HOUSE FAGEFORS

HOUT BAY - CAPE TOWN - SOUTH AFRICA

The Site The clients site located along Elise way Hout Bay, Cape Town. Site has a primary street facing boundary with Secondary boundaries/ shared boundaries with neighbouring plots along the rear and side boundaries of the plot. The site which is sloping toward the street measures a total of 650m2   which is largely bare containing mainly low vegetation covering most of the site with two trees and a couple of rock formations on the site. Views from the site are largely of surrounding mountain scapes of the area.

Local Authority The Local Authority by-laws on the plot are a building line area of 188.5m2 ( 3 - 15 m building setback lines ) and a height restriction of 5m.

Design Intent The site contains multiple viewpoints of the surrounding mountains, this served as a crucial point in the design concept approach as it becomes a backdrop for the occupants. An approach to create a home that can be a place for entertainment and privacy that is nestled into the landscape was the ideal departure point.

Design Concept The conceptual idea for the house was nestle the house into the slope as far as possible in order to fall under the height restriction by-laws on the site and to maximise viewpoints of the surrounding mountains, in order to do this the idea was to create a house that doubles up as a retaining wall. The living and dining spaces would then nestle at an adequate height to accumulate viewpoints. To Create a transition between private and shared spaces in plan and form the design was split into two sections by a Passageway and feature wall which cut and parted the two spaces. The private spaces where then raised to emphasize on the change in use and to utilize Clerestory lighting and cross ventilation. A Deck is created around the shared entertainment spaces to allow for movement to the outdoors and capture the surrounding mountain views. Since the building lines allow for a large green garden area, the design could easily be lost in the corner of the site disconnecting from the landscape of the plot. To prevent this and create a holistic design of inclusivity with the surrounding landscape and beyond the idea was to pull the architectural language through to the landscape connecting the two, This was done through the retaining wall structure which is a pivotal point in the architectural structure through to connect to the landscape. A windbreaker/privacy wall was also added to further connect the architecture to the landscape. These connecting elements are all clad with the stone from the rocks found on the existing site.

Architectural Language The architectural language created for the design was primarily of linear elements that are broken and manipulated throughout the design to break away from the square form the building lines articulated on the plot, these elements were further introduced through there connection to the landscape.

Commencing 2018