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The hard surfaces of the courtyard belie the lush greenery that awaits you once you cross the threshold. -
Architect Jon Jacobson of Metropolis says this is a house design driven by ideas rather than cultural or historical reference. -
The house has no bath. The owners decided to do away with the feature since they rarely used it. -
The kitchen is kept simple with a plain long counter. This, says Mandi, is a great gathering space. With the sliding doors fully open, the kitchen feels like a part of the outdoor courtyard space. -
Even lighting features are kept to a minimum, with only two pendant lights suspended above the dining table. All other lighting is hidden from view along the beam below the clerestory. The light reflects up against the ceiling, reinforcing the sense that the roof is floating. -
All three bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms and open out to the garden. -
A custom-made integrated timber unit serves as headboard and backdrop to the main suite. -
Here, one can clearly see the ground floor plane as a series of platforms that de ne di erent spaces within the larger volume. A amed-cedar unit houses the TV on one side and the audiovisual and electronic equipment in the study on the other side. -
A sense of weightlessness has been created by “suspending” the black slate replace from the roof. -
Heightening the play of inside/ outside is the use of a ball- and-claw imbuia dining table in the courtyard, where the family braais. Breaking with the wooden decking, the courtyard is finished in polished concrete for ease of cleaning. -
A mature oak tree was taken into consideration the house gently kinks away from it. The roof is clearly expressed as a floating plane, appearing to hover on top of the clerestory. -
The landscape creeps right up to the house, creating an almost seamless integration between building and nature. -
This pool, which runs the length of one of the main axes of the house, is fed by rainwater that is channelled from the roof into a concrete spout. The water remains sparkling clean thanks to being circulated through plants.
PHOTOS Micky Hoyle PRODUCTION Sumien Brink WORDS Alma Viviers
You have the strange sensation of stepping outside rather than inside when you cross the threshold of this award-winning house by Metropolis.
A subtly angled wall, high volume and expansive glass facade propels the eye to the woodland and garden beyond. It is the kind of sight that makes you take a deep breath: trees gently swaying in a summer breeze and butterflies flitting among agapanthuses and watsonias.
“One of the key aspects of the design was to create a relationship between nature and architecture,” says Jon Jacobson, founder and principal architect of Metropolis. “We wanted to create an immersive experience within this green curtain that surrounds the house.”
The notion of immersive architecture, says Jon, is different from architecture that concentrates on a view: “You have to look for ways to create a sense of continuity. Here, the trees become the walls of the house.”
READ MORE: Garden Pavilion by Metropolis
In this case minimalism has been enlisted to create a strong relationship with the natural surroundings. The lack of stimulation inside allows you to become immersed.
Other devices that Jon employed to create this sense of seamlessness is the extension of the ground floor plane beyond the house with oak floors becoming decking and then breaking up into walkways that lead into the garden. Interior walls also extend beyond the house into the landscape.
The main architectural element is a concrete roof that mimics the contour of the landscape. To express it as a plane, the roof has been disassociated from most of the vertical elements, using light to create a feeling of weightlessness, the line sweeping across the space.
The house is a simple linear volume that gently kinks to accommodate a large oak tree. Spaces are arranged along two main axes, and several courtyards cut into this linear volume to create pockets of intimacy.
“The architecture is quite abstract and minimal, but the abstractness is counteracted by the very tactile nature of the materials we chose,” says Jon. They have employed a muted material palette of wide-plank oak floors, off-shutter concrete, glass, Malmesbury slate, bagged brick and black flamed timber to achieve this tactility.
Providing insight into the owners’ way of living was Mandi Pretorius, a candidate architect who worked in Jon’s office and was closely involved in the design process. “The owners’ desire for a pared- down space reflects their lifestyle,” says Mandi. “They live in London part of the time, where they have a similar large open-plan work-from-home apartment. For them it is as much about fluidity of thought as it is about fluidity of space and movement – a sense of being unencumbered and close to nature.
Living in this house has a profound influence on you, say the owners. “The openness at once creates a sense of connectedness and vulnerability; it can be both unsettling and meditative.”
SAIA AWARD WINNER
This home received the country’s highest honour in architecture: the Corobrik South African Institute of Architecture (SAIA) Award of Excellence 2015/2016.
“This light, tranquil building emphasises man’s restorative relationship with nature… Much has been done to support the idea of weightlessness. For example, the roof is always lit from below; internal and external walls hardly ever touch.
it; ‘heavy’ elements like a stone-faced replace are hung from it and do not touch the floor plane; the floor level (base) hardly ever touches the ground; and the sky dome is invited in by means of skylights and gaps between vertical and horizontal elements.” – Prof Paul Kotze of the School of Architecture and Planning at WITS
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