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Seen from across the pool, the Tropical Brutalist influence on the architecture, by Pretoria architect Piet van den Berg, is most clear. The design is structured around the fluted concrete columns set six metres apart, and double-height windows that take in the views. The pool features a swim-up braai area with beautiful mosaic tiles. -
The entrance on the upper level, with fluted concrete columns and heavy mahogany door. -
A triple-volume central atrium with indoor plants and bamboo palms forms the heart of the home. -
The tropical gardens in the atrium flow seamlessly to the lush planting on the ridge as it slopes upwards behind the house, dissolving the distinction between indoors and out. -
The lounge and dining area on the lower level, overlooking the tennis court, feature chrome and black leather cantilever chairs. The mobile above the dining table was made by Chris Beyers. In the background, a work by South African stained-glass window artist Leo Théron is visible. -
A sunken lounge area is home to a spectacular De Sede DS-1025 Terrazza modular sofa system, its terraced contours a riff on the stepped flooring. -
Waterkloof Home – The kitchen features the modular Kartell Componibili storage set and Eero Saarinen Tulip stools around a kitchen island. On the left , a lift goes up to the font door for easy access with groceries. -
A ceramic-tiled mural encircles a dining nook. -
A “hear no evil” brick sculpture of a monkey conceals pipes and services in a hollow column. -
The sculptural balustrade on the spiral staircase that hovers above the indoor koi pond. -
In the mid-level lounge, a snaking De Sede DS-600 modular sofa visually echoes the staircase. -
The staircase winds down through the indoor garden in a regional take on Brazilian Tropical Brutalism. -
Floor-to-ceiling mosaics and bright sanitaryware in the bathrooms perfectly preserve the era-specific detailing. -
Floor-to-ceiling mosaics and bright sanitaryware in the bathrooms perfectly preserve the era-specific detailing. -
In one guest room, the sculptural storage and daybed form part of the architecture – an approach that makes little additional furniture necessary, although the room does include a Harry Bertoia side chair from Knoll. -
A circular built-in bed in the main bedroom is complemented by other wonderful period details, including the cork wall covering and clerestory windows. The furnishings include a 1970s fibreglass UFO coffee table by Astarte Milano and a Pastil lounge chair by Eero Aarnio.
On a steep slope in Waterkloof, Pretoria, this perfectly preserved 1970s home is part new Brutalist concrete sculpture, part tropical fever dream – and 100% beautiful.
WORDS Graham Wood PHOTOS Paris Brummer PRODUCTION Annemarie Meintjies
A few years ago, when a handful of curious architects made a pilgrimage to this spectacular 1970s house in Waterkloof in Pretoria, one described it as a “time capsule”. “We’ve lived here for 48 years,” says its owner. As a result, the architecture and the furniture are perfectly preserved, looking just as she envisioned them nearly five decades ago. Everything has been meticulously maintained, and the house has an almost otherworldly, hallucinogenic quality that leaves you feeling transported in time.
It was designed by architect Petrus Paulus (Piet) van den Berg, a Pretoria architect who, while prolific, hugely versatile and tirelessly experimental over his 50-year career, seems little known outside of local architectural circles. “Piet was a great friend of ours,” says the owner. She and her husband simply wanted “something different” when they engaged him to do the design.
And they certainly got it. Unassuming from the street, the house is on a steep slope. On arrival, visitors drive onto a concrete slab – essentially a rooftop motor court – which wraps around the building, leading to a separate exit. Distinctively shaped fibreglass canopies draw the eye to sweeping views of the city. Brutalist-style columns and heavy wooden doors with ceramic handles hint at the wonders beyond. A concrete spiral staircase descends through a triple-volume atrium filled with a waterfall, a koi pond and a tropical indoor jungle, where palm trees tickle the roof. The ground level features a small aviary built into the columns, and coffered ceilings are a reminder of the raw materiality of the structure. “As you go down, it gets cooler and cooler,” the owner notes.
Rooms float into the atrium on various levels. Light filters down from above, while expansive double-storey windows open to panoramic city views on one side, and a cycad and clivia garden on the other, blurring the line between indoors and out. At the base of the atrium, railway sleepers pave the floor, extending into the hardscaping outside. The owner explains that, originally, the atrium was designed to preserve existing thorn trees on the site, but over time, these were replaced with plants better suited to an indoor environment, including delicious monsters, philodendrons and bamboo palms.
Peter Howard – Piet’s son and a town planner who worked in Piet’s studio for many years – recalls visiting the site prior to construction. He highlights some of Piet’s other Pretoria buildings, including the Yorkcor Park building on Watermeyer Street (with its built-in planters for cycads), Hotel 244 in Arcadia, and Hantra (now Hantra Student Accommodation) and the Totem West apartment building in Sunnyside. The owner also remembers visiting Piet’s Pyramids Motel in Van Reenen.
Peter adds that some of Piet’s formative early work was at the campus of the University of Zululand and the University of Limpopo (then Turfloop). In the University of Zululand’s architecture, he combined Brazilian-inspired Brutalism with local vernacular elements. One of his later projects there – a multipurpose hall “big enough to host a tennis match”, Peter says – features a 70-metre-tall geodesic dome that combines cutting-edge engineering with the influence of traditional grass huts.
Brise-soleils – used for sun protection as well as ventilation – became a signature feature of Piet’s designs. He didn’t exactly mimic Brazilian aesthetics; rather, he incorporated locally influenced patterns drawn from Zulu basketry and beadwork into the brickwork.
Piet’s own 1960s Pretoria home in Lynnwood, built around the same time as the university campuses, was internationally published and is one of the better-known examples of his work. In that instance, he refined the floating brise-soleil panels and Tropical Modernist ideas with greater elegance and luxury. More than a decade later, this Waterkloof house revisited those ideas, emphasising the New Brutalist influence and a tropical influence quite possibly inspired by the visits Piet and the owners made to Mauritius and the Seychelles, and combining sculptural concrete forms with a new kind of extravagance and whimsy.
The house includes a squash court inside and a tennis court outside. “We were very keen on sports,” the owner says. The swimming pool features a mosaic-topped swim-up braai area with submerged barstools – another quirk of tropical island resort architecture.
Inside, many of the furnishings are integrated, including a circular bed in the main suite. Elsewhere, the architecture almost mimics the landscape: on the ground level, lounges and dining areas are defined by changes in floor height. Steps morph into seating, and seats transition into counters. The owner personally selected all furnishings. “I knew exactly what I liked,” she says.
A final whimsical touch is hidden in the hollow columns: brick relief sculptures of monkeys, representing “hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil”. The owner says that they were designed to conceal pipes and services; Peter thinks they may have also been intended as a blessing on the house. Recollections may differ, but the truth is, all the walls of this house are a blessing. What a magical experience it must be to have lived here for half a century…
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