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Lined up : When closed, the shutters and slatted roof bathe the entertainment area in dappled light. -
Closed call : The shutters slide across to enclose the pool and create an indoor entertainment area. -
Optical illusions : Although the suspended roof creates the optical illusion that it flaps up and down to enclose the house, it is in fact static. -
Colour coded : Sureen sourced these red egg chairs from Spazio to complement the Norman Catherine carpet. -
Muted materials : The combination of wood, steel, face brick and Quartz carpet provide the perfect foil to the owner’s contemporary art and Sureen’s colourful splashes of decor. -
Holding court : An enclosed H-shape design of the house creates two private courtyards. One for the pool and the other, this cool and pebbled Japanese-style space at the entrance. -
Shut up : Giant meranti shutters dominate the façade of the home. -
Bright art : The architect created the perfect canvas for the owner’s collection of colourful Norman Catherine art. -
Pop colour : The apple green kitchen morphs into a cocktail bar. With the simple feature of a step down, the counter top can be raised to bar-stool height. -
Thomas and Sureen Gouws : The architect and interior designer.
PHOTOS Dook PRODUCTION Annemarie Meintjes WORDS Jacqueline Myburgh Chemaly
Pretoria architect Thomas Gouws has created an illuminated mix of old and new in this dramatic, yet simple, Highveld home.
“It’s all about the light,” says Thomas Gouws, who says his greatest design influences have been the architects of the Brazilian Modernist era of the 1950s and 60s.
Like others before him — Norman Eaton, Helmut Stauch and Karel Jooste — Thomas says his ambition is to design “poetic, modern masterpieces that are elegant, sensitive and climatically appropriate”.
“In their work, these architects softened the harsh and restrictive early Modernism with colour and texture through innovative use of materials,” reflects Thomas.
Drive up to House Steyn in the windswept Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate east of Johannesburg and you are met by a simple box of bold lines, yet warm wood and stone textures that sit quite comfortably in the Highveld landscape.
It is inside that the true drama of the square box comes alive. The design of the house is dominated by the biggest wooden shutters in the world. Open, when weather permits, the home is transformed into a double volume, luxurious verandah. Closed, when wind and golfers intrude, dappled sunshine through the wooden slats washes the home in warmth.
These shutters enclose the pool courtyard too, creating a sophisticated interior entertainment area that is continuously bathed in light.
This is energy efficiency at its most simple, although the house also includes an evaporation cooling system, solar geysers and a water underfloor heating system that provide additional green features.
The basic palette is neutral, with lots of wood, stone and stainless steel. On the floors, Quartz carpet provides a cool and sensual link between the inside and outside areas. Clever use of stainless steel sheeting hides all electronic wiring around the television sets.
The house is based on an H-plan, with the two courtyards created by this design screened off and treated as outdoor extensions of the interior.
Thomas embellished this simple poetry with colourful flourishes in the bedrooms and bathrooms. Each is colour-coded with almost childlike simplicity, reflecting the owner’s passion for the naive art of both Paul du Toit and Norman Catherine.
The house is the ideal canvas too for owner Cillers Steyn’s collection of Sandveld antique furniture, much of which is too fragile to use. A clever touch was to display the precious antique wooden chairs — too precious to sit on — high uon the double volume wall and to build the linen cupboard right into the wall at the top of the stairs.
Thomas’ wife Sureen was tasked with the challenge of accommodating Mr Steyn’s passion for antiques with that of his wife Colleen for all things modern. Sleekly modern outdoor ranges like Tokyo from Spazio and a square outdoor dining table designed by Gouws himself provide the perfect clean contrast to the old pieces.
The apple green kitchen segues effortlessly into an outdoor bar complete with stools and counter, with a simple step down from inside to outside.
The house is a study in simplicity and efficiency, delivering the outstanding indoor-outdoor lifestyle that everyone in Gauteng craves.
Thomas Gouws Architects and Interiors, www.tgarchitects.co.za, 012 460 9867
Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate, www.serengeti.co.za, 0861 396 396
