A SPACE ODYSSEY

By combining respect for the charms of a heritage building with a firmly contemporary architectural approach, an award-winning renovation has brought this Cape Town /home beautifully up to date

- ROBYN ALEXANDER

 

Architecture is the thoughtful making of space, declared the legendary American architect Louis Kahn. In other words, it's not always so much the mere 'look' of the exterior of a building that is important, but how it organises space: the manner in which a house separates domestic life off from the rest of the world, for example. But perhaps even more vital are the ways in which the area enclosed inside the walls of that house is used by its occupants. In short, it's all about how the space makes them feel.

A case in point is this recently renovated home in Green Point, a densely developed suburb in Cape Town. The original building - a semi-detached cottage dating back to the late 1800s, when it was built by one of the city's early commercial developers - had some heritage features and the sort of cottagey charm that attracts many buyers.

The new owners of this particular cottage, however, had some highly original ideas about how to better organise its space. Liani and Jan Douglas are both architects, and Douglas & Company, their architecture and design studio, has in the last eight years produced bespoke furniture and collectable design pieces as well as working on a number of architectural projects.

(Jan is also a director at Cape Town firm KLG Architects.) Their work blends a rigorous design sensibility with touches of unique wit and, always, very careful attention to detail in terms of the materials with which they work.