PRETORIA BUNGALOW
AN ARTFULLY COMPACT HOUSE IN PRETORIA’S OLD EAST ANNOUNCES THE ARRIVAL OF AN URBAN SENSIBILITY IN THE SUBURBS OF THE CAPITAL.
LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE’S FAMOUS DICTUM, "LESS IS MORE" refers to the removal of inessential material from architectural artefacts and details – but we could read it more literally. Should we do so, one important way in which less can be more has to do with the concept of density. Decrease the size of something without removing material, and its density increases. What you lose in breadth, you could gain in richness, texture and control.
Such is the case with Pretoria Bungalow, a jewellery box of a house tucked away in the recently densified interior of a suburban city block. The designation "bungalow" was carefully chosen to reflect the home’s balance between the discipline and frugality of dense living, and the relative freedom afforded by a freestanding form. Cobus Bothma of Laboratorium Architects – who is the architect, owner and occupant of the house – designed it while living in a penthouse apartment in Sunnyside, the city’s most densely populated, high-rise residential neighbourhood. And the resulting dwelling and garden represent a complex mediation between the exhilaration of urban living and the relative tranquillity and isolation of the suburbs.
Stylistically, the house falls into one of the many fringes of contemporary modernism, with notable regionalist inflections in the materials palette, in particular. The most striking formal gesture of the design is the large, continuous envelope of the roof – a rectangular bubble of steel floating on a strip of glass above the solidly grounded facebrick plinth.
For the interior, the effect is remarkable. By packing together the majority of the functional spaces on the southern side of the square plan, the architect left a comparatively large emptiness on the inside, luxuriously framing his collection of unique objects (paintings, ceramics and midcentury furniture) in dazzling white. Somewhat like a dome, it lends a modernised baroque drama to the living spaces beneath.
The strictly controlled, rational geometry necessary for containing the kitchen, bathroom, storage and circulation tightly under the mezzanine is offset by opulent textures, finishes and fixtures throughout. The use of colour-splattered terrazzo on the floor grounds the stark volume, while extensive solid kiaat cabinetry, stairs and details demarcate the functional spaces, firmly weighing the volume down on the southern side.
The vertical stacking of the house creates the effect of space cascading from the bedroom on the mezzanine into the main volume, and from there down onto the terrace and the garden beyond. The garden benefits from the same reduction in breadth in exchange for depth which lends the house its unusual richness.The removal of a suburban staple, the lawn, and the addition of a few carefully placed slopes, thickly blanketed in succulents and grasses, results in a fine-grained, verdant carpet.
In the living room, the house’s most poetic trick is revealed. By placing a continuous strip window at 750 millimetres from the floor, the architect has found a way to keep a sense of connection with the city.When standing, the views from the interior point downwards into the garden, creating a sense of privacy and containment, but when seated a vista is revealed to the northwest – where the setting sun washes the Union Buildings in flaming orange, purple and pink.
A REDUCTION IN BREADTH IN EXCHANGE FOR DEPTH LENDS THE HOUSE AN UNUSUAL RICHNESS.
STRICTLY CONTROLLED, RATIONAL GEOMETRY IS APPLIED TO CONTAIN THE KITCHEN, BATHROOM, STORAGE AND CIRCULATION UNDER THE MEZZANINE.
VERTICAL STACKING CREATES THE EFFECT OF SPACE CASCADING FROM THE BEDROOM INTO THE MAIN VOLUME BELOW.
THEROOF, A RECTANGULAR BUBBLE OF STEEL, FLOATS ON A STRIP OF GLASS ABOVE THE FACE-BRICK PLINTH.