A lyrical home that is a construct of craft, culture, narrative and joy. Spaces of this writer’s home are organized to connect and reconnect like a labyrinth. Creating the curiosity of the beyond and the feeling of an infinitive journey. Multiple staircases and a lift, connect the house in a way that evokes discovery.
The house is draped in a sculptural skin of handmade bricks. Placement of the brick registers the movement of the sun; bringing it alive with the changing shadows over the year. The sinuous skin makes room for plants to grow, water to trickle, windows to be sheltered and edges to be softened. As an element of surprise, poems are stone inlayed into the bricks.
Movements of the brick were sculpted by hand on a physical model and then translated into a parametric software. Each shifting brick was drawn course by course. This masonry endeavor, was built by the patient hands of experienced artisans. The average age of the masonry team being above 50.
A sun dial on the street facing side of the house, speaks to the passer by. In a city where boundary walls are getting higher, this was deliberate gesture.
Windows of the house take on forms that play with the light coming in. Complex arches of the timber window frames were shaped by hand. Stained glass windows cast gorgeous hues of light in the bathrooms, while giving privacy.
An open top lift platform, rises and falls under the light of the sky from the oculus above. Supporting the platform on a single telescoping pole; the lift well is an open airy centre to the sweeping staircase that spirals in both plan and section.
On the ground floor, the social spaces flow around the centre of the spiral. The window doors open out to the garden and pool deck. The living room, the Doctors’ study and dining all connect around the central staircase. When taking the linear staircase from the dining to the writers’ study, your hands intuitively brush against the Buddhist prayer wheels. The family’s bedrooms are on the first floor, with a gym and terrace on the second.
Humour, Joy and Craft spin the design dial for this house.