Matt Pretorius Architecture design

Mountain Bungalow

Project completed in 2015

The brief was to create an affordable, modern contemporary house less than 150sq/m for first time home owners. The house needed to capture the view of the surrounding valley mountains as well as the False Bay coastline. Internally, the flow required a feeling of space with open plan living and all building materials had to be durable, catering to weather typical of the Cape Peninsula coast. Overall the house needed to be flexible as well as low maintenance.

The Fish Hoek mountainside location is unique with its valley setting between two oceans – to the east sits the Indian Ocean and, on the west, the Atlantic. Using the positioning to its full advantage the building was placed to give optimal views of both as well as sunrise and sunset.

The structure of the building allowed for a seamless, double volume interior emphasising the scale of space and with glass gables on either end of the house, the east and west light floods the entire area. These large floor to ceiling windows are fitted with glass of high thermal properties to regulate heat gain ensuring moderate temperatures regardless of season.