House Invermaak

The leafy suburb of Higgovale, set below Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain with views over the city and its harbour sets the scene for one of SAOTA’s, Stefan Antoni and Leah Johnson’s, most iconic and stunning recreations of mid-century architecture and in this case, the pictures really don’t do it justice…

Phillip Johnson’s 1949 ‘Glass House’ and Mies van der Rohe’s 1951 ‘Farnsworth House’ have always and will always be regarded as two of the most iconic modernist houses of our time, however, Stefan Antoni, director of SAOTA , may have just added to that list with the most impeccable rendition of modernist architecture, House Invermaak.

47 years after receiving a medal for excellence, House Invermaak has been awarded a prestigious Commendation from the Cape Institute for Architecture in order to recognise its noteworthy contribution to architecture- This is my reasoning behind Stefan Antoni being added to the list of the ‘architecture gods’.

The house, which was initially designed by Gilbert Colyn in 1969 for himself, was bought by Stefan Antoni, in 2013 when it had reached a undesirable state of disrepair and had acquired over time numerous inappropriate alterations and additions which were in complete disagreement with the language of the rest of the home. Stefan Antoni narrowly avoided demolition by buying the house and putting his plan to redesign into progress.

With careful and sensitive re-designing and alterations, SAOTA was able to restore the house to its natural state and its original design, which was the main objective. Bringing the house back to its original state meant that the overall composition was vastly enhanced and the living experience significantly refined in terms of contemporary living. Contemporary living requires flow between the main living spaces, thus, structures and screens were removed between the kitchen, living area, main bedroom and bathrooms in order to assimilate that flow and facilitate the contemporary edge that comes with modern living.

The exterior spatial configuration was also redesigned in order to relocate the swimming pool from the back, (relatively dark) mountainside to the sunnier, street side which also provided more of the much-needed privacy and user-interaction. With the moving of the pool came the vacancy of the courtyard space where a family garden was planted with lawn and rows of elderflower trees run along a linear water feature. All in all, the exterior of the house was reinvented in a way that made the household more interactive and the spaces correctly appropriated.

As Stefan simply states: “The house was a great design on an excellent site with lovely views. It was also well positioned on the site which provided ample garden and entertainment space, so its fundamentals were right”. Having the fundamentals in place meant that redesigning the house was complex, yet the base to work with, was spot on.

The street interface was also reconsidered, the garage was moved to street level and a robust black-steel entrance gate, which was set into a board-marked concrete wall, set off the colour and the simple design. The new entrance walls and pool deck allowed the house’s concrete, steel and aluminium exterior to synergise completely.

On completion, Stefan Antoni invited the house’s original architect to visit his former home. Colyn was delightfully thrilled with the work that had been done to the house and with the fact that it had been afforded a new lease on life right before the point of demolition.

The changes to this home have served to vastly ameliorate the experience of the house relative to its landscape as well improve the flow and living spaces for its inhabitants. The simplicity of modernist architecture means that the effortless flow from indoor to outdoor areas is taken full advantage of and the proximity of living areas allows for simultaneous use and enjoyment when indoors.

Stefan Antoni has not just redesigned a mid-century modern home with House Invermaak, he has made the ranks of the most awe-inspiring and respected architects there are and have been in the world of design elites and we cannot wait to see more of his incredible projects the world over.