The outbuilding that is referred to as the wynk-elder in reference to a time when grapes were
grown on the farm, is a small flat-roofed structure that has restored and converted into a living
unit. It was badly damaged and had been clumsily altered. An incongruous timber pergola and
a brick fireplace had been added to the exterior. The fireplace, however, had delaminated from
the wall and was collapsing. The walls were also badly damaged by termites and the floors and
ceiling rotted. When repairs began, it was discovered that the wine store had originally been a single-level building, and its parapet was raised in the 1970s to allow for another level so that it could be used as a house. “When we repaired the plaster, we could see that the bottom part of the building was made out of poured mud, and then as you go up, there are some sundried bricks, and then more contemporary bricks right at the top,” says Truen. A somewhat clunky staircase has also been added. The repairs and restoration of the wine store
involved reorganizing the ground level so that it could function as a living area and kitchen, and
locating the bedroom and bathroom on the mezzanine above. The ground floor was levelled
and paved in stone harvested from the surrounding veld. The rotted upper floor was replaced with SA pine, which was limewashed.
The roof upstairs was finished with poplar beams and a rietdak ceiling. “We had to create a new stair between the levels,” says Truen. “Of course, that raised the
question of how you insert new fabric into old fabric.”
Booyens designed a new self-supporting steel staircase as a contrasting contemporary insertion. “The staircase doesn’t touch the original structure of the building,” he says. It floats above
the floor and is set slightly apart from the walls, connecting at a single point on the floor and at
just one point on the mezzanine level. Its contemporary unichannel frame and intricately
detailed American Oak treads, suspended by a system of cables, make for a subtle intervention.
The modern decorative timber screen is similarly light, but clearly expressed as a contemporary
addition, respecting the historical fabric of the building through contrast and a lightness of
touch. The two stone treads at the base of the staircase are also offset from the walls and the staircase, so that they and the staircase appear as “two loose elements inside the original building” as Booyens puts it. The mezzanine level has a long, narrow en suite
bathroom running the length of the front wall, which also contrasts with the historical fabric. It
is accessed via a large cut-out between the bedroom and bathroom to facilitate the views to
the orchard beyond. “And of course take advantage of the breeze and the natural light,” adds
Truen. A curtain provides privacy when necessary.
The bathroom combines contemporary materials such as terrazzo cladding and a laser-cut
metal ceiling with a long poplar table that runs the length of the wall in front of the windows,
and poplar shutters. The contemporary materials are natural and honestly expressed, as Truen
puts it, “nesting in quite nicely”, and engaging with the building’s heritage by expressing time
as a continuum acknowledging the contemporary moment.
The exterior of the wine store has been painted pink partly in reference to the historical practice in the karoo of mixing lime to make a light red or pink colour, and partly in an exploration of some of the historical connections between Cape and Mexican architecture. This avenue of architectural dialogue was prompted by a number of trips Truen had made to Mexico as a result of international commissions there. He visited various traditional Mexican buildings, as well as some famous examples of Mexican modernist architecture such as Luis Barragan’s famous Cuadra San Cristobal.
“Alot of the historical buildings in both countries are made in quite similar ways, using mud and
stone and materials that were immediately available to them,” he says. “And, actually, they
have quite similar landscapes.”
He was also interested by what he perceived as similarities between Cape and Mexican
modernism. The work of the Cape and of Mexican modernists were both rooted in their
respective vernacular architectures, and fused local materials and construction techniques
with modernist approaches to forge a rich, sensual regionalist approach to modernist
principles.
Both Mexican and Cape modernism were particularly sensitive to the climate and quality
of light, which lent itself to the use of bright colours. Cuadra san Cristobal was painted shades of pink. Truen also draws a connection between the shutter door of the main house and Barragan’s modernist redeployment of similar doors and window shutters to moderate heat, light, and privacy.
This dialogue between Cape and Mexican architecture is also evident in parts of the landscaping throughout the rest of the restoration project. The pool above the main house and the water channel that runs to the dam, for example, also take cues from Barragan’s use of water features.