Aloe Ridge House by Metropole Architects

Architects: Metropole Architects
Location: Eden Rock Coastal Forest Estate, Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa
Year: 2014
Area: 300 sqm
Photo courtesy: Grant Pitcher
Description:

Under the verdant overhang of a huge Albizia Tree settles Aloe Ridge House, a 300sqm contemporary home in the Eden Rock Estate on Kwa Zulu Natal’s South Coast of South Africa. A veritable ‘Mesian box’ of intense contemporary engineering outline set into the African indigenous beach front timberland setting, Aloe Ridge House puts forth a major design expression in spite of its moderately humble measurements, advancing the idea that a fantasy house needn’t be sprawling and palatial however that actually, little can be wonderful.

The house stands pleased on its corner site and is a dynamic cantilever shape that declares its vicinity and is illustrative of an outlook change in the bequest’s engineering outline language.The planar home street (open) exterior is deliberately strong, moderate and somber and hard up against the south western site building line. The outcome is an outwardly captivating building design that makes productive utilization of the little site, gives successful security to the tenants whilst in the meantime going about as a proficient hindrance to awful climate and winning solid winds originating from the south west. What’s more a limited direct arrangement structure, expands openness and protected private space for living, excitement and unwinding behind this toward the North East, in close closeness to the wild characteristic shrub and watching out towards the perspective past.

The passageway to the house is a deliberately thought to be great, twofold volume course of action of parts in glass, timber and concrete and with ‘wrap around’ structure making, a mark normal for late Metropole homes. There is a feeling of ‘huge ness’ and ‘wow variable’ right from the begin. The solid flat line made by the top of the carport structure gives visual pivotal push to the point of section, into a straightforward twofold volume passage territory and through to the kitchen and living spaces past.

Inside, at ground floor level, open arrangement plan with at least partitioning dividers, no inner entryways and level limits in the middle of inside and outside encourage a client experience of a solitary vast multi-use space that unconstricted, uncluttered and climate allowing, can open up and unite and stretch out to the outside. Abnormal state edge strip windows outwardly help the experience of the first floor building mass overhead and improve the experience of the vertical measurement of the living, eating and amusement regions at ground floor level.

A liberal outside decked zone with dive pool and open grass territory past urges the tenants to enjoy and praise an open air way of life of stimulation, play and unwinding At first floor level, at the end of the day the configuration center was to advance a feeling of openness with protection and make a differing, happy spot in a constrained space. Whilst the requirement for security has managed the utilization of entryways, these entryways are full tallness at 2.6m and when open permit congruity of space to be experienced through a continuous roof plane.

The 3 rooms situated at this level open out to a raised overhang which permits inaccessible perspectives over the tree tops to the ocean in the east and far off slopes and the setting sun toward the west. A progression of mobile Balau timber screens acquire separated sunshine to the spotless, innovator insides, without giving up protection whilst including a level of point of interest and characteristic hues and surface to the current façade. In Aloe Ridge House there is a solidarity of contrary energies.

The perfect, hard and straight lines of the man-made intercession meet the delicate streaming sporadic line and compositions of the normal hedge connection in a deferential concordance. The structural engineering brings the colossal huge South African outside in and thusly urges the tenants to wander out into it. Broad cantilevers resounding of the shade of the Albizia tree give a feeling of softness and gliding of the upper building mass on the open arrangement lower level.

The broad utilization of glass separates the conventional visual hindrances in the middle of all around and in addition giving impressions of the regular vegetation that is its setting. The palette of regular materials including hearty shading tones, timber screens, decking stone cladding compare with the strong and dynamic compositional structure making, making a little home that ‘packs a major punch’ and that is outwardly and spatially energizing, as well as agreeable and private.