This minimalist pavilion set in the landscape of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site — the world’s richest human-ancestor fossil site — is a modernist-inspired yet uniquely African ‘glass box’ structure with a rich and complex local resonance, which offers a thoughtful and sensitive setting for entertaining guests.
The interior of the ‘fire house’ has been painted by German artist Tatjana Doll, using mud from the farm mixed with bonding liquid. This represents the building continuing to respond to its natural setting, accommodating another layer of interaction with its environment. The lighting of ‘fire house’ is cleverly controlled, filtering from the side and above, conjuring a subterranean, cavelike atmosphere. The artwork above the fireplace is by Stefanus Rademeyer, who is well-known for exploring nature’s underlying mathematical patterns and recreating them with algorithms that represent nature’s deep, hidden logic and structures.
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Words — Graham Wood / Photographs — Greg Cox
The second pavilion has been dubbed the ‘fire house’. Its darker, sheltering, enclosed interior space and fireplace hint at the caves early hominids living in the area might have inhabited, and create a counterpoint to the lightness of the main pavilion. The walls have been drip painted by Wesley’s wife, German artist Tatjana Doll, using Plascon enamels.
The dim interior of the ‘fire house’ can be opened to its surrounds by retracting a sliding door.
An axis runs from the ‘fire house’ – the second pavilion on the site — towards the stone tower, which was once a water tower, subtly tying together the elements of earth and air represented by the ground and the glass pavilion, and fire and water represented by the tower and the cavelike ‘fire house’.
Viewed from the side, the interplay of spaces, volumes and levels makes the complexity of the pavilion’s design apparent. The landscaping, designed by Wesley de Wit, includes indigenous and endemic grasses, once again extending the interplay between nature and artifice on which the concept of the pavilion is based.
The sleeping area can be enclosed with a curtain on an oval ceiling rail. The pavilion’s interior divisions are suggested rather than delineated with physical structures. The bed and shelving unit in the sleeping area were also designed by Lee.
The WC is secreted below the stairs that lead to the roof, and is the only enclosed interior space in the pavilion.
Traditional landscape painting by renowned early 20th-century landscape painter Jakob Hendrik Pierneef complements and contrasts with the contemporary mural by Wesley’s wife, German artist Tatjana Doll. She also dyed the curtain using algae that grows in a nearby pond and a fixative.
The bath area is located between the living and sleeping quarters, doing away with the traditional idea of a bathroom. The bath is sunken into the floor, which creates a feeling of being submerged. The bath makes one of the best vantage points from which to enjoy the views from the pavilion.
