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Tropical Tonic

Décor & Design
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Aspire Lifestyle

Text Liz Morris
Production Sven Alberding
Photography Lar Glutz

It is not always the case that a home is designed and decorated from scratch to completion by a duo of architect and decorator colleagues for family friends, but this was the case here. And the result was a focused vision from a tight-knit team, which played an intrinsic role in creating the special atmosphere and aesthetic of this completed project in Durban.

As the home is set on a steep site, within a verdant tropical landscape where summers are humid and hot and winters blissfully sunny and temperate, architect Lisa Rorich’s objective was to provide solutions to the climatic challenges. Also, the key was meeting the owners’ brief for a family space that combined a seamless contemporary open plan with more intimate areas, all of which should be rooted into the natural surroundings.

Designing the way the owners wanted to live here on holiday was a key driver for the interiors. “The details, interest and information had to be in the architecture, the fixtures, wall features and furniture,” says Robyn. “The design of this was absolutely making sure those aspects did all the work.”

www.lisaroricharchitects.co.za

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The open-plan kitchen is anchored by a broad central island, which accommodates a hob, oven and prep sink plus concealed storage underneath and a flank of exposed storage shelves in the adjacent dining space finished in colours that refer to the kitchen’s colour palette.
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Decorator Robyn Constantinou (left) and architect Lisa Rorich
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The dining area, with a solid timber table from Weylandts and high-back chairs from The Gatehouse at Mavromac slip-covered in a natural linen, forms part of the main living space and opens out onto the courtyard.
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Clad in white timber, the main living and dining space features a bone-coloured linen upholstered modular sofa, cushions in fabric by Pierre Frey (pierrefrey.com/en/), an organically shaped coffee table made from a solid piece of wood, and an oak and leather armchair from Weylandts (weylandts.co.za). The artwork, which inspired the palette of this seating area, is by Michael Taylor, from Cape Town gallery What If The World (whatiftheworld.com).
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The rear courtyard room functions as a sort of enclosed veranda. The feature wall is black painted stone. A long sofa from The Gatehouse at Mavromac with a brace of chartreuse cushions faces the garden, but the appeal of the room is it’s secluded atmosphere, as well as its access to the courtyard and main living area of the house.
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Reverse view from the courtyard into the veranda room, showing the harmonious design of natural materials and vertical applications.
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The outdoor roof deck has access to the pool and huge vistas of lush vegetation and the Indian Ocean beyond.
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The steeply pitched barn-style roof structure in the main bedroom resonates with jaunty tropical patterned Jim Thompson fabric on the headboard and bed base.
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Striking green Zellige tiles from Southern Art Ceramics, applied in a vertical broken bond pattern, are a feature of the guest bathroom.
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A series of elevated roof decks at different levels are interspersed with boxed planters of fleshy succulents and copper-coloured Carex grass.

 

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