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Click to view map Coordinates: | Award of Merit Citation This house is situated on a rectangular site, with its longest side facing north. Access is from the eastern edge on Westcliff Drive. To the west is a fairly typical Johannesburg view onto a high-voltage line of electrical pylons, an unkempt open piece of land, a channelled watercourse that is part of the upper reaches of the Braamfontein Spruit, and the perpetually busy Barry Hertzog Avenue. This entire view is defined by the horizon line at the east side of the Melville ridges. The site is also situated just south of the continental divide, on the end of the shallow valley that drains to the west. This valley is immediately south of Westcliff Ridge. The result of these topographical features is that the site, on which the 'Last Glass House' is built, has a relatively steep slope to the west. The larger context is one characterised by relatively densely planted private and public spaces. Architecturally, what can be seen of the suburban homes behind the high boundary walls displays mostly a conventional planar architecture of masonry walls, openings and pitched roofs in a variety of styles that are typical of the more prosperous parts of the city. The 'Last Glass House' is the complete opposite of this kind of context. It is light, transparent, nearly ephemeral and was built mostly by means of dry construction. The client is a photographer and qualified (but not practising) architect, who appointed Thomashoff + Partner Architects to design and realise a different vision of what domestic life could be. The first line of privacy has been obtained by the questionably near obligatory wall on the site edge, facing the street. The fall on the site has been shaped into a series of platforms, each with its own staircase to take one down to each level, until the lowest and most private is reached. This level can be reached from both inside and outside the house. The owner's most private areas (bedroom and bathroom) are situated on the lowest level.This space is dominated by a majestic volume and a view onto, mainly, the pylons of the electrical line now eulogised into the romantic expression of an industrial city. The earth is shaped into berm on the western edge of this lowest terrace, creating a sense of spatial intimacy and a more optimistic horizon line to the view. The line of movement (between the different levels of the site) is, in effect, a ritualised way of inhabiting the site. Each terrace accommodates its own functional elements, while the different directions of the connecting staircases ensure that the eye casts a view over the complete spatial experience. The elongated and rather narrow house is the only element that bisects the sites as well as unifying the different levels. The highest and entry-level terrace houses some utilities in disused shipping containers.These are wonderfully 'camouflaged' and anchored to the site on the one side by a well-designed blockwork and steel frame. On the next level down, opposite the main living areas of the house, is a round and naturally filtered swimming pool. It is reminiscent of a typical South African farm-water reservoir. As a counterpoint to this reflective 'void' of the swimming pool, a majestic 100-year-old oak tree has been preserved on the next level down just opposite the bedroom. The structural and structuring elements dealing below the earth are massive and solid, while the elements that handle the structure above it, namely the house itself, are light, transparent and reflective. For the architects, the method of construction is homage to the mining and industrial vernacular of Johannesburg. Much of this now-admired industrial vernacular has been necessitated by a need for fast, uncomplicated, efficient and cheap construction. Additionally, this type of construction method is also free of an overt stylistic overburden it is viewed as honest, true and authentic. When the architects chose to dip into this tradition, they also found them alongside an international tradition. Many well-known and respected architects have, in the past and currently, used this method of construction to create a different environment for domesticity and, thus, a new meaning for this kind of personal environment. Thomashoff + Partner Architects have been highly innovative and consistent in their foray into this manner of making architecture. This is, for example, evident in the way in which they have used prefabricated walling elements as 'bricks' in the perimeter walling, in the gabion retaining walls, the direct manner in which the disused shipping containers have been employed, and in the minimalist but origami-like manner in which the structure of the main house has been shaped and manipulated. The elongated form of the house reminds one of the ways that a photographer (the client) would focus on an object. The sidewalls reinforce this notion of how the photographer would focus, frame, colour and reinterpret reality in a poetic manner. In this metaphor, the photographer is also revealed and cannot hide behind the lens, but is seen, analysed and judged equally. When the architects and their client entered into this tradition of making domestic space, they entered a realm of many world-famous and epoch-defining architectural examples. It is always difficult to predict how direct comparisons to the more famous examples of this genre would be experienced over time. Despite this caution, the collective feeling is that the architects have made a worthy contribution, both locally and (possibly) internationally, to this tradition. Books that reference House van Wyk - Last Glass House
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