Timber iQ October - November 2018 // Issue: 40 | Page 30

PROJECTS – ITC-SA AWARDS WINNER
On the up
Meet House Verster, a contemporary sustainable home with true grit.
By Candace Sofianos King | Photos by Henton Homes
F
or any builder, constructing an eco-friendly structure
on a steep site can be a slippery slope, so to speak.
However, it was an embracing challenge for the team
that worked on House Verster, a sustainable abode nestled
against the mountain side in Lakeside, Cape Town.
At a cost of about R2.5-million, this ‘hybrid’ house was
designed by architect Jacques Cronje of Jacques Cronje
Timber Design and engineer Deon Botes of Poise
Consulting Engineers.
The home is situated on a 60-degree slope and consists
of 90% timber frame with the use of a steel portal frame as
the main structural element.
“The site is extremely steep, but we saw that as a
welcoming challenge,” says Horton Hunter, owner of Henton
Homes, the Cape-based construction company behind
House Verster. “It’s perfectly fine to have a difficult
challenge to overcome as after exploring many options and
iterations of a design, the reward is that much sweeter
once you’ve come up with the appropriate solution,”
believes Hunter.
28 OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2018 //
INTRICATE GREEN DESIGN
House Verster’s eco-consciousness and spatial design savvy
is quite impressive – natural materials were used as much as
possible, leaving much of the relatively steep site, with
minimal level area, available for gardening. To maximise the
use of the steep site, while having a minimal footprint, the
house was conceived as a series of staggered levels
cascading down the site, highlights Hunter.
He continues, “Even though it is relatively small in area,
its home to four different internal levels each connected to
the next by half a flight of stairs, so one never really feels
like they are moving from one storey to a separate upper or
lower level like in a typical double storey home.
“The floor to ceiling heights in each section are also
vastly different; for example, we’ve used volume rather than
floor space to achieve a sense of spaciousness in the living
area, whereas the kitchen and bedroom above boast low
ceilings, yet retain a sense of spaciousness by being open to
the living area large volume – so varying volumes contribute
to the spacial quality more so than the plan layout.”