MOUNTAIN STEEP ROOFTOP HIGH  |  PRIVATE RESIDENCE  |  CAPE TOWN

Anchoring a powerful building

Situated on the last urban edge between Cape Town City and Table Mountain, the solution was to allow the textures of the natural vegetation directly butting up against the site to cascade down and around the new home without changing the terrain too much. Remaining sandstone steps and pathways were retained and added to, but a series of small square lawns edged in dressed sandstone brought a measure of order to the back patio area, acting as a ‘drawbridge’ between the strong geometry of the house and the natural vegetation of the mountain slope.

The new home was built around a hero-tree in the centre of the erf and sported a number of roof gardens. Our brief was unusual with ‘nots’ instead of inclusions.

Refreshingly, we were instructed “not too many flowers”, only enough lawn to satisfy one small dog, “make it interesting” and to soften the roof parapets.