The Life Aquatic

Two legendary designers’ affinity for the sea flows through the modernist architecture of this Langebaan house.

- Jessica Ross

Ask Gwen and Gawie Fagan about their holiday home and they’ll tell you they don’t have one. ‘A home is a home wherever it is,’ says Gwen. ‘We don’t distinguish between holiday and ordinary houses. It’s a place that makes us happy. It’s part of us.’

Yet as you stand on the terrace of this low-slung abode right on Langebaan’s frothy shoreline – surrounded by the rhythmic crashing waves, cawing seagulls and the salty-sweet sea breeze – you’re struck with that quintessential holiday feeling. And no one seems more relaxed here than Gawie and Gwen as they recline, always hand-in-hand, on their deckchairs overlooking the ocean.

Admittedly, reclining is an unusual activity for the husband-and-wife team who, midway into their 90s, are still at work every day at Gabriël Fagan Architects on Bree Street. ‘It’s a sense of relief when you arrive here,’ says Gwen of their Langebaan bolthole. ‘We love the sea.’