House Ives Floor Sketch

house ives

kenrock country estate, hout bay, cape town

Kenrock Country Estate comprises 94 houses situated in an indigenous landscaped environment, set on the foothills of Table Mountain in Hout Bay, where the rising slopes offer vistas to the valley below and the Table Mountain range above. The focal points of the landscape area are forests, dams and wetlands within the private open space of the Estate. The new residences had to conform to a very detailed architectural design manual. Although there are obvious restrictions, some of them quite limiting, the idea behind the development was to strive to create an environment where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The intention of the design manual was to ensure that the overall character of the development is identifiable by the use of certain unifying external elements. House Ives, the architect’s own house, consists of a series of five separate nodes, each with its own function. These pavilions are all one room wide, which caters for excellent cross ventilation, eliminating the need for air conditioning. A dramatic suspended timber deck runs from east to west – the full length of the site. This acts as a central spine linking all the pavilions together. Above the deck, is a timber slatted glass roof, which also acts as a large gutter for the various pitched roofs. The spaces between the pavilions become courtyards and function not only as rooms left open to the sky but also to bring essential north light to the living areas as well as all the bedrooms. The four elements of earth, air, water and fire are ever-present and experienced throughout House Ives. A total of ten individual homes on the Estate were designed by the practice varying in size from 400sq.m to 1000sq.m.

site: 801 sq.m.
building: 368 sq.m.
project architect: paolo deliperi
structural engineer: gadomski engineers
contractor: the building company
landscaping: aloe africa
photography: paolo deliperi