and houses the largest collection of African art in the world.

Another of the museum’s major drawcards is its mesmerising 10-storey atrium carved out of the former sites once-tubular honeycomb. Towering atop Zeitz MOCAA is The Silo Hotel.

You’d expect a hotel that sits above a museum to be able to deliver some serious razzle dazzle and it doesn’t disappoint.

The Silo Hotel has more than 300 pieces of contemporary art scattered across its six floors and each of its 28 rooms comes with a dizzying floor-to-ceiling bay of windows that are works of modern art themselves.

Fancy, right? No wonder Cape Town is referred to by some as the Europe of Africa.

It’s not surprising tourism is booming.

Since the end of apartheid in 1994 tourism has grown from just shy of three million to more than 10 million visitors a year in 2017.

Just a heads up, if you’re planning a last minute trip room rates at The Silo Hotel range from $1400 a night to a wallet crippling $16,000-a-night for the penthouse, which is more than South Africa’s average annual salary.

Of course, you can always take pictures on insta and pretend you stayed there.

You wouldn’t be the first.

Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond The Lobby airs Thursday at 8.30pm on Foxtel’s Lifestyle and is available on Foxtel On Demand.