NEW HOUSE IN ILLOVO – CONTEMPORARY LIVING
RESIDENTIAL
The clients’ brief called for a new home for their young family, consisting of large open plan-family and entertainment areas, four en-suite bedrooms, and a large work-from-home study with a separate access and service areas. As architectural solution a double storey L-shaped floor plan was proposed for the main house, with an adjoining separate building housing the studio, garage and staff quarters. The vertical circulation cores, a staircase tower for the main house and a separate access to the study, form the pivotal connection between the two buildings.
The ground floor layout is uncomplicated – an easy to-live-in open plan kitchen, TV room with large stack away folding doors opening into a large patio, swimming pool and garden. Wall planes and volumes interlock and express themselves in a cubic-puzzle language, with a calming and soothing colour palette.
Much of the architectural expression of the façade derives from a layered and flexible façade system. As part of the building envelope, the elements making up the façade serve to manage passive thermal control and the ingress of natural light. These include a large sun screen to the entrance hall windows, narrow vertical windows which provide cross ventilation, and large sliding doors and windows under concrete overhangs. Large sliding timber shutters are planned to be installed in front of the doors and windows to complete the façade controls.
Additional elements implemented as part of the sustainable design of this home include a solar water system, gas for cooking, insulated glazing, water harvesting for the garden and a farm of photovoltaic cells on the roof.
