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This striking portrait is by UK painter Adam Neate, known for his work on recycled cardboard. -
Amid the collection of Mid-century chairs by Arne Norell, Børge Mogensen and Hans Wegner is a white marble sculpture by local artist Michael MacGarry, and another by fellow South African Claudette Schreuders, called Back to Camera. On the far wall is a painting by Rwandan artist Serge Alain Nitegeka. -
An exterior shot of the building shows Skypad sitting atop the TEAM Architects offices. -
A 1960s wall unit by Danish designer Kai Kristiansen holds books, tribal art and Drunken Bricklayer vases by UK designer Geoffrey Baxter. The painting is by Jan-Henri Booyens and the sculpture on the coffee table is by Ann Barry. -
An open-plan living area includes a bespoke kitchen with a glass sculpture by US artist Robert Wilson created in collaboration with a Murano glassmaker. Also on the counter is a piece made from skateboard wheels by South African sculptor Paul Edmunds. In the background is a painting on glass by Conrad Botes. -
A display of glassware from Italy, Denmark, France, Japan and the Czech Republic is illuminated in a window next to the scullery. -
A copper-plated Artichoke pendant light by Danish designer Poul Henningsen illuminates the sitting area. On the back wall is a painting by Dutch artist Berend Hoekstra. -
A sculptural staircase connects the outside patio to a pool deck. -
Stairs leading up to the bedrooms. -
A painting by South African artist Kim Myerson. -
A view down into the living area from a metal catwalk that connects to the pool deck. -
An artwork made of pantyhose by local artist Turiya Magadlela hangs above a sideboard by Danish designer Arne Vodder, which is adorned with a traditional game board from the DRC, a vase by David Reade and a metal sculpture by Ricardo Villa. -
A painting by Jan-Henri Booyens overlooks a table made from 350-year-old oak that was reclaimed from a warehouse on the London docks. -
The spare bedroom features a chair made by the Babanki people of Cameroon and a ceramic sculpture of the Mami Wata water spirit, from Togo. -
In the main bathroom is a painting by Jacob van Schalkwyk, a traditional sculpture by Sudan’s Bongo people, and a mobile by UK artist Steve Hale. -
An original Arne Jacobsen Swan chair in the spare room’s bathroom. -
The upper outdoor deck with a plunge pool. -
The main bedroom features another Jan-Henri Booyens painting and a 1930s chair by Finnish designer Alvar Aalto. Next to the headboard is a late-1950s oil by UK artist Tony Stubbing.
WORDS Steve Smith PRODUCTION Mark Sera PHOTOS Jan Ras
If you live in the City Bowl, you’ve probably driven past this Bo-Kaap apartment without knowing it was there. Nicknamed “Skypad”, its stark exterior hides treasures within.
It’s difficult not to be impressed by the view that greets you as you enter this top-floor, double-volume apartment. Even more difficult is deciding exactly what’s impressing you the most – the view, the architecture, the art, or the furniture.
It’s impossible to avoid the uninterrupted vista of Table Mountain through the floor-to-ceiling window, but even that can only hold your eye for a moment or two before you wonder at the expanse of off-shutter concrete and black metal catwalk above your head. Echoing the exterior’s asymmetrical boxiness, the inside of this apartment may be all right angles, but there’s certainly no square-matrix uniformity to the space.
Then you take in the 40-plus artworks – the paintings and large framed photographs in bright reds, yellows, greens and neons; the sculptures that sit on various tables. Some of the artists you may recognise – Zander Blom, Serge Alain Nitegeka, Conrad Botes, Jacob van Schalkwyk, Edoardo Villa, Claudette Schreuders, Pieter Hugo. Other pieces are just as strong, but the artists are unfamiliar.
Only after that do you clock the furniture and light fittings – all original Mid-century pieces. Arne Norell’s Ari lounge chairs, a pair of beautifully patinated Spanish chairs by Børge Mogensen and a pair of Hans Wegner Sawbuck chairs are all presided over by a beautiful, copper Artichoke ceiling light by Poul Henningsen. And then there’s the ’60s Arne Vodder sideboard, and the most covetable desk you’ll ever see: a 1950s piece by another Danish designer, Nanna Ditzel.
The lucky person who owns all of this is Michael Fitzgerald – a tall, slim man with a past as colourful as his art collection. After growing up on the island of Trinidad and attending a Jesuit private school in the UK, Michael worked on North Sea oil rigs for 10 years before packing it in to be a model in Europe during the 1980s and ’90s, marrying a Brazilian model, and building a business as a tribal art expert and gallerist. The apartment still contains much of his tribal art collection, which sits comfortably among the contemporary pieces and Mid-century furniture – a fact that’s testament to his remarkable eye. Despite no formal art training, Michael’s ability to spot great work is impressive.
“I’ve always collected art – even as a kid of eight or nine, I was collecting pieces, and going around to junk shops with my mom,” he says. “I quickly became very specific about what I liked. When I was in London in the mid-’80s, I really got into the art thing – and I gravitated towards pieces of higher quality, rather than collecting just for the sake of it.”
So how did all his art and furniture end up here, in this Bo-Kaap eyrie? “I’ve always wanted to build something in concrete. There’s an optimism about it. I love seeing a building go up – they always look so optimistic when you can see their guts and character, but then it all gets clad in plaster. Concrete retains that optimism. You can see what it is.”
The architect behind this particular slab of optimism is Philip Stiekema of TEAM Architects. “This is the third house we have completed for Michael, and it’s been a kind of progression,” he says. “The first two were unusual and contemporary, but this being an empty site held the best opportunity for a singularly unique expression of one of Michael’s loves – Tadao Ando, a master of off-shutter concrete and of inserting contemporary buildings into an existing traditional context.”
“We worked on my apartment together,” adds Michael. “They knew me well by then, and knew I had a big art collection that required lots of wall space.” And, as the images on these pages show, Philip met the brief pretty well. The grey of the concrete is a great backdrop to the art – especially the more colourful pieces. They are also pieces that could be on the move soon, as Michael is thinking about selling: “After five or six years, you look forward to doing something else.” Difficult to see how he’ll top this… | teamarchitects.co.za
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