Drifting Away

A heritage farmhouse in South Africa's Klein Karoo has been reimagined as a country retreat in harmony with its past and future

- LORI COHEN

With a reputation for designing trailblazing buildings across the globe, architect Greg Truen and his partner Nancy Kashimoto chose to use a different design muscle when they took on the renovation of a 200-year-old farmhouse. Instead of putting their own spin on the structure, or adding a contemporary extension, they breathed new life into the property in the most respectful way.

"The idea was always to keep what I found on the farm as pure as possible,' says Greg. Lured by the charming farmhouse in Buffelsdrift, a small farming district nestled in the Klein Karoo (Little Karoo), Greg embarked on a design and renovation process that spanned four years and would transform the neglected property into a working olive farm. The property included a muddle of outbuildings that Greg also saw potential in, such as the old wine store, which he early on identified would be given a second life as a guest house.

The farm is in the middle of South Africa's Klein Karoo, between the Swartberg and Langeberg mountains. The area had intrigued Greg when he explored the region as an architecture student three decades before.

One of the challenges he faced, was that some of the additions to the existing buildings weren't done sensitively. They can verify the farmhouse dates back to 1852, when what is now the kitchen would have been a small flat-roofed structure. 'I wanted to strip the farmhouse back to what it was, and let it sit in a less encumbered way in the landscape', says Greg.

The historical buildings had been constructed by the poured earth method and been covered with various types of plaster over the years. Greg chose to collaborate with architect Jaco Booyens who had both experience in working on remote sites and a particular interest in building with clay and earth.