No. 08

The street facade is treated discreetly to mask the layered arrangement of the design where internal living spaces connect to courtyard spaces , the garden allowing for diverse , varied experiences as one moves through the house.

The climatic benefits of the courtyard areas, tempered with the use of water, which not only provide a diverse visual backdrop to the internal living areas, but importantly allow for the free-flowing movement of air which is cooled by the courtyard spaces in the summer months to flow freely through the internal spaces. In the winter periods, the opposite is true where the courtyard spaces allow for the deep penetration of the warm sun into the living areas, moderating the extreme seasonal temperatures.

A system of passive heating and cooling that acknowledges lessons learnt from the vernacular Cape Dutch architecture of the region.

Artwork is a central theme running through the house , where sculptures are used as visual anchors as one moves through the spaces. A gentle nod to the Barcelona pavilion is evident in the ritual of arrival through the main entrance courtyard.

The primary circulation axis through the house is anchored by artwork upon arrival, and the theme continues throughout the house, emphasising the importance of the artwork + sculptures.

Materials are equally considered, where simple contrasting elements are composed to articulate subtle variances in the formal massing of the building. The scale and composition of formal elements is modulated with the choice of materials together with vertical screening elements of varying scales, and the role of light and shadow.

The internal spaces are simply composed to create generous inter-connected volumes, with a simple warm natural palette of materials, where the artwork is allowed to occupy center stage.

The dramatic Overberg mountain range hovers in the background, and is ever present as one moves through the various courtyard – garden spaces, to ensure the connection to a greater surrounding landscape is retained.

INFO
Client: Private
Status: Project Pending
Location: Western Cape
Principal: Greg Wright
Architects: Suzaan De Kock + Gert Coetzee
Renders: Christian Cook
Date: 2020