This client’s brief was to design a home with an African-contemporary feel on a 7 200 m² stand, with water views from all rooms. The house overlooks an indigenous forest with the Indian Ocean in the distance.

We incorporated four self-contained suites, a basement wine cellar and a separate structure that could be utilized as a gym, study or office.

Our materials palette included panga-panga cabinetry, high-gloss polished concrete floors and 2.4 m high railway sleeper doors.

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Sparrebosch Golf Estate
Knysna  ·  Western Cape

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Knysna  ·  Western Cape

Knysna  ·  Western Cape

At this residence, a new home was designed right on a marina estate, to serve as a holiday home to a couple. The design concept was a compound with the floor plan consisting of four separate structures linked with a concrete slab. Doors on both sides of the home allow views of the canals to the south and lagoon views to the north.

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Sparrebosch Golf Estate
Knysna  ·  Western Cape

This project involved a new home in a golf course development. The house was orientated to the stand’s expansive views. A palette of natural materials was introduced, including sandstone cladding and balau timber to connect the house to its natural surroundings.

Views from the foyer, as one enters the house, stretch straight out towards the golf course and the ocean beyond. Inside/outside living is achieved with the use of folding stacking doors onto the pool and porch.

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Knysna  ·  Western Cape

This major renovation involved the conversion of an existing guesthouse back into a residence for a family of seven. The existing floor plan was poorly articulated, with dark wasted spaces. The interior was gutted, in order to create an open plan living space, incorporating living, dining and kitchen areas. Intimacy can be maintained in the dining room by closing a pair of glass sliding doors.

A new conservatory on the northern facade, allows for views through the house and also some natural sunlight to penetrate into the kitchen and lounge areas.

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This project, due to its south easterly orientation, was designed with a clerestory running the length of the building to allow natural light to filter into the heart of the house. The use of glass panel “windows” in the ground floor slab, allows light into the lower level of the building. A recessed stone plinth was used on the south east facade to reduce the footprint on the ground. Visually the structure seems to float above the natural fynbos (indigenous vegetation). 

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Architecture first evolved out of the dynamics between needs (shelter, security, worship, etc.) and means (available building materials and attendant skills). As human cultures developed and knowledge began to be formalized through oral traditions and practices, architecture became a craft.

Here there is a process of trial and error, and later improvisation or replication of a successful trial. What is termed Vernacular architecture continues to be produced in many parts of the world. Indeed, vernacular buildings make up most of the built world that people experience every day.

Early human settlements were mostly rural. Due to a surplus in production the economy began to expand resulting in urbanization thus creating urban areas which grew and evolved very rapidly in some cases, such as that of Çatal Huyuk in Anatolia and Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan.

In many ancient civilizations, like the Egyptians’ and Mesopotamians’, architecture and urbanism reflected the constant engagement with the divine and the supernatural, while in other ancient cultures such as Persia architecture and urban planning was used to exemplify the power of the state.

The architecture and urbanism of the Classical civilizations such as the Greek and the Roman evolved from civic ideals rather than religious or empirical ones and new building types emerged. Architectural styles developed.

Texts on architecture began to be written in the Classical period. These became canons to be followed in important works, especially religious architecture. Some examples of canons are found in the writings of Vitruvius, the Kao Gong Ji of ancient China and Vaastu Shastra of ancient India and Manjusri vasthu vidya sastra of Sri Lanka .

The architecture of different parts of Asia developed along different lines from that of Europe, Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh architecture each having different characteristics. Buddhist architecture, in particular, showed great regional diversity. In many Asian countries a pantheistic religion led to architectural forms that were designed specifically to enhance the natural landscape.

The medieval builder

Islamic architecture began in the 7th century CE, developing from a blend of architectural forms from the ancient Middle East and from Byzantium but also developing features to suit the religious and social needs of the society. Examples can be found throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Spain, and were to become a significant stylistic influence on European architecture during the Medieval period.

In Europe, in both the Classical and Medieval periods, buildings were not attributed to specific individuals and the names of the architects frequently unknown, despite the vast scale of the many religious buildings extant from this period.

During the Medieval period guilds were formed by craftsmen to organise their trade and written contracts have survived, particularly in relation to ecclesiastical buildings. The role of architect was usually one with that of master mason, or Magister lathomorum as they are sometimes described in contemporary documents.

Over time the complexity of buildings and their types increased. General civil construction such as roads and bridges began to be built. Many new building types such as schools, hospitals, and recreational facilities emerged.

Renaissance and the architect

With the Renaissance and its emphasis on the individual and humanity rather than religion, and with all its attendant progress and achievements, a new chapter began. Buildings were ascribed to specific architects – Brunelleschi, Alberti, Michelangelo, Palladio – and the cult of the individual had begun.

There was still no dividing line between artist, architect and engineer, or any of the related vocations, and the appellation was often one of regional preference. At this stage, it was still possible for an artist to design a bridge as the level of structural calculations involved was within the scope of the generalist.

Early modern and the industrial age

With the emerging knowledge in scientific fields and the rise of new materials and technology, architecture and engineering began to separate, and the architect began to concentrate on aesthetics and the humanist aspects, often at the expense of technical aspects of building design.

There was also the rise of the “gentleman architect” who usually dealt with wealthy clients and concentrated predominantly on visual qualities derived usually from historical prototypes, typified by the many country houses of Great Britain that were created in the Neo Gothic or Scottish Baronial styles.

Formal architectural training in the 19th century, for example at Ecole des Beaux Arts in France, gave much emphasis to the production of beautiful drawings and little to context and feasibility. Effective architects generally received their training in the offices of other architects, graduating to the role from draughtsmen or clerks.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution laid open the door for mass production and consumption. Aesthetics became a criterion for the middle class as ornamented products, once within the province of expensive craftsmanship, became cheaper under machine production.

Vernacular architecture became increasingly ornamental. House builders could use current architectural design in their work by combining features found in pattern books and architectural journals.

Modernism and reaction of architecture

The dissatisfaction with such a general situation at the turn of the twentieth century gave rise to many new lines of thought that served as precursors to Modern Architecture. Notable among these is the Deutscher Werkbund, formed in 1907 to produce better quality machine made objects. The rise of the profession of industrial design is usually placed here.

Following this lead, the Bauhaus school, founded in Germany in 1919, consciously rejected history and looked at architecture as a synthesis of art, craft, and technology.

When Modern architecture was first practiced, it was an avant-garde movement with moral, philosophical, and aesthetic underpinnings. Immediately after World War I, pioneering modernist architects sought to develop a completely new style appropriate for a new post-war social and economic order, focused on meeting the needs of the middle and working classes. They rejected the architectural practice of the academic refinement of historical styles which served the rapidly declining aristocratic order.

The approach of the Modernist architects was to reduce buildings to pure forms, removing historical references and ornament in favor of functionalist details. Buildings that displayed their construction and structure, exposing steel beams and concrete surfaces instead of hiding them behind traditional forms, were seen as beautiful in their own right.

Architects such as Mies van der Rohe worked to create beauty based on the inherent qualities of building materials and modern construction techniques, trading traditional historic forms for simplified geometric forms, celebrating the new means and methods made possible by the Industrial Revolution.

Many architects resisted Modernism, finding it devoid of the decorative richness of ornamented styles. As the founders of the International Style lost influence in the late 1970s, Postmodernism developed as a reaction against the austerity of Modernism. Robert Venturi’s contention that a “decorated shed” (an ordinary building which is functionally designed inside and embellished on the outside) was better than a “duck” (a building in which the whole form and its function are tied together) gives an idea of this approach.

Architecture today

Part of the architectural profession, and also some non-architects, responded to Modernism and Postmodernism by going to what they considered the root of the problem. They felt that architecture was not a personal philosophical or aesthetic pursuit by individualists; rather it had to consider everyday needs of people and use technology to give a livable environment.

The Design Methodology Movement involving people such as Christopher Alexander started searching for more people-oriented designs. Extensive studies on areas such as behavioral, environmental, and social sciences were done and started informing the design process.

As the complexity of buildings began to increase (in terms of structural systems, services, energy and technologies), architecture started becoming more multi-disciplinary. Architecture today usually requires a team of specialist professionals, with the architect being one of many, although usually the team leader.

During the last two decades of the twentieth century and into the new millennium, the field of architecture saw the rise of specializations by project type, technological expertise or project delivery methods. In addition, there has been an increased separation of the ‘design’ architect  from the ‘project’ architect.

Moving the issues of environmental sustainability into the mainstream is a significant development in the architecture profession. Sustainability in architecture was pioneered in the 1970s by architects such as Ian McHarg in the US and Brenda and Robert Vale in the UK and New Zealand. There has been an acceleration in the number of buildings which seek to meet green building sustainable design principles. It is now expected that architects will integrate sustainable principles into their projects. An example of an architecturally innovative green building is the Dynamic Tower which will be powered by wind turbines and solar panels.

Source:  www.wikipedia.org

The earliest written work on the subject of architecture is De architectura, by the Roman architect Vitruvius in the early 1st century CE.According to Vitruvius, a good building should satisfy the three principles of firmitatis utilitatis venustatis, which translates roughly as - 

• Durability – it should stand up robustly and remain in good condition.
• Utility – it should be useful and function well for the people using it.
• Beauty – it should delight people and raise their spirits.  

According to Vitruvius, the architect should strive to fulfill each of these three attributes as well as possible. Leone Battista Alberti, who elaborates on the ideas of Vitruvius in his treatise, De Re Aedificatoria, saw beauty primarily as a matter of proportion, although ornament also played a part. For Alberti, the rules of proportion were those that governed the idealised human figure, the Golden Mean. The most important aspect of beauty was therefore an inherent part of an object, rather than something applied superficially; and was based on universal, recognisable truths. The notion of style in the arts was not developed until the 16th century, with the writing of Vasari. The treatises, by the 18th century, had been translated into Italian, French, Spanish and English. 

In the early nineteenth century, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin wrote Contrasts (1836) that, as the titled suggested, contrasted the modern, industrial world, which he disparaged, with an idealized image of neo-medieval world. Gothic architecture, Pugin believed, was the only “true Christian form of architecture.”

The 19th century English art critic, John Ruskin, in his Seven Lamps of Architecture, published 1849, was much narrower in his view of what constituted architecture. Architecture was the “art which so disposes and adorns the edifices raised by men … that the sight of them” contributes “to his mental health, power, and pleasure”.

For Ruskin, the aesthetic was of overriding significance. His work goes on to state that a building is not truly a work of architecture unless it is in some way “adorned”. For Ruskin, a well-constructed, well-proportioned, functional building needed string courses or rustication, at the very least.

On the difference between the ideals of “architecture” and mere “construction”, the renowned 20th C. architect Le Corbusier wrote: “You employ stone, wood, and concrete, and with these materials you build houses and palaces: that is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say: This is beautiful. That is Architecture”.

Source:  www.wikipedia.org

The best colours will highlight the most beautiful features of your home. Skillful use of colour can even disguise design flaws, boosting the curb appeal and market value of your home. How do you find that magic colour combination? Follow these tips:

1. Honour History

If you’re planning to paint an older home, you’ll probably want to use a historically accurate colour scheme. You can hire a pro to analyse old paint chips and recreate the original colour. Or, you can refer to historic colour charts and select shades that might have been used at the time your home was built.

2. Jazz Up the Past

In some neighbourhoods, homeowners fly in the face of history. Instead of choosing historically accurate colours, they paint their houses modern colours to dramatize architectural details. Using bright colours on old architectural details can produce startling and exciting results. But before you buy 10 gallons of bubblegum pink, it’s a good idea to look at what your neighbours are doing. A fluorescent coloured Victorian that looks splendid in San Francisco will seem wildly out of place in more conservative neighbourhoods.

3. Consider Your Neighbours

The house next door can give you paint colour ideas, but don’t copy your neighbour exactly. Choose colours that set your house apart, without clashing with nearby buildings.

4. Borrow From Nature

The landscape around your house is blooming with colour ideas. Trees may suggest an earthy palette of greens and browns. A beach setting might suggest vivid blues, turquoises, and coral colours. Even the garden in your front yard can inspire exciting colour combinations.

5. Check the Roof

Your house is your canvas, but it is not blank. Some colours are already established. What colour is your roof? Your paint colour doesn’t need to match the roof, but it should harmonize.

6. Look For Things That Won’t Be Painted

Every home has some features that will not be painted. Does your house have brick walls? Vinyl windows? A natural wooden door? Will steps and railings remain their existing colours? Choose a colour scheme that harmonizes with colours already present on your house.

7. Find Inspiration in Your Living Room

It may seem comical to paint entire house based on the pattern of a pillow case, but this approach does make sense. The colour of your furnishings will guide you in the selection of your interior paint colours, and your interior paint colours will influence the colours you use outside. Once again, your goal is to harmonize.

8. Focus on Details

Depending on the size and complexity of your home, you may want to choose two, three, or as many as six colours. In addition to colour for your siding, select accent colours for shutters, mouldings, doors, window sashes, brackets, columns, and porch decks. But beware: too many colours will overwhelm your house. Too few can make your house seem flat and uninteresting.

9. Use Light to Add Size

It’s no wonder large, grand estates are often painted white. Light colours make a building look larger, and white is the favoured colour for traditional classical architecture. You can add to your home’s sense of size and dignity by using white or a pale cream colour.

10. Go Dark For Drama

Dark siding or dark bands of trim will make your house seem smaller, but will draw more attention to details. Darker shades are best for accenting recesses, while lighter tones will highlight details that project from the wall surface. On traditional Victorian homes, the darkest paint is often used for the window sashes.

11. Discover Colour Families

Contrasting colours will draw attention to architectural details. But, extreme contrasts will clash and actually detract from details. To be safe, consider staying within a single colour family. For some accents, try using a darker or lighter shade instead of a different colour.

12. Strike a Balance

A burst of a single colour on just one part of your home may give it a lopsided appearance. Strive to balance colours over the entire building.

Source:  http://www.about.com/