Check out this great house in Johannesburg, South Africa. This impressive two story contemporary home was designed by Nico Van Der Meulen Architects. The house is situated on a 4000 sq.m site, with a total floor area of 2500sq.m. The owner requested a modern, glamorous, open plan, light-filled house with views from all rooms into the garden.
According to the architects: “The house is situated on a 4000 sq.m site, with a total floor area of 2500sq.m. The owner requested a modern, glamorous, open plan, light-filled house with views from all rooms into the garden. The shape on the south side is a half circle, forming a horseshoe on the north side. Approaching the house form the gate the driveway is elevated to allow glimpses thru’ the house to the garden and raised water feature on the other side of the house.
The porte cochere is a suspended glass and stainless steel structure, with view into the house and a stainless steel and glass staircase, suspended over a heated pond, (which in summer acts as a temperature stabilizer, and in winter as a giant heater) with a circular, raised glass water feature in the background, framed by a beam two storeys high. To the right is a small sunken formal lounge, and to the left a timber-clad lift tower. The dining room is raised a couple of steps above the family room. The window to the dining room is a 6m high curved glass enclosure, where each sheet of glass leans over further than the previous sheet, with glass fins holding it in position.
The frame-less glass folding doors starts at the dining room, and stretches for nearly 70m around the dining room, family room, lanai, indoor pool and gym.An atrium between the family room and the kitchen allows the family to ventilate and cool the house naturally, without compromising their security, while a roller shutter door drops down automatically when the alarm is activated, cutting the top floor off from the ground floor. The walls to the family room and bar is clad with marble strips, with glass inlays and LED strip lights.
You can jump from the main bedroom into the pool, swim to the gym, swim back and use the steel spiral staircase to go back to the main bedroom , or tip a tipsy friend into the pool from his bar stool! The lanai opens up totally to the outdoor pool with a deck, spilling into a kid’s splash pool at the bottom.
A basement under the house have parking for about 12 cars, with a view into the pool, and a top-lit art gallery which forms the passage between the garages and the lift. A feature wall opposite the living areas is clad in stone from Jerusalem, with a tree aloe growing in front of it. The stone comes from buildings hundreds of years old, being demolished in Israel to make space for development. The same stone is used in the dining room, flowing thru’ the glass wall to the outside.”
