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The ground floor of the house, built with stones collected on site, has a distinct character that helps it blend in with the surroundings. The choice of local stone also reduces the building’s carbon footprint, “preserving resources and respecting the nature around it”, says architect Nadine Engelbrecht. -
The new entrance ties together the guest suite, which was almost complete and undamaged by the fire that destroyed the previous house, and the main living area of the new house. -
The corrugated sheeting on the guest suite roof prompted the architect to continue with this material, using it to unify the new and existing parts of the house. -
The heart of the new home – the living area with an open-plan kitchen, spilling out onto a stoep – connects with two additional bedroom suites, all positioned on the refurbished platform of the previous house. -
For the sake of simplicity and efficiency, construction materials such as concrete, steel and stone were exposed in their raw form. Even the concrete floors were cast by hand in situ, and polished to eliminate the necessity for an additional finishing material. -
As the home neared completion, the owners conceived the idea of mounting intertwined kudu horns to create a sculptural mural installation – a project that surpassed their initial vision, and is now a commanding feature as you enter the house. -
The owners’ favourite thing about the house is the access to views through expansive glass doors that open up to let the outdoors in. -
The upstairs guest suite overlooks the bushveld that stretches towards the Magaliesberg. -
Plants from the surrounding landscape have been transferred to a flat portion of the roof, softening the architecture and “giving back as much nature as possible”, says Nadine. -
The existing pool and boma area were refurbished but kept in place, with the new sections designed to connect with them and animate them. -
Central to the design is the desire “to engage with the site and incorporate outside living space”, says Nadine. -
Inside, the ysterklip walls are exposed, their natural materiality contrasting with the more refined finishes of the cabinetry. -
The juxtaposition of industrial corrugated sheeting and handcrafted stonemasonry emphasises the qualities of each. -
Specific stones were selected to carve out into basins, jut out in the shower to provide a ledge for shampoo, or create a lintel over a window. -
The new bedroom suites balance privacy with the impulse to connect with the views. According to Nadine, “Openings should be planned to allow constant glimpses of the outside world, celebrating the view, the sky or a tree.” -
The new bedroom suites balance privacy with the impulse to connect with the views. According to Nadine, “Openings should be planned to allow constant glimpses of the outside world, celebrating the view, the sky or a tree.”
Situated on a private game farm near Rustenberg, this bushveld getaway has arisen from the ashes of its predecessor to provide its Joburg-based owners with a tranquil weekend escape.
WORDS Graham Wood PHOTOS Marsél Roothman
This house quite literally rose from the ashes of its predecessor. The owners returned from a game drive one evening to find their thatch-roofed home ablaze. “Nothing could be saved,” says architect Nadine Engelbrecht, whom they tasked with rebuilding their bushveld retreat.
The owners had seen Nadine’s work featured in a TV programme, and admired her approach. She’s made a name for herself creating, as she describes it, “simple and innovative architecture that’s constantly exploring building materials and sustainability”. Although architects essentially create interiors, Nadine admits to enjoying being outside more, and has a knack for inviting the outdoors in, designing in harmony with natural surroundings. This resonated with the owners’ vision for the replacement for their home-away-from- home. “We wanted an easy living house that remained rustic,” say the owners. “It had to be constructed out of natural materials and using local stone sourced on the farm – and, most importantly, with nothing flammable.”
Although the owners largely gave Nadine carte blanche with the design – “We did not impose any design ideas on her” – there were some constraints. To minimise impact on the site, they wished to build on what remained of the existing platform – a task complicated by the fact that they’d been in the process of building a new suite adjacent to (but not connected to) the house at the time of the fire, which had survived intact. It consisted of an open double garage with a guest suite above it, which needed to tie in with the new house both structurally and aesthetically.
The new design centres on a large, open-plan living space that connects the existing bedroom suite with two new bedrooms. The central social area faces an existing pool, which was refurbished, and looks out towards the Magaliesberg. “I believe a building should cover us and give us comfort, but also create internal spaces that are constantly connected to the outside,” says Nadine.
She interfered as little as she could with the existing portion. “The suite remained exactly as I found it,” she says – all she did was clean up an awkward angle on the patio, and make sure that the new portion tied into the old portion. “We placed corrugated sheeting over the existing first-floor bedroom and repeated it on the new first floor to create a seamless language between the buildings,” she adds. This honest raw material with a long history
in farm buildings appears perfectly at home in the bushveld. The real magic, however, lies in the way in which the distinctive ysterklip collected on the site was used for the base structure of the house. “The builders created a masterpiece using the largest stones they could find,” says Nadine, giving credit to Rustenburg builder David Harmse, whose team threw themselves into the task. “All construction materials have been exposed in their raw forms. Concrete floors were cast by hand in situ, and polished to create a final finish, thus eliminating the necessity for additional finishing material.”
Nadine also brought planting into the structure, adding grass vegetation from the surrounding site to the flat portion of the roof, softening the silhouette of the building and “giving back as much nature as possible”, she says. “The house is also off-grid – but I see this almost as a minimum requirement nowadays.”
The result does indeed fit seamlessly with the spectacular bush environment. But perhaps its greater accomplishment is the way it has provided healing – for its owners and for the landscape. | nadineengelbrecht.co.za
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