This family home in Hyde Park in Johannesburg was designed by architect Luke Chandler of Aevitas Group. He dubbed it Oak Tree House because he planned it very carefully to preserve and celebrate a century-old oak tree on the site, along with several other well-established trees. “A lot of the house is planned around the garden, with sightlines organised around critical trees,” says Chandler.
He took a modern approach, adopting fuss-free architectural lines that embrace an open, integrated lifestyle designed to accommodate family life and entertaining. Spatially, the house comprises a U-shaped formation
with two concrete boxes connected by a wide passage, so that the house embraces a landscaped courtyard. A spectacular feature staircase with a glass roof enables views upward into the canopy of the grand old oak tree.
“The house really is focused around one major open space, which is kitchen, living and dining area,” says Chandler. He has deliberately eschewed spatial complication and extraneous rooms, using sliding glass
doors that can be pocketed away into cavity walls to integrate the main living area with the outdoors, and keep the space versatile and responsive to the weather.
In keeping with his preference for a simple, unfussy spatial philosophy, Chandler favoured raw, honest materials. Off-shutter concrete and natural stone cladding predominate, complemented with timber flooring, decking and cladding from Oggie to bring warmth and texture to the material palette. This home was in fact one of the first in South Africa to feature Oggie’s outdoor decking and cladding ranges. Chandler selected Oggie’s Nordic Ash range in Grey for the decking and Nordic Pine in Grey for the cladding. He points out that their muted tones were selected so as not to contrast with the natural colour of the stone and concrete, but rather to tone in and provide contrast through texture. “The product is aging beautifully,” says Chandler. “I am very happy with it. It really is a fantastic product.”
