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An initial plan was to build a large house on the level ground, but with the building set in a corner among the trees it was decided that a set of four reflection ponds would be placed there instead. -
The only walled part of the structure is its main “trunk”, which contains the staircase that links the three levels. The rest is deliberately curtain-free. -
The organic nature of the house is carried through in the design of the staircase, with oak steps and a balustrade that was made by wetting strips of wood and letting them set in the curved shape. -
The roof deck is the crown jewel of the house. The Gloster Bepal lounge chairs and Dansk coffee table are from marlanteak. -
Wooden gangplank or magical portal? The unusual entrance to the Paarman cottage sets the mood for its innovative interior. -
Steel rings, branch-like arms and Cor-Ten steel columns support all three levels of the house. -
In the background is a Sine Tempore elm wood kitchen by Valcucine. A Groundpiece sofa with an integrated leather clad bookcase arm component is flanked by a Jiff side table, both from Flexform. The G3 marble coffee table and Wander copper reading lamp are by Roche-Bobois -
The bed was custom-designed by Malan Vorster and manufactured by Versfeld Custom Furniture. The Rubn Lektor table lamps are from Stile Milano. -
The bathroom was also custom-designed by the architects, with a Flaminia basin and copper Vola tap from Still Bathrooms. -
Jan-Heyn Vorster, Pieter Malan and Peter Urry of Malan Vorster Architecture Interior Design.
WORDS Ami Kapilevich PRODUCTION Sumien Brink PHOTOS Micky Hoyle
This one-bedroom house in Constantia is one of South Africa’s most impressive architectural gems, but it’s a seclusive one.
It was time for a change, decided Graham Paarman after a few years of living in a loft apartment above the test kitchen from where the Ina Paarman empire was built. Graham is Ina’s son and business partner.
He initially wanted a treehouse, but after consulting with Malan Vorster Architects Graham settled on something along the lines of a tree-inspired house on the slopes of the family’s Constantiaberg estate.
“The design process evolved to architectualise the essence of treehouses,” says architect Pieter Malan, “using lightweight materials to suspend a shelter between tree trunks and branches.”
The exterior curves and vertical cladding clearly evoke a reedy copse or a set of tree trunks, but when you step inside the house the effect is breathtakingly reversed: Instead of a man-made tree at the edge of a clearing you are in a man-made clearing set among the trees.
The house is built primarily from Western red cedar, a beetle-resistant wood that, if left untreated, weathers naturally to acquire a soft, warm patina. Criss-crossing beams and wooden panelling combine with the exterior cladding to give the interior a filigreed sense of detail.
The structure is built around four columns, lightly touching the ground to create a hovering, cantilevered effect. The columns themselves consist of four laser-cut and rolled Cor-Ten steel “trunks”. (Cor-Ten is a type of naturally weathering steel alloy with a high copper content.) The steel rings that support all three floor levels are connected to the columns by means of branch-like arms. Connections between structural components are expressed by means of hand-turned brass details.
The structural system required a hands-on approach of development using full-scale models and testing on site as work progressed. The process involved healthy creative collaboration between the architects, engineers and builders. The architects say one of the most rewarding aspects of the project was to work with highly skilled craftspeople, as their expertise was essential to develop and execute the building and its intricate detailing.
Upstairs, the bed is positioned in the diametric middle of the house on a glass-fringed mezzanine that makes it feel like it is very much a part of the living space below.
Above the bedroom is the roof deck, where the colour of the wood is changing due to the variable exposure to sunlight and rain. The house feels alive, and the views from here are sublime. Below the house, four reflection ponds, designed by Mary Maurel Gardens and built out of Cor-Ten steel, lead the eye over wooded slopes and beyond.
It is hard to describe what has been achieved here, but the house is a little bit of magic sparked by something that is more than the sum of its parts. | malanvorster.co.za
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