This stunning two-storey contemporary home in Johannesburg, South
Africa has been designed by
Nico Van Der Meulen Architects, entitled “House Serengeti.”
The home’s visual success is due to its mix of earthy textures against
high-gloss finishes and raw material against refined elements. According to the
architects, the design brief asked for, “a stylish family home with ecologically sounddesign
that maximized indoor-outdoor living to take full advantage of Johannesburg’s
legendary eight-month summer. It’s a double-storey home with an open-plan
living area downstairs, an upstairs pyjama lounge, a study, and four bedrooms,
all of them en-suite.
The three family bedrooms are upstairs, and we positioned
the guest room downstairs, separating it from the family’s sleeping area to
maximize privacy. The home combines the use of rock, steel, wood and glass –
classic modernist design elements re-mixed for new applications. The front of
the home features a rusted-steel-clad wall, cleverly mounted on tracks so that
it slides back to reveal thegarage. Visual continuity is provided through the
use of rusted-steel finishing on the entrance and upper-level window
frames.
Visual lift is also provided through the use of sculptures
by van der Meulen’s brother, Regardt, and artist Ronel Jordaan’s world-famous
Merino-wool felt pebbles. Its little visual treats such as these that inform
the home’s many X-factors, lifting it above the mundane. Every turn of a corner
provides the eye with a discreet visual delight that’s almost Japanese in its
subtlety, from the use of raked plaster in a wall application and the
hidden-access pantry in the kitchen to the fireplace surround
clad in granite panels and the pyjama lounge’s floating ceilings. The
home’s lower level interacts with the back garden’s pool and dining terrace through
the use of floor-to-ceiling slide-back glass walls that create a
seamless interactive space.”
Via
