Craighall, Johannesburg 500m2 A single family house, single story, two wings, the living and the bedroom wings are joined by a glazed corridor that steps in section to take up the topographical shifts of the site. The planted concrete roof garden provides insulation to the glazed boxes below and can be accessed for unique tree canopy views of the city beyond. A variety of unique face-brick details are worked into the vertical surfaces. The house vibrates with a variety of textured surfaces.
The idea for the Great Primary Shapes House has its origins in a book I read about Euclid’s Elements a while ago. The composition consists of a triangle (elevation)., a square, a circle, and a hexagon. On the exterior, each shape is made of a distinct material. Inside materials are consistent unifying the various volumes.
Norwood, Johannesburg, 3x 340sqm. A complex of three identical 2-storey houses built almost entirely of cast concrete. The walls, floors and ceilings all have a smooth, exposed concrete finish. The strict rectangular form is “eroded” at the northern corner to create a veranda with an uninterrupted 12m cantilever roof overhang; these spans are possible because the house is made of reinforced concrete. The window and door openings are all much larger than an average house.
Kramerville, Johannesburg, 2500m2 A two level 1970’s commercial office building was repurposed and converted to house this showroom and headquarters for the renowned French furniture company Roche Bobois’ new Jozi showroom. The cladding is a combination of tinted glass and multiwall polycarbonate. The frosted polycarbonate panels have a patented interlocking edge so they create a hermetic and seamless finish. At night, a “lightbox” effect is created as the striking white polycarbonate shell is illuminated by the interior showroom lighting.
Oaklands Road, Johannesburg, 205sqm. New compact family home with unique shaped openings.
The Gardens, Johannesburg, 504sqm. New home and studio for the Katz family overlooking a park.
Nugget Road, Johannesburg, 6042sqm. New multi-story high density apartment building in Johannesburg CBD featuring extra wide circulation spaces and communal laundry facilities on every floor. Images courtesy of Dave Southwood Photography @southwood.hyperstructure
Size 450m2 Completed 2022 A single family home in a gated estate. The Pieta House is made to appear as if its carved from a single piece of marble. Careful detailing and construction lends the home a pared-back minimalist aesthetic.
Shipston Lane, Victoria, Johannesburg, 1059sqm. High density up market residential development 20x 2 bedroom units with generous circulation areas that double as “social condenser” spaces.
Area: 510m2, Completion: March 1016, Location: Oaklands, Johannesburg, Description: House Sutton is an extensive renovation to a 40’s slate roofed home with “good bones”. The well-proportioned structure leant itself to the insertion of clean architectural lines. We went for a pared-down, elegant interior and painting all the walls a stark Gallery White created the crispness we were after – softened by pale grey linen curtains throughout.
Morningside, Sandton 775sqm This family home was completely gutted and only the roof and some of the exterior walls retained. A new steel structure was inserted to support the existing roof. The steel framework was left exposed and allowed to partially rust before giving it a coat of sealant. Conceptually the design centres the home around a new swimming-pool courtyard with concrete monoliths. Off-shutter concrete was used extensively for built-in furniture and sculptural elements. A striking feature of the house is a 13m long, two-legged concrete table.
Linksfield, Johannesburg 1,700sqm A new state of the art educational facility, with 19 classrooms, a music room, media centre, performance space, therapy rooms and more. The new KDPPS will cater for close to 500 children, with age-groups ranging from playschool to grade-r (1-6). The architectural concept is inspired by the Reggio Emilio methodology of teaching preschool kids. We have used standardized precast concrete openings in various shapes and sizes to create window openings and hollow columns that mimic children’s block buildings. These contribute to a fascinating play of light and shadows within the building which is an important aspect of the Reggio research.
Elandsfontein, Germiston 900m2 office building and 1250m2 warehouse. The brief from our client was to design a robust, spacious and light-filled environment for their new head office. We chose flush jointed face-brick for the building envelope for its low maintenance characteristics. We used special 30 and 60 degree bricks to achieve the seamless chamfered shape, and this along with a mix of sloping coloured diagonal bands (five different shades of facebrick were used) gives the building the impression of a monolithic sedimentary rock. The internal spaces are configured around a central atrium which is naturally sky-lit. The building has been stringently sound-proofed as it is set in a noisy scrap yard.
Totalizator House, Johannesburg CBD, 2020 (5,000m2) An adaptive reuse project in the Johannesburg CBD. Conversion from an office building to small residential units ranging from 70sqm bachelor units to 40sqm two-beds. A new story of 2 bedroom penthouses and rooftop swimming pool was added. A major innovation was the use of Georgian wired glass at 45 degree angles in order to achieve the necessary fire rating while preserving the linearity of the original ribbon window facade.
Area: 630m2, Completion: September 2010, Location: Houghton, Johannesburg Description: The U-shaped configuration of the house capitalizes on the location of the neighbouring house and the narrow stand to create a courtyard. This format is perfect as a means of creating a secure environment. The entire ground floor opens, with glass doors, onto a tranquil courtyard with a grassy mound and massive granite boulders. The kinked entrance facade of white-painted facebrick is Houghton vernacular with neo-medieval twist.
Norwood, Johannesburg, 350sqm. This is a refurb to a classic 1970’s courtyard house. The original brick paved interiors and knotty pine ceilings were preserved. Off-shutter monolithic concrete elements were cast in the kitchen and bathrooms. Hi-tech polypropylene fibers were used in the casting of these. The experiment proved successful. The courtyard as a typology for living in Johannesburg really works.
356 Rivonia Boulevard is a large-scale commercial redevelopment of a 6,000sqm office building. Building will be clad in composite timber planks (real wood does not perform well in the dry Highveld climate). In the atrium lobby the triangle cut porcelain tiles will be laid in a snake-skin pattern. To help control temperatures in the four storey atrium we are adding a Lexan polycarbonate ceiling beneath the existing vaulted skylight, this will have a randomized pattern of clear and grey to create a dappled sunlight effect. Completion expected March 2014.
Parkhurst, Johannesburg, 410sqm. The clients had outgrown their original Parkhurst home and purchased the property next door with the intention of expanding. The 2-storey addition is a U-shaped extrusion of a typical barn and together with the original structure to the west defines an internal courtyard. Four new bedrooms are situated on the upper storey of the new addition. A striking feature of the upper storey is the flush-plastered pitched ceilings which give a sense of loftiness to the spaces.
Wanderers Club, Johannesburg, 520sqm. This is a clubhouse for competitive 5-a-side soccer. It was built in 3 months using mainly prefabricated elements. The structure sits on a Terraforce wall plinth. Its elevated position and the 30m glazed north-facing façade afford great views onto the playing fields as well as the city beyond. The clerestory infill panels (upper storey) are of blue multi-wall polycarbonate (the sponsors colour), which when backlit at night create a spectacular lantern effect.
Sandown, Sandton, 9 x 280m2. This is a housing complex of 9 small free-standing units. Each unit has four ensuite bedrooms. The architects have coined the phrase “borrowed space” to describe the new space-saving concepts derived from boutique hotel design An estimated 100sqm of wasted circulation space was shaved off in this manner. The resultant savings were reinvested into making the homes more energy efficient. They have grey water systems, heat-pump geysers, double glazing and wood-burning oven fireplaces.
Melrose, Johannesburg, 490sqm. Designed with Bauhaus principles in mind, this new house is an overhanging, symmetrical box resting on a grid of concrete columns, the windows are long horizontal bands, the flat concrete roof is trafficable (there are plans to green it) and none of the interior walls are load-bearing. The façades accentuate the concrete grid frame by offsetting the raw concrete columns with slick Marmoran-coated infill brickwork in a dark “black-coffee” colour. Likewise, on the interior, the raw off-shutter concrete floors, walls and ceilings contrast with the other smooth, white surfaces.
Linksfield, Johannesburg, 570sqm. The long rectangular form of this house is as a result of the brief, which called for all six bedrooms to be north-facing; besides the solar benefits, the views to the north are important (the house overlooks a golf-course). The windows on the upper floor are huge – 1.5m square panes. The ground floor is L-shaped. The Kitchen, which plays a central role in the family’s life, sits in the corner of the L-shape forming a node between a Playroom (on the short-leg), and the Living / Dining room and ground floor Guest Suite. The crisp, clean lines of the box-like house are in contrast to the park-like garden in which it sits. There are 100 year oaks in the garden.
Rosebank, Johannesburg, 210sqm. The design concept for this restaurant-cum-lounge was inspired by Joburg’s roots as a mining town. The bar counter was made to look like a massive embossed ingot. The cloud-white colour scheme and the use of translucent backlit polycarbonate sheeting allude to the proverbial “pot-of-gold at the end of the rainbow”. A modular seating system called Caterpillow TM was custom designed by the architect; the seats are on lockable wheels and the high backrests are removable – it can be configured in multiple arrangements.
Glenhazel, Jhb, 450m2. This house is for a young professional couple with a growing family. The plan of the house is an obtuse U-shaped configuration which allows for maximum sun penetration whilst still providing a private courtyard-like space in the centre. The exterior walls are finished with a ruled cement bagwash which lends an exagerated roughness to the surface of the clean-lined form.
This is the second of two extensive remodeling projects completed in 2013. The client is a couple with 3 children. What made the project particularly interesting and at times challenging is that the house used to belong to the wife’s family. It’s where she had spent her childhood. Her family had sold the house in the early 90’s and now the Fanaroff’s had purchased it again. There was a certain amount of lingering sentimentality for the original house, but the clients bravely bought into our vision, which involved removing all the interior walls and drastically reconfiguring the original house. A focal point of the living area is the faceted fireplace wall which boasts a 32kw double sided closed combustion fireplace.
In 2012 Gregory Katz was approached by two of his High School friends to remodel homes they had recently bought. The first of these was House Spira, a Cape Dutch styled home that had undergone many perplexing renovations since it was built in the 1940’s. We tried to revive the original farmhouse feel of the house while introducing a sense of generous open and light space by removing the ceiling and exposing the original pine roof truss structure. The house is awkwardly positioned in the middle of sprawling park-like gardens, we introduced stack doors on both sides of the living room so that it connect the exterior spaces that surround it.
Hawkins Estate, Johannesburg, 7870sqm. New multi-story high residential development on top of a retail block on the Louis Botha corridor. 120x20sqm studio apartments. Elevations have a parametric undulating character.
Houghton, Jhb, 650m2. This is a proposal for a new home for a private client. The house features vertical bands of glass in varying widths, inspired by a view though a forest. The usual wall/door/window relationship is transformed into one of extensive solid and void. Each of the solid panels has a concealed cavity into which the alternating glazed panels can slide; this allows for an unusually seamless relationship between with the outdoors.
