residential l aadila kajee l august 2019
location: Cotswold Downs Estate, Hillcrest
status: complete
year: 2019
site area: 1085 m ²
building area: 485m ²
Built into the rolling hills of the Cotswold Downs Golf Estate, Barn on the 18th, designed by Cazir Naroth Architects uses clean lines and efficient space planning to produce a home which is simple and spacious.
The Brief
The brief for the project was a contemporary barn style family home made up of a simple envelope and clean lines. The client requested that the open plan kitchen serves as the heart of the home with living spaces feeding off it and that all rooms in the house have views. Furthermore, the house was to be warm, uncluttered and to have a direct connection between the interior and exterior. The client’s love for tactile and rustic materials was also expressed and translated directly into the design through a celebration of raw brickwork, timber, polished concrete, and timber flooring and exposed concrete elements throughout the family home.
The pre-existing relationship between the client and the architect, who have aligned interests and come from similar sporting backgrounds, was part and parcel of the design process. With mutual respect, trust and understanding, the client-architect relationship was key to producing a piece of architecture which was designed to accommodate the lifestyle and expectations of the client and his family.
Approach
The first stages of the design process were influenced by the site, its terrain and the views which it presented. The steeply sloped site was cut into, creating a flat platform which the four-bedroom house could be perched on. Robust gabion retaining walls were used, which are not only pragmatic but both beautiful and tactile. The back of the house and service spaces face the retained bank and the living spaces and bedrooms face north-east, as is ideal, towards the hills and valleys beyond.
A cornerstone of the design was the attention paid to the flow of space through the house. To prevent wastage of space, minimal circulation spaces were used to create a house where spaces flow comfortably from one to another.
The ground floor consists of an open plan kitchen, dining, private bar and family room with ancillary scullery and laundry rooms. The open plan living space opens to a spacious outdoor patio with brick herringbone pavers and which boasts a pool with a spectacular view. The first floor comprises of four bedrooms and a pyjama lounge and tucked under the house is an office and wine cellar which is accessible from the open plan lounge and dining. Detached from the main accommodation, exists an exposed brick motorbike garage with a large arched window, the same arched windows used in the entrance foyer of the main house, to accommodate the client’s bike collection.
The expansive glazing facing north-east required the use of a wrap-around awning with timber supports which ties in with the slate grey pitched roof. The roof structure was kept clean and simple proving to be more efficient to construct whilst maintaining the simplicity of form which is present in the rest of the design.
On the hills of Cotswold Downs, Cazir Naroth Architects has created not just a house, but a home, specifically tailored according to the lifestyle of its owners. Within a home like this, there is always something which catches one’s attention, whether it’s the high level of detail put into the design, the warm and light-filled environment which has been created or the expansive views which have been taken advantage of. Barn on the 18th feels both timeless and specific to its context and is a true testament of the quality of work which is produced by Cazir Naroth and his team.
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