A delicate balance

A mindful renovation and carefully selected furniture have restored this family home, designed by an iconic mid-century architect, to its original exquisite proportions.

- Shane Barnard

One of the jewels in the crown of well-known Bauhaus architect Pius Pahl can be found in a leafy suburb of Stellenbosch. The house, like a number of others in the town that are also the brainchildren of Pahl, bears many of the hallmarks of his design: large wooden-framed windows with identical proportions, slate floors, clay tiles, wooden panelling and ceilings, and practical, open living spaces typical of post-war modernism.

When Lochie and Hermann Wessels bought the house in 2011, they were captivated by this history. “I have loads of sympathy for the progressive Germans of the thirties who had to flee, as it were,” he says. “I’ve always been fascinated by the Bauhaus movement. It’s thanks to this group of people that we have such world-class architecture in Stellenbosch.”

The couple immediately fell in love with the precise symmetry and geometric proportions of Pahl’s design style, which is characterised by a rigorous set of mathematical proportions and geometric patterns. The moment you start meddling with any of the proportions, it has a ripple effect that eventually overrides the symmetry and undermines the entire design.

Lochie and Hermann decided to call in the help of Hein Visser of Visser Kapperer De Bruin Architects when they started their home renovations in 2016. Although the couple converted the old stoep and outbuilding into a kitchen and a new stoep, their main intention was to respect and restore the integrity of Pahl’s design in all of the changes they made.

A classic design reinterpreted