House on a Coastal Dune
Leisure Bay
1996
Typology
Houses
Landscapes
Built
Programme
Residential
City
Leisure Bay
Country
South Africa
Status
Completed
Awards
The house is located on the south coast of KwaZulu Natal. The site is on the shoulder of the compacted coastal dune which runs for parallel to the rocky coast with sandy beaches. The property was the overgrown garden of a small cottage built in the 1960’s. By climbing to the top of one of the protected milkwood trees on site, we were able to determine that it would be possible to construct magnificent views. The design begun by determining the building lines and bulk, mapping the potential views onto the site, surveying the location and precise form of the milkwood trees, determining a precise sun path diagram for the whole year and understanding the prevailing winds and microclimate.
A threshold formed by two trees marks the arrival at the sunlit plane of the façade; the route is displaced to the side of the house, revealing a view of the ocean horizon from the forecourt, and a vignette of the same view from the hallway. Narrow stairs drop from this space, ending in a view of the jungle below the house. Generous open stairs climb up in this tall volume to the living space, the light and the sky. A table is positioned overlooking the hall so as to make the invitation to ascend unambiguous.
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The complexity of the architectural form is a result of the specifics of the site, the views and the programme. The simplicity of the material palette and the whiteness of the walls are used to unify the very diverse spatial and visual experiences, focusing attention on the diversity of nature rather than on the details of the building or its architectural sources.
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