It's not supposed to look like a barn, says architect Nadine Engelbrecht of the house she built for her parents in Zwavelpoort outside Pretoria. 'It's just supposed to be a shell.
The house, on a 35-hectare farm with rocky, hilly grasslands and wide-open views of the nearby Bronberg mountain range, might appear to be referencing barn-like structures or gesturing towards some sort of agricultural vernacular design, but that wasn't Nadine's primary concern.
When she first began sketching designs for her parents, Charmaine and Andre Freyer, she had no shortage of ideas - 'architectural ideas,' she laughs. She suggested screens perforated with images of the surrounding landscape and other aesthetic devices, but her parents weren't biting. After a few more attempts, she asked her mother to show her a picture of something she liked. Charmaine produced a picture of a farmhouse in the Karoo. 'It looked like nothing,' says Nadine: a stone cottage with a roof of corrugated iron sheeting. 'I asked her what she liked about it, says Nadine, 'And she said she didn't know. She also showed her a tearoom in a conservatory she liked.
Baffled, Nadine went back to the drawing board. And then the penny dropped. 'I realised my mom wanted simplicity,' she says. 'Nothing that's trying to look like architecture; just something that creates beautiful space and light.
This story is from the Garden & Home August 2023 edition of South African Garden and Home.
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This story is from the Garden & Home August 2023 edition of South African Garden and Home.
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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