Pyramids In The Sky

ARCHITECT GREG TRUEN TRANSLATES THE OPTIMISM OF THE MID-CENTURY MODERNISTS INTO A CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN CONTEXT

- Graham Wood

From busy Kloof Nek Road in Cape Town, architect Greg Truen’s house plays a little game with passers-by. The road is one of the city’s and the country’s oldest—it was originally a supply route for soldiers linking Camps Bay and the Atlantic seaboard with the city. The wall outside his house, facing the street, is made from stone, like the remnants of historical walls you find all around Cape Town.

“Whether it’s the wall down Buitengracht Street that separates the Bo-Kaap from the city, or the walls at the castle or around the harbour, they all use exactly this kind of construction,” says Truen. They’re part of the fabric of the city—immediately familiar and at home on the winding road between Table Mountain and Lion’s Head. “Kloof Nek Road is a very strong representation of the urban environment,” explains the architect. “The wall tries to set up a dialogue with the history of architecture in Cape Town.”

Beyond the boundary, however, is a tantalising vision—a glass roof that peeps over the top of the wall with a kind of inverted pyramid floating inside it. “It becomes a light box at night.” This mysterious “hat” on top of the house is part of the building’s response to what the architect calls its “powerful” but complex site. “It’s got a set of almost opposing forces at work,” he muses.

NATURAL PANORAMA