Aloe Ridge House

Pennington, South Africa

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Aloe Ridge House

Pennington, South Africa

Firm

Metropole Architects

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2014

SIZE

1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

BUDGET

$100K - 500K

Photos

Pitcher Architects (24)

Under the leafy canopy of an immense Albizia Tree nestles Aloe Ridge House, a 3,200 square foot contemporary home in the Eden Rock Estate on Kwa Zulu Natal's South Coast of South Africa.

A veritable “Mesian box” of bold contemporary architectural design, set into the African indigenous coastal forest context, Aloe Ridge House makes a big architectural statement despite its relatively diminutive dimensions, promoting the notion that a dream house needn't be sprawling and palatial but that in fact, small can be beautiful.

The house stands proud on its corner site and is a progressive cantilever form that proclaims its presence and is representative of a paradigm shift in the estate's architectural design language.

In Aloe Ridge House there is a unity of opposites. The clean, hard and straight lines of the man-made intervention meet the soft flowing irregular line and textures of the natural bush context in a respectful harmony. The architecture brings the great big South African outdoors in and in turn encourages the inhabitants to venture out into it. Extensive cantilevers resonant of the canopy of the Albizia tree provide a sense of lightness and floating of the upper building mass on the open plan lower level. The extensive use of glass breaks down the traditional visual barriers between inside and out as well as providing reflections of the natural vegetation that is its context.

The palette of natural materials including earthy color tones, timber screens, and decking stone cladding juxtapose with the bold and progressive architectural form making, creating a small home that is not only visually and spatially exciting, but also comfortable and intimate.