LORI COHEN

An architect's weekend getaway on an ancient geological site in South Africa reprises traditional building techniques using earth and stone to create a sleek, sustainable house that provides a glimpse of a possible future

- GRAHAM WOOD

Barely There - From an aerial perspective, the house at Witklipfontein almost disappears into the landscape around the Vredefort Dome, the world's oldest and largest meteor impact site (and a Unesco World Heritage Site). Xavier Huyberechts designed and built the house here with his brother Damien. The environmental and aesthetic sensitivity of the house has its roots in their respect for the significance of the landscape and love of nature. The green roof has 300 to 400 millimetres of soil on account of the dry climate and the heat of the sun (whereas in Europe you can get away with 100 mm). No seeding or planting was necessary pioneering species covered the roof naturally.

Architect Xavier Huyberechts has a wonderfully poetic way of describing the way he designed the weekend getaway that he and his brother Damien built on their farm south of Johannesburg. He says that he wanted to 'gently lift the carpet at the bottom of the hill and slide the house underneath'.

Sweeping Views - In the main living area, the vast windows are 5.4 metres high and slide away completely into wall cavities, connecting the living space seamlessly with the outdoors.

And that is exactly what he has done. A green roof runs seamlessly from the hillside and over the house, like a blanket of earth. The house is almost invisible from many angles, almost disappearing into the landscape. In fact, the way it has been designed and built means that it can and will, at the end of its life, disintegrate and become reabsorbed into the earth. It's made almost entirely from the earth, and emphatically for the earth.