Building an Icon: Rowan Lane Houses

WORDS Bettina Woodward PHOTOS Dave Southwood

As part of our ongoing series, principal architect at Open City, Bettina Woodward, talks to us about the Rowan Lane Houses – one of which she’s fortunate enough to call home.

Almost eight years ago, I booked an appointment with an estate agent to view No. 5 Rowan Lane, pretending to be an interested buyer. In reality, I was just an interested architect – word had spread in the industry that “that house” was for sale. We had just finished renovating a Victorian in Tamboerskloof, and I certainly wasn’t in the market for a new house. However, the moment I stepped inside, I knew I had stumbled upon something special.

I called my husband in tears and told him to come over right away. In about five minutes we decided that we would move the family to Kenilworth.

THE CONTEXT

Antonio de Souza Santos and Adèle Naudé Santos are the creative minds behind some of Cape Town’s most admired houses and multi-storey residential buildings of the late 1960s and early ’70s (like this Kenilworth home). Adèle and Tony (as they were known) formed a powerful duo in architecture and, even though they left for the US after only practising in South Africa for five years, many architects believe their work in Cape Town is the highlight of both their careers, and that their collaboration had a unique brilliance. Their impact can be seen today in the sculptural apartment blocks by Robert Silke & Partners currently going up in Sea Point.

Adèle was born into an influential Afrikaans family; her father was a well-known architect responsible for large projects, including the Brutalist Cape Town Civic Centre. Her grandfather was the painter Hugo Naudé. She completed her studies at the Architectural Association in London. Tony was born in Mozambique and studied at UCT, then at the University of Pennsylvania, before returning to Cape Town.

THE ZEITGEIST

In South Africa in the late ’60s, the architectural spirit was shaped by Modernist and Brutalist influences, emphasising simplicity, functionality and the use of durable materials such as concrete. And while apartheid’s socio-political climate-dictated urban planning and architecture promoted segregation, some architects subtly resisted through inclusive designs. Among them were Adèle and Tony, who blended international Modernist trends with a unique South African identity, creating contextually relevant and humane architectural works.

Fellow architect Roelof Uytenbogaardt’s work was also significant at this time, with its emphasis on public spaces and community-centred design often challenging the urban layouts of apartheid, but also introducing a unique sculptural quality. His controversial Werdmuller Centre was developed concurrently with the Rowan Lane houses – and Adèle and Tony both worked with Uytenbogaardt, as well as taught alongside him at UCT.

NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW THAT…

Despite the buildings’ contemporary appearance, the Rowan Lane houses are part of a family of buildings that can trace their heritage to legendary Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier’s designs penned nearly 100 years ago. Like Le Corbusier’s Curutchet House (1953) in Argentina and Villa Savoye (1931) in France, the Rowan Lane buildings contain many of the same elements: pilotis (pillars/columns), a free-flowing plan, roof gardens and ramps. But the Santoses went beyond mere imitation – they pioneered new spatial sequences that are more flexible, contextually responsive and sculptural. It’s an approach that’s likely the result of being mentored by Pancho Guedes and Aldo van Eyck, both members of the influential “Team X” group of architects who championed Structuralism, Brutalism and related urban planning in the ’60s and ’70s.

It’s one of the reasons the Rowan Lane houses are often considered Adèle and Tony’s best work in South Africa. Leading international architectural historian Kenneth Frampton has been attributed as describing the houses as “the best late modern houses I have ever (not) seen”.

The design consists of five adjoining compact row houses, each uniquely responding to the topography and vegetation of its site. The significance of the Rowan Lane buildings lies not only in the architectural merit of each but also in their relationship to one another. In a recent interview, Adèle said, “I have never dropped the idea that building and landscape had a wonderful reciprocity.” From the street, the five houses appear as an ensemble of white masses, stepping up and down, with a few curves thrown in. The roofs were planted (possibly a Cape Town first), and existing mature trees were retained to allow the client to look over the five houses she built for her children without spoiling the view. The roofs were originally planted with kikuyu lawns, but their invasive roots soon destroyed the waterproofing. Today, three out of five owners have reinstated the green roofs, this time opting for fynbos.

I LOVE THEM BECAUSE…

The design embodies Aldo van Eyck’s metaphor: “Tree is leaf and leaf is tree – house is city and city is house – a tree is a tree but is also a huge leaf – a leaf is a leaf but is also a tiny tree – a city is not a city unless it is also a huge house – a house is a house only if it is also a tiny city.” Each house is made of the same kit of parts, assembled slightly differently depending on site conditions – and when analysed geometrically, it becomes clear that they were working with strict proportioning systems. There’s a mathematical rhythm running through the entire design.

THE STATE OF PLAY TODAY

Many of the mature trees around which the houses were designed remain today, including the beautiful magnolia at the entrance to No. 2. The lane is a neighbourhood favourite, attracting nannies with toddlers from the surrounding area to ride bikes, play ball and hang out. There is something powerful about placing the front door of each house right on the street – a stark contrast to the usually paranoid South African context, where the desire is often for separation.

Living in No. 5 has been an extraordinary privilege for our family. I find myself marvelling at the beauty and tranquillity of the spaces, and the way the house flows seamlessly between the inside and outside. When I asked my eight- year-old daughter what she loved most about our home, she said it was like “taking a walk in nature”.

The unique geometry of the site and the five pre-existing maple trees led the architects to create a rhythmic, curved, glazed courtyard. In a masterful move, the house turns back on itself where the ramped staircase almost touches

the corner of the bedroom wing. Every room is visually connected to the garden. The emphasis on the human experience, designed from the inside out to facilitate life in such a delightful way, is a feat that very few architects can match, even 50 years later. In Adele’s words, “I never start from the outside inwards. I always start from the experience of people. The light, the views, the form of space itself… Starting with the notion of the human experience. Through the process of making life within whatever structure you’re creating, that’s where the poetry comes.”

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ARCHITECTS?

Both went on to have illustrious careers in the US. Adèle became the dean of architecture and planning at MIT, while Antonio became a professor of architecture, and founding director of the interdisciplinary Master of Infrastructure Planning programme at the New Jersey School of Architecture. Both also continued to practise architecture, making significant contributions to architectural education and research. santosprescott.com | opencity.co.za

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