Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		House Madlener - Najmeh Mountain View, Johannesburg, Gauteng Mira FASSLER KAMSTRA: Architect

Date: 2013 Client: Dr B Madlener Type: Homestead Status: Extant   Click to view map Coordinates: 26°10'10.39" S 28°04'58.23" E Alt: 1777m

GIfA Commendation Site Situated in the heritage oak tree-lined lane on Mountain View Ridge, House "Najmeh" started out on a 1960s property subdivision as a new staff cottage. In a further sub-division the new owner altered and added to it substantially. The erection of the roof showed its overwhelming disparity of scale with the charming neighbouring early 1900s Coach House. Brief At this point the architect was called in and briefed to address this problem and to include light, spaciousness, compactness, sustainability, connection with the trees and the reconfiguring of the existing water feature. The use of strong colours was emphasised. Solution Apart from the mandatory removal of the roof, the first floor windows were found to be uncomfortably close to the Coach House roof, and the quality of light of the ground floor was compromised by the first floor verandah roof. Part of the first floor and the entire verandah roof slab were demolished. The whole house was moved eastwards as far as the jacaranda tree enabling the inclusion of a ground floor flat on the west and a double volumed verandah on the north. At first floor level a concrete terrace extends the study to the trees. Narrow balconies on the east side provide sun shading and viewing decks. The issues of scale were of the original roof height were addressed by dividing the roof into three parallel double-pitched roofs separated by large box gutters and flanked by a dormer-windowed lean-to roof onto Ridge Road. The first floor balconies overlook the still-to-be-built concrete-vaulted outbuildings which are designed to be an integral part of the eastern stone boundary wall. Integrated design includes roof overhangs, ceiling insulation, double glazing, shutters, solar geysers, heat pump driven underfloor water heating, back-up emergency batteries and rainwater harvesting. The architectural resolution The combination of traditional and contemporary architecture is found in the traditional pebble-dashed plaster, mouldings and colour of the Coach House with the steel structure of the verandahs, white sliding folding aluminium windows and shutters. The eastern origins of the Victorian vernacular architecture of Ridge Road, have inspired the corrugated iron roofs with their shaped ends and timber and glass gable details. Trees form the focus of the first floor master bedroom and of the study terrace. Landscape The reconfiguration of the water feature was a major challenge. This was solved by terminating the water channel in a circular pond. This wraps around the verandah corner which forms a fulcrum tieing the house to the landscape. The stone walls will create an entrance court providing screening from the street. Battered retaining walls create a raised terrace inside the north boundary - closer to the sun - for a vineyard. The Middle Eastern influence of the client's Syrian partner manifests in the still-in-progress geometrical garden of water, fruit, vegetables, stone walls and terraces. This is a house and garden inspired by its context, answering to the client's clear vision and design responses.