house for a DJ

When we were first approached to remodel an old single story ranch style house for an international DJ, a celebrity clothing designer and their young family, the only thing they liked about it was its location in Sandton, Johannesburg, and the garden. The brief for an entertainer’s home that still gave the family privacy, 5 stylish en suite bedrooms, entertaining spaces, garaging for 6 cars and a sound proof studio all on the original footprint so as not to encroach on the garden, meant extending up and down, rather than out. We gutted the ground floor and opened it up create free flowing living sapces, added a second floor of bedrooms and dug in a basement to house a wine cellar, studio and cinema with a glass window looking into the statement swimming pool. It remains one of my favorite journeys as the house unfolded from an ugly duckling to a dramatic sculptural statement.