Location: Cowies Hill, South Africa

Just as my family was starting to grow, my wife found a leftover piece of vacant land for sale in a leafy and well established neighbourhood, within a few hundred meters of a great school. This presented us with the special opportunity to design and build our own family home.

The land was however a very peculiar shaped subdivision, with a somewhat tricky access, and a very high water table level that had the potential to be very problematic. Nevertheless, I was too enticed by the beauty of the site, the large trees and the little stream, that I couldn’t resist the opportunity to use my skills to create a particularly unique indoor-outdoor living environment for my family.

Aside from the challenges of the site, we had an extremely tight budget to work with, and this meant that I had to do much of the building work myself. 

This somewhat amateur construction method informed many of the building’s details and material selections. For example, because I built the roof with the help of just one assistant, every member had to be light enough for just the two of us to lift into position, and simply install with basic tools.

The house has a very simple arrangement with the bedrooms and a cozy lounge on an upper level, and the all living / entertainment areas and kitchen below. The plan prioritises a connection to the garden from every room, as the house wraps around a pool deck.

Whilst in some ways the house is a very personal expression of my personality, philosophies and values, I’ve also loved watching my family embrace it and make the spaces their own. It is a living experiment, and constantly informs and refines my approach to design.