Home at Gift Acres
When two pieces of a puzzle click perfectly into place, there is a momentary sense of satisfaction. When a perfectly matched couple commit, there is joy and peace. When an architectural design concept expressing two deeply embedded, almost primal yearnings, is given time to ferment and mature, there is lasting satisfaction, peace and pleasure.
17 Gift Acres Avenue is the result of two fundamental thoughts that click together to form a whole, a home. Each thought, each goal, finds expression in a structural rectangle that lies perpendicular to the another, the one intersecting the other.
The Site
The one rectangle, an elongated box, is partially recessed into the site. On the street side, the upper level, only part of the box is visible. The concrete back wall and enclosed sides provide protection for the occupants – where they sleep and think and pray and share, the very personal and intimate activities that occur in a home. As is the case with the Drakensberg’s hollow sandstone cliffs that offered shelter to the ancient San, the roof of the house is impenetrable, the solid protective back wall is a canvass for artistic expression and the front of the rectangle is open to the panoramic view beyond Lynnwood Road. An abundance of north sun pours in during the winter. There is a profusion of natural light throughout the year.
Protection
The other rectangle, a metal sheet clad block with a sloping top, accommodates the functions that, traditionally, have been housed in more temporary structures. The wagon, and later the car, were parked in lightweight, metal clad structures – the shed. The light, metal sheeted veranda roofs formed a fringe on the sunny side to provide shade in the heat of day. At 17 Gift Acres, the metal clad part of the building, symbolic of the old shed, does the same – it houses the vehicles and accommodates the staircase and provides shade over the veranda.
Reflection
The heart of the home sits at the intersection of the two rectangles: The long dining table – where the family meets to enjoy meals, where three generations banter. The dining area spills over into the simple yet practical, open-plan kitchen on the one side, the homely living room and library on the other, and the veranda directly in front. Floor-to-ceiling glazing on the north side makes the most of the panoramic view. Open triple sliders merge the inside and outside, and generous overhangs control solar penetration. The bedrooms nestle snugly against the back wall on the lower level.
Foundational to the design is the relentless pursuit of pragmatic simplicity, both spatially, and in technical detail. Materials were chosen to ensure a restful composition on the interior and exterior. The colour palette is simple too, monochromatic, yet warm.
The house took a lifetime to conceive, two years to design and the better part of two to build. The authors of the design are also the occupants – their pact with the house is almost as spiritual as the pact between themselves: Till death us do part. The home, like perpetual motion, continues unabated to produce satisfaction, peace and pleasure for the occupants.
