On the slopes of Signal Hill, overlooking Cape Town's city bowl towards Table Mountain, Kenmore is the family home of SAOTA Principal Mark Bullivant. Conceived as a vertically organised sequence of spaces, the building explores how the physical limitations of a site can generate architectural clarity, and how a home can heighten the daily experience of its environment. 

The site sits in Tamboerskloof, a suburb defined by steep gradients caused by the proximity to the mountain. Measuring 14 metres across and 7.44 metres wide, with limited winter sun, the site’s challenges are treated not as obstacles but as the framework from which the building’s section and spatial sequence are derived. 

Movement through the building follows a vertical promenade, a device SAOTA has used before to approach similar topographies. At street level, a sequence of compressed, low-light volumes marks the arrival; a sculptural staircase threads upward through the plan, calibrating moments of compression and release through changes in ceiling height, aperture, and natural light. The sequence resolves on the uppermost floor, where the primary living spaces and garden open onto the city and mountain beyond. 

The roof is conceived as a single folded and tilted plane, angled to work with the site’s orientation while maximising views of the mountain. On either side of the living area, dual terraces moderate Cape Town’s seasonal winds, keeping the outdoor spaces usable through the year. 

Materially, the building is direct and tactile: raw, off-shutter concrete and bagged brickwork continue a lineage of Cape Modernism. In the upper garden, a mural on the boundary wall reinterprets Le Corbusier’s “Modulor Man”, a quiet reference to the proportioning logic underpinning the design principles. 
 
Designed for a young family of five, Kenmore transforms a constrained urban site into a spatially generous family home, one intimately connected to the climate, history, and topography of the Cape.