WORDS Robyn Alexander PRODUCTION Jeanne Botes PHOTOS Greg Cox/Bureaux

Almost 100 years ago, in his influential 1927 manifesto Vers Une Architecture (Towards An Architecture), architect Le Corbusier declared: “A house is a machine for living in.” Much discussed and critiqued since, the concept retains its explanatory usefulness. For modern designers, buildings should always balance functionality with aesthetics. That may sound simple, but it definitely isn’t easy to do well – and when it’s managed as beautifully as it has been in this home, it’s something to celebrate. 

The home isn’t large; it has just two bedrooms and bathrooms, an open-plan area for cooking, dining and lounging, and a small outdoor living space and garden. Tuck in a pocket-sized home office near the front door and a double garage just large enough for two modestly sized cars, and there’s the entire footprint. But while it might be the size of a cottage, due to its thoughtful design and subtly layered interiors, the home punches well above its weight. The home’s previous – and original – owner was the architect who designed it. “He used this tiny sliver of land to make something special,” says the current owner. Visited at dusk on an autumn evening, the house feels welcoming and cosy, yet also airy and spacious. The homeowner points out a few of the ways that architect created the house as a scaling-down property for himself and his wife after his retirement from full-time practice. He made key design choices to add practical and aesthetic value to it. In the morning, natural light pours into the centre of the house via a central atrium courtyard, reaching into the west- facing living area in the afternoon via fully retractable glass sliding doors – all of which, like the rest of the windows in the house, are double-glazed for optimal insulation. 

The retractable doors are also topped with clerestory windows that perfectly frame the home’s vista of nearby Devil’s Peak, outlined against the sky. “My husband and I are dedicated hikers, so we especially love this view,” says the homeowner. The couple had previously lived in an old Victorian house in which, she says, “We had fixed everything – a few times!” This much more contemporary structure, with its open plan, clever details, and top-quality finishes, was thus an immediately attractive proposition. That said, the previous owner was “a serious minimalist”, the homeowner says – almost every element of the house was either white or grey when they purchased it – and so, her project in terms of adapting the house to suit herself and her husband has been to “add layers”. 

This is a rather modest way of describing the wealth of textural and visual appeal that the house has now. The existing terrazzo floors in the “public” areas have been retained – “I’ve always loved terrazzo,” says the homeowner. And offset by crisp white interior paint, tactile elements of warm terracotta tiling, beautiful marble agglomerate cladding and wooden elements were added. 

Outside in the courtyard, a charming wishing well swimming pool is also clad in the terracotta tiles that feature in several places around the property, standing out against lush greenery and a peach-coloured patio wall. 

In the bedrooms and home office, wall-to-wall carpeting was removed and replaced with engineered-oak flooring, and the layout of the study was reworked to enable the installation of a built-in L-shaped desk at which the couple can work simultaneously. And in the bathrooms, marble cladding was added for texture, and a couple of light fittings were hung that had been repurposed from elsewhere in the house during the renovation. 

The final layer comprises furnishings, decor and art: handmade wooden furniture items can be found throughout the house, adding a further dimension of natural warmth to its various spaces. Every item has a story, and many elements were designed by the homeowner herself: “A lot of the features in my house were my own little projects,” she says – and a few family heirloom pieces pop up here and there, too. Finally, there is the art, where colour is allowed full and free rein, bringing fresh energy to the interiors. 

In essence, the home combines a comfortable, laid- back feel with considered contemporary architecture. This is precisely the way we should interpret Le Corbusier’s famous edict for the 21st century: that, as seen here, the ideal house must be a place that is practical and functional – but to truly succeed from a design point of view, it should also gently stimulate and nurture its occupants. 

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Located in what was an attic on the top floor of a 1950s residential building, this tiny apartment is not only a masterclass in space optimisation, but also the expression of an anti-consumerist lifestyle.

WORDS Steve Smith PHOTOS Ossip Van Duivenbode

There are all kinds of cleverness going on here. Let’s start with the obvious one: the size. Called the Cabanon in deference to Cabanon de Le Corbusier, which the Modernist master built in 1951, this is most likely the smallest apartment in the world. Within the confines of its 6.89m2, its designers have magicked four rooms of ingeniously different volumes and materials. There’s a 3m-high living room with a kitchen, a 1.14m-high bedroom with plenty of storage, a toilet with a rain showerhead, and a spa with an infrared sauna and a whirlpool bath.

The clever folks behind this are STAR strategies + architecture, a firm based in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, founded in 2006 by Spanish architect and urbanist Beatriz Ramo. And Beatriz and her partner in work and life Bernd Upmeyer, founder of BOARD (Bureau of Architecture, Research, and Design), didn’t just design the Cabanon – they are also the owners and it’s their second home”.

So what inspired them to create such a small living space? “When we started designing the Cabanon, we never intended to make the smallest apartment in the world,” says Beatriz. “What we wanted for ourselves was a mini spa area – but we also needed a guest room for our family when they visited us. As architects, we like to optimise every project, big or small. It is about ensuring you get the maximum possibilities within your given area, budget or programme. In the Cabanon, optimisation was a key issue.”

Beyond the professional desire to optimise the space, Beatriz and Bernd were driven by a growing personal philosophy. “While designing the Cabanon, I started having an urge to simplify our apartment, to reorganise it and to get rid of stuff,” says Beatriz. “This is an ongoing process; a new approach to everyday life. I think twice before buying anything, or adding a new object to the house or to my wardrobe. The pleasure I once got from buying something, I now derive from getting rid of something I don’t need.”

Another slice of cleverness is that the four spaces in the Cabanon have been shaped based on standard products: the bedroom was designed with a specific mattress in mind; the spa according to the bathtub length; the kitchen based on the mini-fridge depth. This negated the need for customised objects, flipping the notion on its head and designing a space that adapts to more affordable products.

Not only is this approach cost-effective, it also contributes to what Beatriz calls “a radical experiment in optimisation in the sense of maximising functions, especially when it comes to height”. By embracing the principle that not all rooms need to have the same height – standard practice in collective housing – each space is designed to be fit-for-purpose, and storage space is optimised. The living room, for example, with its height of three metres, is three times taller than the bedroom with its one-metre height.

“This reduction does not mean austerity or discomfort,” says Beatriz. “We simply keep what we value and try to get rid of the superfluous. It brings clarity and peace to our minds and our spaces. Possessions take up a lot of space and energy. The Cabanon is of the most luxurious smallness – an epicurean reduction.” st-ar.nl | star_strategies_architecture | b-o-a-r-d.nl | bureau_of_architecture_r_d

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Lees in Afrikaans.

Laduma Ngxokolo on display next to Le Corbusier in Europe? South African design features prominently in an exhibition hosted by Helsinki, World Design Capital 2012.

This week in Helsinki saw the opening of the International Design House Exhibition, a World Design Capital 2012 signature event, titled Everyday Discoveries. Housed in Helsinki’s old power station, Kattilahalli – and extending into an outdoor shipping container village and urban gardening installation in surrounding Suvilahti – the exhibition showcases the best examples of design solutions from 23 countries, created by over 100 designers.

South African designs feature prominently in the core exhibition, which is divided into six themes: icon, innovation, invisible, reinterpretation, imagination and get-together.

Up-and-coming young Eastern Cape knitwear designer Laduma Ngxokolo’s Xhosa-inspired sweaters share the ‘icon’ category with everything from Le Corbusier’s chaise-lounge to the Rubik’s Cube. The Hippo Water Roller is displayed in the ‘innovation’ category alongside hi-tech designs including a toilet that automatically composts waste and recycles water, while an installation of Dolos breakwater protection blocks shares the ‘invisible’ category with items like energy-efficient light bulbs and Italy’s classic stove-top coffee maker.

Cape Town’s pooch paradise, De Waal Park, features in the ‘imagination’ section via the illustrated children’s book and innovative iPad app, Bonsai and Geronimo Go To The Park. In the ‘re-interpretation’ exhibit, an elegant ceramic vessel by Andile Dyalvane of Imiso Ceramics references Xhosa scarification marks, with red markings sliced into the bone-coloured ceramic flesh.

The core exhibition is curated around a central spine featuring an impressive 20m-long dining table that brings together all the featured countries, hence the title ‘get-together’. Here, Haldane Martin’s Zulu Mama chair is paired with Cape Town ceramicist Louise Gelderblom’s giant etched plates and 100% recycled glassware, designed by Source’s Trevyn McGowan and chef Reuben Riffel for Ngwenya Glass.

The International Design House Everyday Discoveries exhibition runs from 6 to 16 September 2012, coinciding with Helsinki Design Week, and is expected to attract tens of thousands of visitors and press from across the globe.

Originally published on the Cape Town World Design Capital 2014 website. Like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter – we definitely do!

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