Cape Town home's stunning views

In the upmarket suburb of Clifton on the slopes of Lion's Head in Cape Town stands a house that's as much an architectural feat as it is a visual feast. While the home's main entrance - set at the back on a narrow, quiet street - is surprisingly unassuming, the house's dramatic and imposing front is the main event. 

"The building itself was conceptualised as a large, living sculpture," begins Philip Olmesdahl, architect at SAOTA. "While the site is fairly small at 875m, it slopes away dramatically. This resulted in a house made up of five separate floors which, in many instances, connects to the garden where possible." 

The home - owned by a retired South African businessman - boasts numerous living rooms, an open-plan kitchen and triple volume dining room with virtually all rooms opening out to adjacent terraces or garden spaces. "While the client never gave us a brief as such, he had three main requirements: to create a dramatic environment for his large art collection, a place where he can entertain and unwind and a space from which he can view Clifton's flawless beaches," Philip explains. 

Walking through the home - which took three and a half years to complete - you are struck by several inspiring elements including an open-tread staircase and lift shaft that pair to create a central spine through the house that connects all floors. "The stairs are intended to be light and semi-transparent to allow you to look through them at the view," Philip says. Even the lowest level - which hosts a double-volume gallery space filled with the homeowner's large art collection, a cellar, bar, pool room and open media room - is filled with an abundance of natural light from the stairwell and skylights. 

The next half-level accommodates staff quarters and a plant room while the main living rooms can be found on the second floor. 

The third and fourth floors accommodate a triple garage, entrance hall at street level, a study and four sea-facing en-suite bedrooms replete with motorised roll-down blinds for privacy and protection from the summer heat. 

But the home's most obvious asset is the phenomenal view that surrounds it, from mountains behind to the Atlantic Ocean in front. "We wanted to create an uncluttered and open-plan living platform that had a clear and direct relationship with the fantastic panoramic views surrounding it ," Philip says. "The house as a platform - elevated above the extremely steep and rugged slope of the mountain - capitalises on the wonderful views back to the mountain from the dining room and stairwell." 

Moving back to the interiors, Mark Rielly from interior design firm Antoni Associates says, "the home is the owner's primary residence and high emphasis was placed on creating a modern, contemporary interior that was comfortable and inviting. The client, a sophisticated, design-savvy world traveller, has an extensive collection of contemporary South African art and the interior spaces were used to showcase this collection. They also had to be robust enough to accommodate high-style entertaining. Interior elements and luxurious finishes such as leather, steel, natural stone and rich timbers were chosen to offset the strong architectural lines of glass and concrete."

An eclectic selection of colour is infused in accents of art, fabrics and finishes. "The designers were not afraid to use colour to add warmth to the monochromatic grey scale of the project," Mark says. "The client had some Persian rugs in his other residence, which we incorporated into this new one to add further depth and texture along with custom-made hand-woven New Zealand woollen rugs. The main bedrooms on the other hand have plush carpets fitted throughout for a chic, sophisticated feel." 

Commenting on the client's reaction to the finished home, Philip says "he was really thrilled with it. It's seldom one works on such a fantastic site with such an enthusiastic but accommodating client. This has definitely been one of our most memorable projects."