House Ross

The client, a mine manager at Kumba Iron Ore, wanted to expand his existing home in Kathu, Northern Cape. The brief called for the original three-bedroom, single-storey house to become a four-bedroom, double-storey home.

The structural challenge was to introduce a steel-framed upper storey while limiting the additional load on the existing walls. The design carries steel beams across the first floor onto new columns, with new walls introduced where columns could not be accommodated.

Industrial detailing is combined with the familiar form of a farmhouse. An additional flatlet at the rear of the house is intended to provide rental income.