SWIFT PROGRESS

It is 2012, and the builders have only had 6 working days on site since their holidays. And suddenly the house is materialising before our eyes. So far most of the Ground Floor masonry has been completed. We received a further delivery of 30mm insulation from Isolite. These insulation boards are being inserted in the cavity walls at the short ends of the building to provide additional thermal insulation on the west and east facades. Our precast reinforced concrete lintels have also all arrived on site. They were supplied by Lintels for Africa, whose factory is only a few kilometres from the site. We try to buy as local as possible, in order to minimise the carbon footprint for transport. So although construction has been swift, it will probably slow down quite a bit as the builders go higher and have to work off scaffolding.

30mm cavity insulation showing through the temporary weephole gaps

Lintels, waiting for their final resting place

We made use of the break to try out the preferred paint colour on the street boundary wall. It is a steely blue-grey with a hint of teal. So far we have not had any adverse reactions to it. This colour, or something similar, is likely to be the colour we use on the boundary walls, as well as the short west and east facades of the house. Please feel free to comment on the colour if in any way it moves you to do so.

What do you think of this colour?

View from the East corner

View from the North Corner

View from the West corner

A WORD ON THE DESIGN

As the builders are currently on holidays, it is a good time to introduce the house design. As can be seen thusfar from the construction, the house is essentially a long slender volume orientated roughly along the east-west axis. It is a double storey brick construction with a total floor area of around 300sq.m [3229sq.f]. The upper floor and roof structures are timber. The north and south walls are clad in fibre cement shiplap boards, while the short east and west facades are finished as painted brickwork. In order to introduce another texture and to tie the house to the site by using natural materials, there are also some timber elements at ground level and between certain windows on the upper level.

View from the west corner: Street Facade and Entrance

Most of the large windows are on the north facade, for optimal passive thermal performance. Windows on the east and west facades are kept to a minimum in order to limit unwanted solar heat gain to the building interior. Windows on the north facade are also shaded with a Verandah or other device in order to limit northern solar gain in late summer. The colder south facade has fewer and smaller windows, which are arranged in a random pattern in order to break up the bulk of this elevation.

View from the south corner:  Facade with random window pattern

The house provides quite generous accommodation. On the ground floor there is a double car Garage, with an extended length to provide some workshop space. The Garage connects directly through to the house itself, where there is a large Sitting Room and Dining Room, as well as a Kitchen, Scullery, Pantry and Guest WC. In addition, the projection to the northwest of the Verandah houses a covered and enclosed Pavilion Room overlooking the Swimming Pool, and accessed directly from the house. The Pavilion Room houses a built in Braai [BBQ] where one can cook-out using wood or charcoal. The Swimming Pool is a 10m long lap pool, and will be heated using solar energy in order to extend swimming towards the winter months. All the downstairs rooms are orientated towards the Swimming Pool in order to make maximum benefit of the outdoor lifestyle enabled by the sunny and warm climate.

View from the north corner:  Verandah and Pavilion Room addressing the pool

The sleeping accommodations are provided upstairs. The Master Bedroom comprises a Dressing Area, a luxurious Bathroom with a WC, twin vanities, a bath and a separate shower. There is also a large Study or Lounge area in the Master Suite. Upstairs there are two further large Bedrooms which share a full family Bathroom, as well as a fourth Bedroom with its own En Suite WC and shower room.

The house was designed to make a great family home, with generous spaces and clearly demarcated zones of activity. Its simple uniform shape is not only very economical to build. It also provides the opportunity to make a strong architectural statement with its powerful volume, monopitch roof, and use of texture and material in the facade articulation.

Proposed view from park to rear of site

The focus of the house is clearly to the north and the Swimming pool garden. However, on the southern side of the building we are planning a number of interesting uses for the garden, including a fruit orchard and a vegetable patch. This will enable the future inhabitants to practise an element of autonomy in food production should they so wish, putting suburban garden space to good use. The garden composition is finished off nicely by two proposed forest areas balancing the west and east corners of the site.