Inizio - Digest 2013

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Digest of South African Architecture 2013 Vol18
Written by: Carmen Dickens, Ian Westmore
Photos by: C Dickens, J Pretorius, S Moffat, I Westmore
Rosendal is situated in a classic Eastern Free State landscape, serving a small local community and weekend visitors. A few street corners are defined by late 19th -century sandstone buildings. The boulevard and open squares are punctuated with small-scale private houses from the 1950s.

The programme required a secure, compact lock-up-and-go that would be easy to maintin. The client wanted to recreate a 'happy place' based on childhood holiday memories – a fusion of the landscape, the town and its people. He owned a plot at 180 Keyter Avenue with a single-room gable-roofed building on it. Its diminutive dimensions contrasted starkly with the surrounding expanse of open veld – an image that spawned the design concept.

Massing of the new development is kept within the existing scale by separating functions volumetrically. This design approach optimises spatial experience on the inside and provides visual opportunities towards the landscape. The fragmented, close-knitted parti replicates the scattered nature of the wider urban proximity. A larger pavilion accommodates the public, more transparent space, while a smaller private one allows for a guest bedroom with a separate entrance.

Decking articulates thresholds and creates a sense of community between the volumes. Layers of screens provide levels of light penetration and access to the main space. An enveloping mesh screen renders the secondary pavilion into visual submission. The small windows of the private spaces contrast with those of the main pavilion, which opens up amply towards the north and south to become a frame. The west elevations is closed off, maintaining surprise when the inhabitants move between in- and outside.

Staying true to the design concept of 'object in the landscape', the original structure, built in the 1950-70s, was restored and maintained to emulate hierarchy and permanence, and to contrast with the new additions. Instilling a sense of temporality, the two added pavilions are alienated intentionally by the choices of an elevated, lightweight steel construction, materials and colour, creating a point of visual departure from, and dialogue with the urban fabric, while its roof lines replicate the rhythmic lines of the landscape.

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