Steyn Studio

Garden Cafe

Garden Cafe
© Dook

GARDEN CAFE

Steyn Studio + Meyer & Associates Architects + Square One Landscape Architects

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Grobler & Associates Consulting Engineers

CATEGORY
Restaurant, Landscape Architecture

AREA
750 m²

CIVIL ENGINEER
AVDM Consulting Engineers

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Bührmann Consulting Engineers

LOCATION
Worcester, South Africa

​MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Ekcon Consulting Engineers

QUANTITY SURVEYOR
2ii Consulting Quantity Surveyors

YEAR
2020

PLANNING CONSULTANTS
Tommy Brummer Town Planners

DESIGN ARCHITECT
Steyn Studio

FURNITURE& FIT OUT DESIGN
Liam Mooney Studio

PROJECT ARCHITECT
Meyer & Associates Architects Urban Designers

GRIDSHELL STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Henry Fagan& Partners

PROJECT TEAM
Coetzee Steyn, Tiaan Meyer, Callum Semple, Wayne Hattingh

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Square One Landscape Architects

MAIN CONTRACTOR
GVK-Siya Zama Construction

PHOTOGRAPHS
Dook, David Southwood

HERITAGE CONSULTANTS
Graham Jacobs

Garden Cafe
© DookA

A creative collaboration between London-based architects Steyn Studio and Square One Landscape Architects’ South African office has resulted in the effortless fusion between architecture and landscape, with gardens that wrap over new buildings, which in turn are woven back into the landscape with intricate trellis structures.

Garden Cafe
Courtesy of Meyer Associates
Garden Cafe
Courtesy of Meyer Associates

It’s a subtle celebration of the Breedekloof Valley in South Africa’s Western Cape region’s rich cultural history and draws its inspiration from the San who first inhabited the valley and who were later joined by early Dutch settlers.

The client’s brief called for the new development, which included gardens, a small restaurant/café called ‘Die Spens’ (The Pantry) and gift shop (‘Winkel’), on the Bosjes Estate to be relevant and contextual, providing an inviting and inspiring journey between the two key attractions on the estate: the well-known Bosjes chapel and the manor house, whilst not interfering with the visual dialogue between the two.

Garden Cafe
Courtesy of Meyer Associates
Garden Cafe
Courtesy of Meyer Associates

The new garden is a conceptual microcosm of the broader landscape, referencing the regional context of the agricultural Breedekloof Valley. The new didactic gardens, therefore, cultivate the land with enchanting playscapes that encourage children and adults to engage with the natural world, and the buildings nestled within it.

Diverse ecologies were created by integrating wetlands and natural water treatment systems with forest habitats and rehabilitated indigenous vegetation.

Garden Cafe
Courtesy of Meyer Associates
Garden Cafe
© David Southwood

The overall design respectfully acknowledges the presence of the historic manor house and chapel on the estate and visually enhances the previously established relationship between the two, as well as the surrounding vineyards and mountain backdrops, balancing its composition with new planting and the creation of a series of processional routes.

The landscaping and buildings were carefully designed so as not to compete with the existing architectural features of the estate.

Garden Cafe
© David Southwood

It has a low visual profile with tree planting reinforcing the existing visual axis and landscape features such as tree windbreaks stitching it back into the surrounding rural landscape.

In order to hide approximately 750m2 of building, it was decided early on to have two separate buildings, which also adds to the visitor experience. Steyn Studio worked closely with Square One to not only position the built structures in the landscape as curiosities but also as anchors around which the landscape was then designed.

Garden Cafe
© David Southwood
Garden Cafe
© David Southwood

The seamless integration of the landscaping elements with the built structures was an essential design objective from the start of the project. The landscaped gardens are spread across three sloping terraces, connected by a curving pathway that provides universal access.

Both buildings are partially built into the slope, the roofs overlaid with soil and planted with indigenous grasses and succulents to blend seamlessly into the landscape, leaving the panoramic mountain views untouched.

Garden Cafe
© David Southwood
Garden Cafe
© David Southwood

The simple architectural forms of the buildings were inspired by the huts of the San called a ‘Matjieshuis’ (Mat House) as well as the first dwellings of the Dutch settlers, called ‘KapHuis’ (Truss House), which was apparently influenced by the San.

The Kaphuis could therefore have been a hybrid of sorts between these two cultures. The Matjieshuis was a portable, curved, slat-framed structure covered with woven mats, used by San herders as they migrated seasonally with their cattle during pre-colonial and early colonial times.

Garden Cafe
© David Southwood
Garden Cafe
© David Southwood

The KapHuis was a series of A-frame trusses covered with thatch, with the interior lowered to allow for more headroom.

Both structures were part of this historic landscape and blended subtly with their surroundings. The mounds of the new structures have an uncanny resemblance to the nearby surrounding hills.

Intricately curved oak trellis structures, a subtle homage to the San huts, serve as a visual focus that guides visitors inwards and then twists to create the enclosures of the café/restaurant and gift shop which are then ‘carpeted’ over with the new gardens.

Garden Cafe
© David Southwood
Garden Cafe
© David Southwood
Garden Cafe
12_CaféInterior_©DaveSouthwood

Over time, these extensive trellises will be further integrated into the garden; overgrown with more than a dozen species of climbing plants.

The expressed conical front-of-house spaces are partly sunken to reduce their scale impact, with the functional back-of-house spaces completely underground.

In order to allow the trellis pattern to appear continuously weaved between the interior and exterior, the glazing imitates its pattern, resulting in a zig-zag arrangement that assists the tall vertical structural span of the glass.

Garden Cafe
© David Southwood
Garden Cafe
© David Southwood

The material pallet was kept simple. The underground building elements fronting the mountain backdrop were finished in raw cementitious finishes.

The thin concrete shell vaulted structures are painted white, referencing the way traditional whitewashed Cape Dutch homesteads dot the landscape, as well as the nearby chapel, with the floor and walkways finished with grey terrazzo.

Garden Cafe
© David Southwood
Garden Cafe
© David Southwood

After extensive research conducted by Arup, oak was considered to be the best timber for the trellis in terms of its durability and bendability.


Garden Cafe
Floor Plan
Garden Cafe
Roof Plan


Garden Cafe
Section
Garden Cafe
Section


Garden Cafe
Gift Shop Floor Plan
Garden Cafe
Gift Shop Roof Plan

Steyn Studio
T +44 20 32390228
Steyn Studio
55-57, Unit G1, Lionworks, Wallis Rd, London E9 5LH, United Kingdom