CONSIDERATION

THE DOMED FACADE OF PINE CONCRETE HOUSE IS AN ARCHITECTURAL EXCLAMATION MARK IN THE MIDST OF THE OTHERWISE-UNASSUMING SUBURBIA SURROUNDING IT ON THE SLOPES OF PAARL MOUNTAIN.

- ANNETTE KLINGER

YOU'D BE FORGIVEN FOR INFERRING THAT THE DOMED COLUMN that punctuates Pine Concrete House pays poetic tribute to Paarl Rock, the gigantic granite outcrop looming in its background. "You'll have to talk to my dad about the metaphors of this house," says a smiling Johannes Berry, who co-founded Brussels-based architectural firm Sugiberry with his wife Mayu Takasugi in 2016.

Fortuitous as the architectural echo is, the concrete-and-wood residence's design was informed by a set of logical principles that Johannes and Mayu work according to, rather than any visual reference. "We like to consider the potential in what already exists," he explains. In the case of Pine Concrete House, what existed was the double-storey home of Johannes's parents, Roland and Elmine. "The initial brief from them was to build a double garage but like most projects, it grew," says Johannes. "They're getting older, and because of the size of their house, we proposed renovating it so it could ultimately be split into three self-contained parts - a top half, a bottom half and an extension - so they'd still be able to live there, but rent out the two other spaces."