The Forest House by Bloc Architects and Kevin Lloyd Architects

Date of Publishing: June 15, 2022

Contents

Architecture Design of The Forest House

Description About The Project

The Forest House is a new home located in Durban, South Africa, designed by Bloc Architects in association with Kevin Lloyd Architects. Indeed, this home celebrates raw materials, which helps soften the transition between built form and the precious landscape that surrounds it. Besides, this raw materiality reinforces the honesty behind the architectural tectonics of its construction.

Conceptually, the house consists of two rectangular boxes on ground (‘Service’ and ‘Storage’ boxes), on either side of the site. On top of this another box, the ‘Living’ box, bridges across the two lower boxes. The ‘service’ box, to the West, houses the triple garage, laundry, scullery, staff apartment, gym and office. Besides, the ‘Storage’ box to the East, houses general storage and specialized equipment. Both are clad with timber screens to ensure privacy from the open plan ‘play’ area, which sits directly under the ‘Sleeping’ box. Indeed, these two ground floor boxes serve to provide privacy from the neighbors, and frame the prized views over the Northern landscape and distant sea views.

The pool straddles inside and out, pulling ephemeral reflections of sky and clouds deep into the house. The indigenous wild grasses on the roofs blur boundaries between the landscape and architecture. Besides adding an animated aural experience, the planting offers a more pragmatic insulating layer from the outside. In addition to this, all doors and timber screens slide away seamlessly into cavities. Ensuring cavernous volumes interact directly with the landscape. This house designed around the sub tropical Durban climate and the young client’s social lifestyle.

The Architecture Design Project Information:

Project Name: The Forest House
Location: Durban, South Africa
Project Year: 2017
Area: 400 m²
Designed by: Bloc Architects + Kevin Lloyd Architects

The Forest House by Bloc Architects and Kevin Lloyd Architects — By chamfering brutal edges, the architects revealed concretes cool elegance. Concrete Frames are propped off steel columns converting heavy and cumbersome to light and agile.

The lines between interior and exterior spaces are blurred, creating an indoor/ outdoor living environment.

A long balcony runs the length of the home’s upper floor, and provides views of the surrounding area and the small garden on the roof of the lower level.

The Forest House features raw materials throughout. Once insides, there’s a sunken living room with a large corner couch that sits flush with the floor that surrounds it.

Besides, upstairs, the master bedroom has an open ensuite bathroom, and a sliding glass wall that can be opened to the outdoors.

The The Forest House Gallery:

Text by the Architects: The Forest House is an exploration into materiality, light and the integration of architecture into the landscape. Situated in an exclusive forest estate in Durban, South Africa, the forest house strives to frame the landscape with clean horizontal lines.

Photo credit: Peter Oravecz| Source: Bloc Architects + Kevin Lloyd Architects

For more information about this project; please contact the Architecture firm:

Bloc Architects:

– Add: 10 Rydall Vale Cres, La Lucia, Umhlanga, 4051, South Africa
– Tel: +27 31 566 3320
– Email: admin@bloc.archi

Kevin Lloyd Architects:
– Add: 33 Winston Rd, Kloof, 3610, South Africa
– Tel: +27 83 283 0928
– Email: kevin@kevinlloydarchitects.co.za