The house was designed, documented and supervised for a couple with their young daughter. They loved the Italian and French countryside and architecture. Our brief was to design a modern home with the French Provinciale character and atmosphere. The site was in a secure walled estate with 5 other houses. The climate of Gillitts due to its elevation is cool and misty with lots of trees making it a very desirable area to reside in the sub tropical climate of Durban the city in which Gillitts is a suburb.
The house is compact in plan with two storeys taking advatage of the views over the hilly terrein. All the 3 bedrooms are upstairs and all are en suite. There are balconies for each room. Down stairs is a large lounge with a fire place, study with a fire place, kitchen dining room combined, pantry, scullery, covered terrace, double garage and staff quarters. Pool, walled herb garden and rolling lawn with a gravel driveway.
The ceilings were made extra high to capture the spirit of past tuscan architecture. The interior colours, finishes, furnishing and softs were all part of a collaboration between the client and the architect in the design, sourcing and implementation. Pieces of old furniture were modified and re finished and used in some of the decor of the house.
This house is still despite being finishe in 2007 one of my favourites as it has a wonderful sense of class, presence and belonging.
Material Used :
1. Corobrick imperial clay brick
2. Marley Tuscan concrete roof tiles
3. Classwood teak timber windows and doors
4. Loviesa cross cut travertine marble floor tiles
5. Classic Trading Catelano Sanware
6. Metal work by Ironworks
7. Pool by Cleo Merangos Pools
8. Stone work by Phillip Greenwood
9. Landscaping by Mike Rocher of Natural Order
10. Front door and lights by Client – recycled door from Southern Europe
11. Kitchen Fittings by Miele
12. Kitchen cupboards and old cpd conversions by Classwood
13. Carpets by Rob Veal
14. Duzi Gravel driveway by Client
15. Lighting by Andrea Barusse
16. Earthcoate Sand Paint now by Plascon
17. Balu fascias by Classwood
