The site is located in the Little Walmer Golf Estate to the south of the golf course overlooking the Baakens River valley.
The Brief called for a house with generous spaces both indoor and outdoor but where privacy was important as the client was relocating from a smallholding which provided both space and privacy.
The design process was informed by a number of aspects; the irregular site shape, the context (the golf course and neighbours), relationship with nature (both natural and artificial), sustainability, privacy and views.
The house consists of two main ‘sheeted’ wings that are a direct reaction to the site’s edges and context and linked by a glazed atrium. The entrance is located on the northwestern façade where a generous cantilevered canopy and hallway leads the visitor to the glazed double volume that also allows the occupant a visual link between the social spaces in the house on both floors. A free standing staircase leads to the bedrooms on first floor as well as a pyjama lounge that is open to the double volume. A step and change in direction and floor finish introduces the kitchen, dining room, bar and entertainment area. A courtyard is created by the arrangement of spaces on ground floor which is also private especially for a dwelling share three boundaries with the public.
All the bedrooms on first floor which promotes a relationship with nature. The planted roof over the garage serves as an extension of the landscape especially when viewed from the main bedroom where the valley continues behind it.
The western façade, although hard is sympathetic to the neighbour in that it forms a private courtyard garden as well as a private kitchen yard.
The wing to the south borders the golf course where the sheet metal cladding with the second and third bedroom punching through.
Each elevation consists of number of layers; standing seam roof sheeting, which also clad the first floor and then rests on the heavy brick base thereby reducing the scale of the dwelling. The first’s has a number of cantilevering concrete boxes that punch through cladding. A glazed atrium with off shutter concrete roof connects the two wings.
The Internal spaces although very generous are still intimate as the double volume atrium allows for relationship between the social spaces on ground and first floor.
Sustainable aspects include water harvesting and filtration, thermal massing on the western elevation, a photovoltaic installation with a grid tie and double glazing.
The design response has resulted in a home where its inhabitants enjoy through the layering of materials and spaces varied levels of privacy and interaction with nature. The spaces created through the design response both inside and outside and the layering of materials has resulted in a home that sits comfortably in its surroundings and allows its inhabitants various spatial experiences while moving through the house.