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 van Berge Hoedspruit, Limpopo MARCUS SMIT JACOBS ARCHITECTS: Architect Hannes JACOBS: Design Architect

Date: 2019 Type: Homestead Status: Extant 2019 SAIA L Award for Architecture

See more photographs Architect's Notes: The house is situated in Raptor’s View Wildlife Estate in Hoedspruit, Limpopo - a low density development aiming at preserving the natural bush environment and provide residents with access to wildlife in a safe, controlled environment. Building guidelines prescribe the use of thatch roof architecture and natural finishes and colours. The brief required three separate living units and a communal kitchen and entertainment area for the owners, their two sons and their families. It was to serve as a winter retreat from where the larger Kruger National Park area could be explored and hunting trips could be undertaken. The house was to be practical and economical with an emphasis on outside living and family time spent around a bon fire and dining table. In order to achieve simplicity in the thatch roof structures and form, thatched sections over individual living units are separated by lower concrete roofs over the bathrooms, resulting in a legibility of the building form. Steel cables are used as tie-beams for roof trusses so as not to add clutter to spaces and accentuate the volume formed by the walls and thatch. Proportions of thatched sections are kept consistent throughout the building. The pallet of materials are kept to a minimum. A slasto floor is used throughout, as a forgiving, natural finish which ties in with the surroundings and create continuity between inside and outside spaces. Concrete soffits are exposed, and internal brick is unplastered and painted, thereby expressing a robust minimalism. Spaces are arranged around a central courtyard from where the complex is entered. The bedrooms form the north facing edge of the space with a garage and scullery to the opposite side. Various mature trees were identified on the site by the Raptor’s View management, which had to be kept and protected. The most notable of these motivated the placement of the communal kitchen and covered patio which is flanked by the trees. The covered patio floor extends into a fire pit area outside the kitchen. On entering the courtyard, a view towards the bush on the far side is framed by the building. A concrete roof and two steps down form a threshold as the building user moves to the entertainment area. Here, the view broadens, and the user becomes part of the environment.