HAPPY CAMPERS
This family’s smart seaside retreat makes the most of sweeping views of the South African coastline
Simple and smart is an apt description for the modern yet pared-back weekender of Claire and Michael Cobbledick, in the conservation village of Scarborough in South Africa. The location is idyllic, with uninterrupted views over the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, and it’s just a 10-minute walk to the beach. “We love Scarborough for its proximity to the sea and pristine nature, and the fact that it’s just an hour to our home in Cape Town,” says Michael. ‘When we found this plot, we were completely taken with it, and decided pretty much then and there to buy it.”
They enlisted the expertise of architects Matthew Beatty and Saskia Vermeiren of Beatty Vermeiren, whose strong design sensibility and past work really impressed them. “But more than that we had an immediate connection with them and got the sense that they really understood our brief,” says Michael.
Both Michael and Claire have busy jobs, so their brief was for a highly functional but simple retreat that would allow them to spend quality family time. “It was very straightforward,” says Michael. “We wanted a low-impact design that would connect the house to the natural surrounds and that would come in within our small budget.”
Matthew and Saskia used the concept of a campsite as a starting point, where all the basic elements of camping – such as sleeping, eating, sitting around a fifire, and relaxing – are captured within the building. “The form of the roof references a tent sheltering the campsite underneath it,” says Matthew. “And the campsite references continue with the skin of the tent being the outer weatherproof metal cladding while the inner lining is made up of the plywood walls and ceiling.”
Inside, the layout is effificient with two bedrooms situated on either end of the house and separated by the open-plan living, dining and kitchen area. The boys sleep in bunk beds that have been cleverly built into one of the passage walls while the ladder staircase to the playroom on the mezzanine level with its alternate treading stairs, was designed to counter space constraints and also double as extra storage for the house.
“The engineering of the building was complex,” says Matthew. “The creation of the large open-plan living space necessitated the use of plywood as a structural envelope to reinforce the building as columns would have compromised the feel of the ‘thin tent skins’.” Inside, Claire and Michael added vibrant pattern with colourful and patterned textiles including a locally made tablecloth in Shweshwe fabric. Generous woven ottomans and rugs offer a textural contrast to the polished flfloor.
For Claire and Michael, making a home was a rewarding creative process. “We have always wanted to design and build our own home, so this was the realisation of a long-held dream,” says Michael. “We are fortunate in that we had a painless building process and we’ve been blown away with how it has turned out. I believe the design is both unique and really special.”