Architecture News Plus (ANP) – Architecture and Design Magazine

Westcliff Estate

This is a project by studioMAS Architecture & Urban Design and it is located at Johannesburg, South Africa. There are eleven images for Westcliff Estate.

: © Mario Todeschini

Project images

Designer's statement

Completing the outdoor experience.

Westcliff Estate is where the buzz of urban Johannesburg completely disappears under the tranquillity of nature and its rituals. Going up the driveway, one is aware of veld grass, trees and of the expansive view of Johannesburg toward the Magaliesberg.

Surprisingly, a building emerges from behind a screen of vegetation; a building that is as subtle in presence, as it is magnificently sculpted into the landscape. Oriented directly north, the building sits lightly on the ridge and appears to be an integral part of it. Its facade seems a natural extension of the stones on the ridge and its colours, an extension of nature’s own palette.

Credited with making a significant contribution to the evolution of the modernist house, this building never loses contact with the expansive views of the man-made landscape of Johannesburg and the Magaliesburg beyond. As one drives past the squat, mushroom shaped columns supporting the water body of the swimming pool above, one is constantly aware of the interconnection of landscape and built form.