Wolweghaap

2023
Opzoek, Vanwyksdorp, Western Cape, Republic of South Africa

The story goes that the man who built this house left with only a horse as payment. This first farm house on Opzoek dates from around the second half of the 1800s. Some of the mud and mud brick walls are almost a meter thick. The house would have likely had a thatch roof with an attic floor reached by an exterior stone staircase. The original poplar / eucalyptus roof structure remains, but the attic beams were cut and removed at some stage (presumably to sell), and the roof was covered in corrugated sheets.

The house was re-imagined to house the managers of the neighbouring cannabis growing facility. The intervention consisted of removing later bathroom additions on the east side; opening up two smaller rooms into a new larger kitchen; adding two second level rooms; fitting electricity; the original window openings were restored; and new skylights were added. All new internal structures were built from timber, to ease future removal. Depth is created with exposed and grooved timber walls that form shadows in the changing light.

Karoo Bioscience manager's accommodation
Construction: Mark Clifton Projects
Photos: Rene Slabbert