With 2024 around the corner, we’ve decided to round up some of the most-read features on VISI this year. From luxe retreats to ultra modern beach houses, here’s a look at your top 15 favourite spaces of 2023 (and checkout our faves from 2022 and 2021, too).

Pringle Bay Home

As in most coastal locations, the ever-changing weather governs most activity here. When the VISI team visited to photograph this Pringle Bay house, our shoot began in peaceful sunshine at low tide, with the sea calm, and breathtakingly clear visibility right across False Bay. Then, as the tide came in and waves began crashing onto the rocks, a rainstorm crossed the bay, washing the crisp vista clean away and instead creating a dramatic, moody outlook.

Accordingly, this home is designed to suit all of these possibilities: it’s equipped with everything that might be required for indoor cocooning, as well as a glazed sea-facing facade that maximises the views no matter the weather conditions. The north-facing glass facade also opens up onto a generous deck, with a new all-natural swimming pool – built in a location-appropriate, raised “plaasdam” style – in the foreground.

Read the full story, here.

Yzerfontein Oceanfront Home

The barn was supposed to be a greenhouse. Located next to homeowners Jochem and Evi Elsner’s primary residence in Yzerfontein, the initial idea was to construct Evi’s dream of a next-door greenhouse, veggie garden and chicken coop alongside their home. “When the plot became available, we immediately thought, ‘Let’s buy it and build, before someone else does, and builds something ugly next door to us’,” says Evi.

Originally from Germany but having lived in South Africa for more than 20 years, Jochem and Evi’s prior address was in Somerset West. “We loved living there, but over the years it became too busy and built up,” Evi explains. “About seven years ago, we decided we wanted to move somewhere else, and Yzerfontein was the place to be. We had it on good authority from friends, and from the many photographers we know, that it was an idyllic location – beautiful and uncrowded. We visited the area and were sold immediately.”

Read the full story, here.

Scarborough Home

As the owners and founders of hope distillery, one of the first small-batch distillers of craft gin in South Africa, Leigh Lisk and Lucy Beard had grown tired of living on-site at their distillery in Cape Town, and wanted a bolthole to which they could escape every weekend. “Both Leigh and I are keen cyclists and runners who love the outdoors, and so the natural beauty of Scarborough and its proximity to the city made it an obvious choice for us,” says Lucy.

Initially, they had bought an old, abandoned tennis court in the coastal village with a view to building on that, but the prospect of a two-year brick-and-mortar build saw them buy an old one-bedroom, prefab home in the village as a stopgap. “We initially saw it as an interim house that would allow us to stay in Scarborough while overseeing the build – but we ended up loving the house so much that it has become our home.”

Read the full story, here.

Benoni House

Compact and low-maintenance were two keywords in the brief to architect Andrew Payne before design began on this project. The owners – a South African couple of Greek origin with two young children – were looking to downscale from the expansive home they’d been living in. “The owners were tired of being slaves to their home; it required a lot of upkeep, and they realised that they mostly only spent time in a third of it,” says Andrew, founder and managing director of Drew Architects. “They wanted something more suited to their needs as a family and, most importantly, a place they would not need to spend much time and money maintaining.”

Having found an acre of land in Greenfields, which they then sub-divided, the couple initially contacted Miguel Simoes of Vestim Construction, the contractor on their previous home, and asked him to be part of the project. Miguel’s only condition was that he got to handpick the architects, which is when he got in touch with Drew Architects.

Read the full story, here.

Sea Point Apartments

Situated in the middle of Fresnaye and the Sea Point Promenade, and wedged between a combination of dated flats, same- same modern apartment blocks and an excess of commercial entities, is The Flamingo. As with all structures designed by architects extraordinaire Robert Silke & Partners, nothing about this building is ordinary. Known for his love of Art Deco, Modernism and PoMo, Robert refers to The Flamingo’s aesthetic as “Bauhaus on heat”. Unlike the uninspired steel-and-glass high-rises infiltrating Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard and CBD, The Flamingo – similar to the architecture studio’s Tuynhuys apartments in the city centre and Anew Hotel in Green Point – is a breath of fresh air, with curved white walls, black accents and a spectacular glass-bricked eight-floor stairwell that makes you want to up your step count rather than take the soundless and speedy lift.

Commissioned by Signatura, with whom Robert has worked before, the brief was to create something compact and fun. “They came to us because they’re familiar with our work, and they knew we would give them something completely different from what is generally built in this area,” he says. “The development’s main goal was to be able to offer modern, exciting, fully self-catering micro-apartments, predominantly for holiday rentals and the Airbnb market.”

Read the full story, here.

Kenilworth House

You know, I counted every single brick in this house,” says architect Adèle Naudé Santos, smiling, as she stands looking around the main bedroom of the first house she ever designed – a solid Modernist four-bedroomer completed in 1967 and situated in a narrow, leafy avenue in Cape Town’s Kenilworth.

She may not actually be joking. Their modular layout, visible through the unplastered whitewashed walls, means you could conceivably measure the dimensions of the house brick by brick. US-based Adèle may now be a world-renowned architect, but back then she was just starting her career, and this was her first-ever build. And as if the stakes weren’t high enough, the client was her father, the late architect Hugo Naudé.

“My father didn’t want me to become an architect because he didn’t believe it was a woman’s profession,” says Adèle. “When I graduated top of my class in my third year at UCT, he told me it was time to move on – so I went to London to complete my degree at the Architectural Association.

Read the full story, here.

Scarborough House

“I thought I was a city girl – until I spent lockdown in Scarborough,” says South African film director Nicole Ackermann. That this small coastal village just outside Cape Point Nature Reserve in Cape Town is now her home was as much a surprise to her as it was to her family and friends. A place of wild winds and brutally cold water, its untamed beauty is not for everyone – yet it struck a chord with the globe-trotting Nicole the moment she arrived. “My time here changed my outlook and values significantly. Up until then, I was more outwardly seeking for inspiration; now I realise the value of looking inwards more.”

When the world returned to “normal”, Nicole found herself back in Los Angeles for work, but regularly trawling property websites in the hopes of finding a home in Scarborough. “It was quite a revelation that, although living here wasn’t necessarily what I had envisaged for myself, it was what I desperately craved.” So when this house came up for sale, her family were sent to check it out. “I remember my sister sending me a video that she took outside the back kitchen door,” says Nicole with a smile. “Hearing the cicadas and the sound of the ocean made me incredibly emotional; it was like a homecoming. Just like that, it was a done deal – I literally bought it unseen.”

Read the full story, here.

Fish Hoek House

As many couples did during the pandemic, Lauren Shantall and her husband Derek Eyden re-evaluated their lifestyle. To beat the claustrophobia of their new work-from-home regimen, Lauren, who runs her own PR company, and musician Derek would regularly pile into the car with their 13-year-old son Daniel, and make the trek from Rosebank in the heart of Cape Town’s suburbia to the Deep South – the colloquial name used for the slack-paced string of suburbs that hug the Cape Peninsula’s coastline. “We were waking up three, four times a week to go for sunrise swims,” says Lauren. “Covid meant that I suddenly lost 40% of my business – but it also meant that I could work from anywhere. We realised we could minimise our petrol bill and just move to live next to the ocean!”

The Mid-century Prairie-style house the couple ended up buying in Fish Hoek wasn’t exactly their architectural dream, but its lofty location against the mountain, with a view of both the Atlantic and Indian oceans, was. “It was one of those 1960s box houses, where you open the front door and walk into a rectangle,” says Lauren. “Derek and I knew roughly what we wanted to do. We measured the space, made little scale drawings and cut out pieces of furniture that we’d move around, trying endless configurations.”

Read the full story, here.

Forest Town House

The Colemans are not your average suburbanites – although chatting to the humble Audrey Coleman, now 90, you wouldn’t guess it. She and her late husband, Max, were active human-rights advocates during the apartheid years, both working for the Detainees’ Parents Support Committee, with Audrey also a long-standing and celebrated member of the legendary human- rights organisation, Black Sash.

House Coleman has major cred too. Built in the early 1980s, it’s a masterpiece of clean lines and geometric shapes and, though tailor-made to be its owners’ retirement home, it’s also a piece of South African design history. “Our son Colin was a student at Wits University and insisted that Pancho Guedes was the only person for the job,” says Audrey of their choice of architect.

Amâncio d’Alpoim Miranda “Pancho” Guedes was a famed architect, artist and educator, and head of the school of architecture at Wits. Born in Portugal, he spent most of his life in Mozambique. It’s difficult to sum up such an important figure in African Modernist architecture, but there is no doubt he pushed boundaries. Known for his sculptural and well-thought-out buildings, Guedes was inspired by surrealism, African art and Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, whose work motivated him to experiment, as well as by pioneers of Modernism in Brazil, like Affonso Reidy and Oscar Niemeyer.

Read the full story, here.

Paarl House

You’d be forgiven for inferring that the domed column that punctuates Pine Concrete House pays poetic tribute to Paarl Rock, the gigantic granite outcrop looming in its background. “You’ll have to talk to my dad about the metaphors of this house,” says a smiling Johannes Berry, who co-founded Brussels-based architectural firm Sugiberry with his wife Mayu Takasugi in 2016.

Fortuitous as the architectural echo is, the concrete-and-wood residence’s design was informed by a set of logical principles that Johannes and Mayu work according to,rather than any visual reference.“We like to consider the potential in what already exists,” he explains. In the case of Pine Concrete House, what existed was the double-storey home of Johannes’s parents, Roland and Elmine. “The initial brief from them was to build a double garage – but like most projects, it grew,” says Johannes. “They’re getting older, and because of the size of their house, we proposed renovating it so it could ultimately be split into three self-contained parts – a top half, a bottom half and an extension – so they’d still be able to live there, but rent out the two other spaces.”

Read the full story, here.

Monaghan Farm House

This house in Monaghan Farm in Lanseria, on a beautiful spot overlooking a bend in the Jukskei River, began with a bold, Brutalist architectural idea – but the result is an incredibly subtle, sensitive response to its setting. The owners, Wendy and Lukas van Niekerk wanted a home made entirely of steel and raw, exposed concrete, and this spectacular plot of land offered them the chance to build from scratch. Lukas, an engineer, is a huge fan of the work of 20th-century Italian architect Carlo Scarpa, who is famous for his sensitive use of concrete as well as experiments with concrete and steel – and the Van Niekerks’ architect, Enrico Daffonchio, went to school in Scarpa’s hometown of Venice in Italy. The fates had aligned.

Despite what Enrico refers to as its “strong architectural language”, the house they designed together is nestled into the landscape and, when viewed from higher up the hill, is practically invisible (helped by the green roofs planted with endemic grasses to recreate the landscape it’s built on). It is, quite literally, sunken into the landscape to keep its presence unobtrusive.

Read the full story, here.

Parkview House

I think the sunset sold it,” says architect Vedhant Maharaj. The outlook from this house on the crest of the Parkview ridge stretches across 270 degrees of the city’s urban forest – and the sunsets are spectacular. The character of this unexpected Modernist gem was buried beneath various additions and alterations, not least a steel mono-pitched roof that had been plonked on top. “But it had good bones. You could see that,” says Vedhant, who founded Rebel Base Collective, the multidisciplinary architecture and design studio, in 2017. A little investigation revealed the home had been designed in 1935 by a firm called Small and Schaerer, who created several well-known Joburg buildings, including Central Fire Station. By the 1930s, they were known for “an eclectic Modernistic style, with balconies jutting out at irregular spacings” as one account on architectural heritage database Artefacts describes it. It also mentions that their designs “tend towards the picturesque” – an approach that emphasises not just formal beauty but also a sense of the sublime.

Read the full story, here.

Modernist Durban Home

On first encounter, House Shaw is brutally simple: a series of three-dimensional boxes, positioned beside and on top of one another on a long, triangular site cut into one of the steep slopes that characterise Durban’s forested university suburb. It is made of face brick, concrete, louvre windows, shutters and a bit of aluminium; no need for paint, wallpaper, air conditioning – not even curtains.

The house belongs to Colleen Wygers, who lived here with her late husband, fellow architect Paul Wygers. Sadly, Paul passed away shortly after we photographed the house; with Colleen’s permission, we’ve included his observations from that interview.

Paul liked to describe the home as Modernism morphing the heritage Durban veranda home – and, when it went onto the market in 2013, the couple bought it within hours of their first viewing. Designed by Hallen and Dibb Architects in the 1960s, it had been commissioned by legal luminary Douglas Shaw. “Douglas Shaw was sitting in an Eames chair in the lounge,” recalled Paul. “We chatted briefly about art and architecture. I don’t think he wanted to leave.”

Read the full story, here.

Bo-Kaap House

If ever you’re asked to illustrate the Chinese concept of balanced dualism, you could do worse than to drop them a pin at 250 Buitengracht in Cape Town. Approach it from the front, and you’re met with a textbook Victorian cottage facade, replete with wraparound veranda shaded by a sweeping corrugated-iron roof – but walk around the corner and up towards Signal Hill, and the house spills over into a set of contemporary sheds. To the left, it’s flanked by the moneyed suburb of Tamboerskloof, with the historically Cape Malay area of the Bo-Kaap to the right. Inside, the house is split neatly down the middle into two almost identical, self-contained double-storey residences – one with a view of Table Mountain, which can be seen through a bespoke conservatory; the other looking out onto Carisbrook Street, and the Bo-Kaap and CBD beyond it.

“Our clients, Fred Durow and Ben Schoeman, are city planners, and bought the property with the idea of creating a double dwelling and work-from-home opportunity, as well as the option to generate rental income,” says Antony Abate, director at Team Architects. “We wanted to maximise the site’s potential, while being true to our ethics and beliefs in terms of urban design, contextual fit, scale and interaction with the streets,” adds Fred.

Read the full story, here.

Tulbagh House

It was six years ago, while exploring a “potential art project” in the small Western Cape town of Tulbagh, that Abigail Rands stumbled on this remarkable building. Her family owns a wine farm nearby, so she feels a strong connection to the area; and besides, she says, “I like beautiful architecture, raw materials and good art.” And this house had all three in bucketloads.

It is one of the oldest buildings in the town – the first monastery and mission school established in 1797 – and its distinctive gables, thick whitewashed walls, wooden rafters and thatched roof were the very embodiment of traditional Cape Winelands architecture. More recently, however, the artist Christo Coetzee lived there from the 1970s until his death at the turn of the century. For a time afterwards, the house was a museum dedicated to his life and work.

“A friend of Christo’s took us around and told us stories about each artwork. Everything I took in that day stayed with me,” says Abigail – and it wasn’t long before she came back. This time, she’d had an idea: she wanted to turn the house into a retreat of sorts; a place where, as she puts it, “you can let go and connect with how you really feel”. Later, her vision came to include a yoga studio in the old monastery building (which had once served as Coetzee’s studio).

Red the full story, here.

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The post VISI’s Top Architectural Features of 2023 appeared first on Visi.

Co-owners and partners Christopher Norman and Lara Horne took a chance on creating a unique getaway inspired by their family, nature and the endless possibilities of imagination. The result? Streamside Cabin – a creative pet-friendly escape outside the quaint town of Tulbagh.

What was the idea behind Streamside and how did it come into fruition?

Streamside is an expansion of an idea that was originally conceived by my brother Thor and my mother Jenny. They created a unique stay, “Sunset Dome”, that really took off in a way that none of us could’ve expected (you could say viral within the realms of accommodation businesses).

My brother had always maintained a childlike wonder and imagination, which paired perfectly with my mother’s creativity and experience as an architect. So, my partner Lara and I, with the blessing and encouragement of the original creators, gave us the opportunity to put our own spin on a tried and tested concept. Lara took a leap of faith with this idea by investing her life’s savings she’d accumulated towering the ranks of the FinTech industry and with some interior design expertise she picked up from doing marketing for Hertex fabrics. I found myself in an incredibly privileged position to have both my partner’s and my family’s vote of confidence to act as project manager. In terms of the idea, it was inspired by another but with the motivation to up the ante and do the family members who preceded us with the original concept proud. 

Who is behind the design and the build?

This build was very much a collaborative effort. Lara and I had veto rights on any creative decision, but we leaned on so many for opinions. My mother was the one who took a kooky idea of ours and made it into something that could exist within the realm of possibility and also within budget constraints. Without limitations, I think we would’ve ended up with something you’d see in a Lord of the Rings film. But alas… One day we’ll bring the shire to Tulbagh! My mother’s new boyfriend and travel companion also came through with some unique suggestions and contacts for the property with some slick design and functionality inspired by his sailing background. You’ll see aluminium beams, nylon spliced rope, and hand railing posts that you might find on your modern yachts. This is just something that will help prevent our seafaring guests from getting land sick in the heart of the Boland.

My family out in Mpumalanga also deserve an honourable mention as they let us steal with our eyes. They too, have also been influential in the process by letting us find out what makes their beautiful accommodations as successful as they are. I needn’t mention my brother as a constant confidant throughout the project who has the imagination to see the potential before the work is done. In essence, we absorb our favourite elements of what those nearest to us have to share and try to materialise it in a way that most celebrates those findings.  

What was your process for getting started?

We scoured the farm with a few potential sites in mind. We all took a nice leisurely family stroll and happened upon a clearing perched next to a stream and fully enclosed by indigenous trees that, in all honestly, was not on any of our radars. I think we were all kind of shocked that none of us conceived it as a viable spot, but when the first person said it the rest of us were just parroting “this is it, this is it”. Thus the site was confirmed. We looked at the nice level ground, and thought to ourselves, how do we elevate the site to see the sunset from this spot but also the mountain backdrop? Then the ideas started flooding “what if we do multi-tiered decking for elevation?”, “oooh, a custom stone wall hot tub!”, “glass walls”, “exposed scissor trusses” etc. When you’re in my position you don’t need any motivation but rather just a way of taming and compartmentalising floods of ideas in an organised way. Just to be involved in a creative process like this is self-propelling.

How did you conceptualise and prototype the geodome?

Aside from the dome itself – a carbon copy of what my family have already done, the rest of it comes from doodling and Pinterest. Take a glance at something you like, don’t look at it for too long and draw it in a way your memory photographed it and it will invariably be something different. My mother actually sourced the photo of an original concept that was an CGI image and then she drew a sketch of it that actually veered off quite drastically with little tweaks here and there, and we then cut and carved it into something that was applicable to the surrounding area, as well as our preferences. It then just sort of moulded into what you now see in the photos. The prototype is based on a drawing that a child could do with some inspiration from existing infrastructure on the farm and then drawn to scale into something a contractor can interpret to then build. As a general ethos, we endeavour to work backwards from a zany idea instead of going for something safe and making it a little bit more quirky. As I mentioned about my brother’s childlike imagination, we try to build in a way that a child would look at and go “Whoa”. Tap into the Peter Pan syndrome even if it’s just for a 2-night stay. More often our concern would be worrying if we played it too safe rather than did we go eccentric enough. In our eyes, you can always default to creature comforts and practical arrangements in the real world. Walking on a cold deck through the rain to an outdoor shower is an inconvenience but definitely more of an adventure. 

What does the area offer?

On the farm itself, we have the famous Cape Epic cycling track maintained by our passionate mountain biking community that can double up as a hiking trail. This trail meanders up to the base of the mountain we live against that then leads you onto a private hiking trail to a waterfall only our guests have access to. The farm is also active so roaming it would entail encounters with farm doggies, sheep, cows, blue cranes, harrier hawks, owls, duikers, and secretary birds (if you’re lucky and come at the right time) just to name a few. In the greater Tulbagh region, the first point of call would be going to the legendary breakfast/lunch/coffee hub Kole & Deeg. Best food and coffee in town and are completely authentic, and proud to have them in our humble valley. Wine tasting is a big deal around here, Montpellier, Oude Compagnies Post, and Twee Jonge Gezellen to name a few. Tulbagh Boutique Hotel and Duiker’s Drift for your evening dinners. Beyond the above mentioned there is certainly more but coming for a short visit that will definitely fill your cup! 

Tell us about the surrounding landscape and terrain. How did this impact the build?

What I’ve learned is you have to lean into what the site inherently has to offer and accentuate those natural features because we love the idea of the value being shared evenly between the natural environment and the build itself. It’s also a nice lazy way of letting the site do the work for you. Our glass walls for example is essentially a way of getting flora wallpaper for free except it’s not mimicking nature, it just is. Our key natural features would be the Witzenberg mountain backdrop, we wanted to have that in view from the bedroom window and also within the living room kitchen space. During sunset, it turns into this glowing purple slab that really stands so juxtaposed to the colours of the flora around you. It’s a really pleasing contrast. Also, the namesake stream which our guests have told us is the most soothing, ever-present sound that gives an incredible sense of calm throughout their stay. So on all sensory levels, the site has a lot to offer. 

What materials did you use?

It’s a bit of a mixture. Some are repurposed materials and some are new. Wooden decking, Glass walls with aluminium framing, corrugated and painted roof sheets, quartz tops for kitchen tops and vanity counter in the bathroom, laminated beam trusses, stone from the farm for hot tub and bathroom cladding, old Eskom telephone poles stained black, nylon spliced Rope, anodised masts. I’m sure I’ve missed many but those are the standout materials. We also stuck to a colour pallet of predominantly black and beige. Subconsciously, I think that was inspired by Zen-style Japanese interior design. Probably influenced by when Lara visited Japan a couple of years ago. The stained black wood is certainly a nod to Japanese tradition. Mind you we cheated with black varnish as opposed to burning the wood as a method of treatment. Will give it a go on the next project no doubt. 

How did you decide on an interior decor scheme?

Keeping in mind a modern, minimalist aesthetic, opting for shades of black and beige in the colour palette. As mentioned the subtle nods to the Japanese but by no means an attempt to call it Japanese. This is the part of the project where we worked within the constraints of a palette that funnelled us into a limited selection. From there the best option leapt out at us. I’m a big sufferer of option paralysis so working with constraints really helps get you to those right choices. 

Did you use any local makers or designers for the space?

We did everything in-house in terms of design and decor but the finishes were sourced by local suppliers. By in large local but occasionally from an overseas supplier. The first pick is always to support local. In the process, we found what talent and craftsmanship emanate from our wonderful country. 

You can either book directly to stay at Streamside via email or through their Airbnb and Booking.com listings.

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The post Tulbagh Getaway: Streamside Cabin appeared first on Visi.

An 18th-century monastery in the Cape Winelands – later an avant-garde artist’s studio – has been converted into a spiritual retreat for a young family.

It was six years ago, while exploring a “potential art project” in the small Western Cape town of Tulbagh, that Abigail Rands stumbled on this remarkable building. Her family owns a wine farm nearby, so she feels a strong connection to the area; and besides, she says, “I like beautiful architecture, raw materials and good art.” And this house had all three in bucketloads.

It is one of the oldest buildings in the town – the first monastery and mission school established in 1797 – and its distinctive gables, thick whitewashed walls, wooden rafters and thatched roof were the very embodiment of traditional Cape Winelands architecture. More recently, however, the artist Christo Coetzee lived there from the 1970s until his death at the turn of the century. For a time afterwards, the house was a museum dedicated to his life and work.

“A friend of Christo’s took us around and told us stories about each artwork. Everything I took in that day stayed with me,” says Abigail – and it wasn’t long before she came back. This time, she’d had an idea: she wanted to turn the house into a retreat of sorts; a place where, as she puts it, “you can let go and connect with how you really feel”. Later, her vision came to include a yoga studio in the old monastery building (which had once served as Coetzee’s studio).

Before settling in Tulbagh late in his career, Coetzee had lived for long spells in various parts of Europe, and was fascinated with Japan. He was influenced by the Gutai Art Association, a Japanese post-war group of radical avant-garde artists who pushed the boundaries of conceptual and performance art. In her 20s, Abigail had also spent long periods of time in Southeast Asia and Italy, and the fusion in the building’s history between East and West resonated with her.

Of course, the heritage of the building set some tight parameters. Luckily, Abigail’s neighbour happened to be a heritage consultant, so they worked closely on preserving and restoring the heritage features. The ability of good design to transcend time was central to their approach. Rather than hiring an architect, Abigail chose to work with a local builder and craftsmen from the valley. When it came to the interiors, she enlisted the help of THEFOURTH, an artistic and design practice founded by the couple Maybe Corpaci and Rodan Kane Hart, who is best known as a sculptor. Abigail was particularly drawn to their sensitivity to the quality of space in architecture, and their attention to detail, especially when it comes to choosing furniture and art. She asked them to furnish the house with found or repurposed pieces rather than new items, which resulted in an eclectic selection of furniture, from Modernist gems to “old humble objects”. And so the cavernous, atmospheric rooms, beautifully restored, were filled with a vision of Modernism meeting tradition, East meeting West, contemporary African art meeting avant-garde 20th-century art. THEFOURTH also created two fabulous bespoke pieces: a four-poster bed, and a circular brass-chain shower in the wet room.

Rodan made the bed with half-moon detailing on each post. “It came about when Abigail decided to call the residence Dar el Qamar – Monastery of the Moon (as translated from the Arabic phrase),” says Maybe. In the main bathroom, the shower, with its circular cast-concrete base, is ringed by a curtain of more than a hundred brass ball chains that, says Maybe, “creates a shiny curtain that dances hand in hand with the African beaded armchair in the bathroom (which also has gold details)”.

Perhaps Abigail’s favourite spot, however, is the internal courtyard with a beautiful old cypress tree that grounds the space. “We wanted the garden to be stark and sculptural,” she says. She wanted it to conjure a feeling of desert, moon and stone – a gravitas that is juxtaposed with a covered poolside lounge designed to look like a postcolonial African club.

This rich, multifaceted character is the key to the new spirit of the place. “Light and dark, old and new, masculine and feminine – it creates a kind of tension that leads to a dynamic creative process,” she says. That “tension”, however, is also at the heart of the sense of balance and peace at Dar el Qamar. It’s an atmosphere at once peaceful and stimulating; grounding, but inspiring – perfect for restoring the spirit and the senses.

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A designer with an intuitive design philosophy was asked to come up with a cohesive creative vision for a 307-year-old Boland farm, and the result is magical and mesmerising.

This was not a design task I could think my way towards resolving, but had to feel my way towards. I had to watch and listen, and wait for the answers to reveal themselves,” says creative interior director Tracy Lee Lynch of Studio Leelynch.

Employing this philosophy as her guide, in collaboration with architect Rick Stander, Tracy revamped the interiors on the historical Twee Jonge Gezellen farm in Tulbagh, the home of Krone MCC bubblies. For Tracy, the thing that stood out about the farm was its history – and the narratives around it. “The story of the farm holds deep magic within itself: the centuries of visionary experimentation that led to the discovery of cold fermentation, for example, and the night harvest, where the grapes are brought in by moonlight when their sugars are at their peak. These mysterious processes, known so intimately and intuitively by the winemaker, seemed to mirror my creative process.”

Tracy has honoured the brief of the owners, the late Tim Rands and his daughter Abigail Rands. “Our vision,” says Abigail, “is to create exceptional Cap Classique, combining a strong sense of tradition with innovative technique and ideas. The spaces speak a similar language where the old is challenged by the new. I gave Tracy the freedom to interpret the spaces intuitively. We spent a lot of time on the farm together and our vision became one.”

Tracy wanted to return the buildings to their authentic state. In order to achieve this, structural changes had to be made. The entrance, for instance, was moved back to its original place, and apertures slit into the walls allow shafts of natural light to pour in at the best angles. But it is the circular motif, seen in rounded windows and arches, that ultimately became the main design theme. This shape subsequently popped up in various design interior elements. “The circle/ bubble motif finds itself reiterated in details of objects such as trays and spitoons,” says Tracy.

The underground cellar has been left untouched, but the tasting room got a facelift. “A small arched window that looked from the tasting room into the storeroom was dropped down to floor level to create a long arched opening. This opening now has a physical relationship to the person standing looking through it, framing and enclosing the body,” is how Tracy describes the transformation and the experience that comes with it.

She introduced a large round bar, which once again reflects the circle motif. The standout piece is by celebrated furniture designer Gregor Jenkin, who created the bronze bar with the help of Charles Haupt from Bronze Age Studio. It features geometric shapes reminiscent of the cages that hold the estate’s bubblies.

“There is nothing in the tasting room that isn’t necessary to the functioning of the space,” says Tracy. “It’s important to preserve the monastic quality of the room, which allows for minimal distractions from the sensory complexities of the wine itself.” Other local designers with whom Tracy collaborated are Meyer Von Wielligh, Ceramic Matters, Wiid Design, Mema Designs and Egg Designs. Then, with curator Amy Ellenbogen, she selected works by artists represented by SMITH studio to display as a way to tie the interior design story together.

For Tracy, the permanence of the traditional architecture stands in contrast to the movable modern design elements she introduced – so if the latter were to be removed, it would leave only the estate’s history.

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The morning of Saturday 11 November 2017 dawned hot, clear and bright at Twee Jonge Gezellen Wine Estate in Tulbagh.

A perfect backdrop for the last VISI Great Spaces Tour of 2017, where some 60 guests consisting of VISI readers and members of the local design fraternity gathered to hear Tracy Lynch describe in beautiful detail the rationale behind the treatment of the space and the careful curation of artists and makers who contributed to the project.

The Krone MCC flowed and the day ended with a sumptuous luncheon served in the sheltered courtyard. Guests also took home a VISI goodie bag with the latest issue and a bottle of Krone MCC.

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