It’s not often that you stumble across a pristine example of modernist architecture in Joburg. There are a handful of well-known historical examples, but few unknown gems waiting to be discovered.
So, imagine fashion designer Lezanne Viviers and her husband Walter Anderson’s surprise when they wound their way up a steep, narrow driveway and discovered this late-modernist beauty hugging the crest of the rocky ridge.
From the entrance, the house appears to be all low, horizontal forms as it hugs the ground and its flat roof seems to etch a delicate line above the crest of the ridge. From the other side, however, facing the view, the house seems to cascade over the edge of the rocky promontory. Its floating roof overhangs and balconies cantilever dramatically over three levels as the garden drops steeply away and descends a series of paths and stone stairways to a swimming pool set among the giant rocks, almost like a natural pond.
Lezanne says it reminded her of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. From the garden below, the house seems to grow organically from its rocky base, nestled among the big, friendly-leafed delicious monsters, bamboo and mature trees. Its facade is stitched together by stairways and a delicate lattice of low steel and timber balustrades, creating a geometric mesh-like pattern over its front that contrasts with the organic jungle of the garden.
This story is from the May - June 2020 edition of Condé Nast House & Garden.
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This story is from the May - June 2020 edition of Condé Nast House & Garden.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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