fourways gardens
Fourways, Johannesburg
A proposed new house for an artist and her businessman husband. The house plan is organized around a street-side courtyard, so that privacy is maintained, but from the upper floor there is a view back to the street. Inside, a gallery element (a wide corridor) not only provides a space to display the artist's work, but resolves the entrance into the house, and circulation from one end of the house to the other. It is repeated on the first floor, where the gallery has openings onto a larger-than-normal volume open-plan living/dining/kitchen area.
The Roof is a walkway with potted trees along it: the requirement of Nathan, who wanted interaction from the house to the street, clashed with Franca’s request for total privacy and seclusion. Therefore the stairs of the house continue onto the flat roof which becomes a space to escape to, and from which the surroundings are clearly visible and interaction is possible. On the first floor, a loggia facing the street separates the corridor/gallery space from the courtyard: an “in-between” space that mediates the need for privacy and interaction with the street activity. The land sale fell through and the house was never built.
Project:
Proposed new house in Fourways Gardens
Client:
F Greene & N Balakrishnan
Area:
440m²