House Honnet, Parkview, Johannesburg, SA
2008
House Honnet is a renovation of a single storey house that had been the family home for 15 years. This project is characterised by giving equal architectural presence to the second dwelling (110msq). The result is two houses, composed as one building. The existing footprint of the house was retained, primarily because of its excellent position on the site and to save cost. The new houses are structured around the original footprint, but expanded to two storeys with the increased program. The houses open to the north and south between a series of courtyard gardens. The property is entered from the north and the house is situated to the rear of the site and faces north. The site slopes down towards the north, at its highest a terraced strip garden bounding the south of the property through to a communal parking court on street level.
The building is structured by three utility cores which primarily house the kitchens and bathrooms. These are expressed both inside and out, as solid stock brick elements. Between these cores are transparent elements which house the bedrooms on the first floor and the living spaces on the ground floor.
The east house has a main bedroom and study/ guest room, each with en-suite bathrooms, on the first floor. Both rooms open onto a patio which is the roof of the patio below. On ground floor is an open plan kitchen, dining and living room which opens onto a north facing covered patio, an extension of the inside and the primary living space for most of the year. A small studio office is integrated with garages at street level.
The west house has two bedrooms with en- suite bathrooms and a study area on the first floor. Both bedrooms open onto a terrace which is the roof of the covered patio below. On ground floor is an open plan living and dining area which connects to the roofed north facing patio. The kitchen opens westward to a courtyard garden and southwards to a split level study above and playroom below. To the south of the courtyard is a guest suite.
