Malan Vorster Architecture Interior Design, (Pty) Ltd.

Clifton House

CLIFTON HOUSE

 Malan Vorster Architecture Interior Design

Clifton House
© Adam Letch

ARCHITECTS
Malan Vorster Architecture Interior Design

ARCHITECT IN CHARGE
Pieter Malan, Jan-Heyn Vorster

SPECIALIST CABINETRY
Versfeld Custom Furniture

QUANTITY SURVEYORS
Shevel & Simpson Quantity Surveyors

SPECIAL METALWORK
Link Engineering

MANUFACTURERS
Valcucine, Vola, COR-TEN

MAIN CONTRACTOR
Berrisford Construction

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Design Tech Structural Engineers

MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Jo Lubbe Mechanical Engineers

LANDSCAPE DESIGNER
Mary Maurel Gardens

PHOTOGRAPHS
Adam Letch

AREA
789.0 m2

 YEAR
2016

LOCATION
Cape Town, South Africa

CATEGORY
Houses

Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch

Text description provided by architect.

The suburb of Clifton on Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard has a high rate of foot traffic due to it’s scenic beauty, with residents and tourists being keen joggers and walkers.

It was a deliberate design intention to take this fact into consideration - in a neighborhood characterized by high blank boundary walls and overpowering building mass.

Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch

The house is visually accessible from the street, rather than hiding behind perimeter walls and gates - and it aims to contribute to the streetscape (specific attention has been paid to landscaping design at sidewalk level), in relation to the sidewalks and to the height of existing adjacent houses.

It occupies a position on the hill side between lower lying houses to the left or north, and higher situated properties to the right or south of it.

Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch

Gabion walls are used to elevate the living spaces, de-emphasize a large garage and screen utilities. Elevation above road level is essential to maximize view potential, but can lead to overpowering building mass.

The design therefor aims to erode the building mass by means of smaller volumes and expressing thinner structural elements such as floor slabs, thereby creating an organic stacking of building components.

Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch

The garage’s gabion walls have been planted to become overgrown with time, and as such soften the streetscape for passers-by.

The guest flat on first floor has full views over the road, to the sea beyond, and is given privacy by means of a cedar wood shuttered wall.

Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch

Two ‘bookends’ of the residence is expressed as glazed and cedar shuttered boxes, housing bathrooms that become lit-from-within lanterns at night. These elements are further celebrated by being cantilevered over negative space below.

Seamless indoor-outdoor living spaces spill out onto a comfortable protected and landscaped courtyard, that allows maximum north exposure, rather than responding to sea views only.

Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch

Similarly the kitchen has a direct connection to the vegetable and herb garden by means of stepping-stones over a pond with a wet wall water feature.

The atrium opens up to the pond by means of a story-high mechanical sash window, greatly adding to natural cooling in the summer.

Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch

Roof over-hangs and glazing specifications were carefully considered in order to minimize unwanted solar heat gain.

Western exposure is regulated with external, automated drop-down screens over glazed façades, whilst energy consumption is minimized by means of Photovoltaic and Solar panels both linked to a centralized system for domestic water heating, waterborne under-floor and pool heating.

Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House

The selection of materials; board-marked concrete, local stone, untreated cedar wood, rough-sawn oak floor planks, terrazzo floors and Corten steel will express the passing of time, with the gradual changing of each material’s natural colour and texture.


Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch


Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch
Clifton House
© Adam Letch


Clifton House
Level 0 Plan
Clifton House
Level 2 Plan
Clifton House
Level 4 Roof Plan
Clifton House
Level 1 Plan
Clifton House
Level 3 Plan


Clifton House
Elevation
Clifton House
Elevation
Clifton House
Elevation
Clifton House
Section

Malan Vorster Architecture Interior Design, (Pty) Ltd.
T +27 21 4188111
Malan Vorster Architecture Interior Design, (Pty) Ltd.
Victoria Junction, Unit G4 (Gate 1, 57 Prestwich St, Green Point, Cape Town, 8005, South Africa