Lighting in Design Q3 2021

T he restoration involved a cluster of Cape build- ings in a valley beneath the Swartberg moun- tain range, consisting of a main house and two barns, plus a store. A short way off is a flat-roofed building, typical of the Ladismith style, which was originally used as a wine store. Other structures on the property include a contemporary shed, a cottage further up a hill and a graveyard. The house, barns and wine store were all restored. SAOTA director Greg Truen, who acquired the farm in 2016, notes that while minor additions and modern alterations had been made to the buildings, the original house, was “in good condition, considering” and that the barns were “fundamentally untouched”. In the main house, evidence of earlier

refurbishments in the 1970s, were stripped out, while modern kitchen and bathrooms were inserted in an adaptive approach to conservation. A new pump house was added near the dam wall on the property. Its design and construction were an experiment in contemporary architecture using the same materials and techniques as the heritage buildings, including poured mud or ‘cob” walls, as

well as brick vaulted roofs. The landscaping around the house took the form of a series of low terraces. L i c e n c e s t o g r a z e livestock on the land date back to the mid-1700s, and it is clear that it was farmed before the 1800s. The main house on this portion on the farm dates back to 1852. Hans Fransen’s seminal study, The Old Buildings of The Cape, records “three old buildings … all with Prince Alber t - t ype end - gables ( ho l bo l wi th hor i zont a l string courses)”. The main T-shaped homestead, he says, “has massive lof t steps at the side and original

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LiD Q3 - 2021