S U N   H O U S E

Residence (House Back) - Tamboerskloof, Cape Town

1995

This house in Tamboerskloof, an urban peripheral residential area, faces the spectacular view of Table Mountain and the bowl of Cape Town.

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In this house it was the juxta-positional relationship and dialogue between the two sides of the building, separated while at the same time linked by the circulation element that became the primary motivating form giver. 

The northern aspect with the main view and sunlight became linked to the more public, recreational functions of the buildings – open, uncluttered, with a steel frame so light as to almost disappear, offering the room to become a part of the city backdrop.  The southern aspect, with disrupted view, became the location for the more private functions of the house – insular, with heavy load bearing walls and selected, stunning, view openings.

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A concern for the reinterpretation of boundary and threshold, leads to opportunities for layering and experiential discovery.  In this house the enclosing skin, particularly of the northern aspect, has been dissected into a number of interrelated layers, like layers of skin, filtering and sensitive to stimuli.  The external screens are at once filters for sun as well as filters for privacy, editing relationships across the facade threshold, being rotated to suit the inhabitants’ needs, or the prompt of the sun sensitive monitor. 

The differences in internal need are reflected in a constantly changing external appearance and always dependent on prevailing light intensities and reflections.  Materials used contribute to the metamorphosis of the buildings – the sunscreens are conceived and designed in great detail.