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House Nieuwenhuys
Tshwane (Pretoria), Gauteng
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| Award of Merit Citation This house is situated on a north-facing hill in a gated estate. On the western edge of the rectangular site is the Faerie Glen Municipal Nature Reserve. The proximity of this nature reserve enables the occupants of the house to have a glorious view over it towards the west. This view, coupled to another one in a northerly direction, offers the site and its occupants a visual escape from the relatively small site. The developers of the estate deliberately designed these small sites while also not imposing any setbacks from the boundaries, which enabled a certain amount of freedom of built response. Overall, the house can be described as a virtuoso play with geometry and gravity, where the architects worked with the ideas of 'weight' and 'weightlessness' and the spatial interplay between open and closed spaces. The general building mass is contained within two box-like elements on its northern and southern extremities. In between these elements is a seemingly weightless concrete slab placed over the social functions of the house. The box-like bedrooms relate to the contained and focused northern views over the valley, while the tent-like space in between relates directly towards the east and west. In turn, the eastern and western facades are in direct contact with the immediate natural elements adjacent to it by means of frameless glass walls. In this instance, the weight of the roof slab is carried on thin vertical steel columns. Everything structurally possible has been done to exaggerate their slenderness. On the east side of the house, these columns form a colonnaded space that visually encloses the entry into the house. This entry approach passes over concrete slabs that seem to float on water — again emphasising the idea of gravity. Many of the other smaller details used throughout the building have been designed with the same end in mind. Due to the physical size of the accommodation of the house, its footprint nearly covers the whole site. However, there is never a feeling of being confined unduly. The architects have also cleverly 'lifted' the green space to cover all the rooftops where they would be visible. These spaces were also made accessible. The high volume central space, where all the social functions of the house occur, is a dramatic spatial counterpoint to the more private and contained spaces of the box-like bedrooms. The ideas of defying gravity were constantly emphasised when all the 'heavy' box-like elements were floated on pronounced shadows created by relatively large cantilevers. There is also a whole series of clerestory and concealed apertures allowing daylight into the structure at strategic points that reinforce this idea. The main material choice of the near 'invisible' glass walls set against the off-shutter concrete surfaces is another brilliant device that continues the theme of the juxtaposition of 'weight' against 'weightlessness'. The quality of finishes achieved in this house is impeccable. To achieve this kind of finish on off-shutter concrete is no easy task and it testifies to the utmost care and technical expertise of both the builder and the architect. This building should be able to take its rightful place in the recent history of South African architecture. However, being a private dwelling of the obviously adventurous and brave clients, very few would ever experience the spatial and virtuoso performance by Earthworld Architects in this instance. References:
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