By Trisha Harinath, Project Consultant Lorna Ioakim, Property Coordinator Chantel Spence, Photography Irma Bosch
To build a better home using contemporary materials was the brief for this home. But how do you define a “better home”? Well, according to the professional team that put this home together, including the property and land owner and developer, who is also the project initiator, “emotionally, a better home is a home that makes you feel better; and rationally, a better home is one that enables you to achieve more”. So, in summary, “a ‘better home’ is a home that achieves more with less”.
This is a home that does just that. It is a modern home that is technology-driven, yet carries a range of familiar finishes.
“Given the hi-tech nature of the products used in the construction, we wanted to ensure that the technology remained unseen, while the home itself delivered a comforting and welcoming feel,” explains the owner, adding that this led to the integration of organic finishes, including parquet floors, wooden windows, and rock and masonry wall treatments.
When it comes to the special features that can be found in this home, there is no shortage. Not only is it situated among the natural farm landscapes of long grasses, trees and the rolling hills surrounding Monaghan Farm, but it has been positioned and built in such a way that the double-glazed windows create the ultimate frame for picture-perfect outdoor scenes.
“A special feature in the lounge area is the rock masonry wall, something very familiar and traditional, which sits well alongside the state-of-the-art walling materials. It is these innovative materials and the overall clever design of the home that give it its ‘smart’ credentials.”
Breaking new ground with this project, the owner attributes its success to “the integration of organic and hi-tech, lightweight materials in a way that no one in South Africa has done before; our streamlined building process; and, most importantly, the design of the home, which has been guided by the particularities of the South African context”.
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