African De Stijl

Artist Roelof Petrus van wyk’s home on a rocky slope in Johannesburg’s Parktown west is an essay in what it means to live in the here and now

- Graham Wood

A large galvanised-steel electricity pylon imposes itself on the ‘messy’ but remarkable view from artist Roelof Petrus van Wyk’s Parktown West house overlooking Auckland Park and Melville. He loves the untidiness of it. In fact, this remarkable steel-and-glass house is in many ways directly inspired by the city’s urban-industrial materials and geometry, and nothing so much as that pylon. ‘The idea for the design of the house is a pylon that fell over,’ says Roelof. ‘It is a bit like a sculpture that I live in.’

The house is 42 metres long and just five metres wide. Its functional materials – steel, glass and corrugated iron – are reminiscent of its urban context and the industrial roots of Joburg’s architecture. ‘I wanted to reflect Johannesburg without sentiment or nostalgia,’ says Roelof. ‘I wanted to make a building that is home to Johannesburg and could only belong here.’

The architectural dialogue between his house and the city is sustained throughout the design, down to the details. Roelof originally qualified as an architect and studied with Karlien Thomashoff, who designed The Last Glass House, as they named it, at university. The shape of the house evolved with a ‘push-pull’ design conversation between the two that lasted two years and which helps to explain how comprehensively the ideas that inform the design are explored.