THIS SPREAD, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT
The living room of Bettina and Jeremy Woodward’s home in Cape
Town features Swedish String shelves that Bettina inherited from her
grandmother. Included among the items on display is a Zulu Uphiso
vessel by Jabu Nala from Kim Sacks Gallery (kimsacks.com); the space
features an intriguing ensemble of furniture, such as a sofa from Tonic
Design (tonicdesign.co.za) upholstered in fabric from Weaver’s World
(weaversworld.co.za), a Red Blue chair by Gerrit Rietveld bought at
auction from Strauss & Co (straussart.co.za) and Le Corbusier-style
armchairs from Piér Rabe Antiques (pierrabe.com). The artwork is
by Kate Gottgens; a painting by Andrew Verster adds blocks of colour
to the light-filled passageway, which links the home’s two wings.
PREVIOUS SPREAD, FROM LEFT
Among the seating in the living area is an LC4 chaise longue by Le
Corbusier; grounding the open-plan room is a rug by Julia Swanepoel
Pepler, upon which stands a Noguchi coffee table by Isamu Noguchi.
f you’re lucky enough to call a home designed by US
architects Adèle Naudé Santos and Tony de Souza Santos
your own, you have in no uncertain terms hit a winning
six on the real-estate PowerBall. The former husband-
and-wife team were the original It architects of the 1960s
and 1970s, responsible for some of Cape Town’s – and South
Africa’s – most important Modernist works.
One such build is this delightfully airy abode
in Kenilworth, Cape Town, whose architecture is so admired
that today the house falls under the protection of the non-profit
organisation Docomomo: the International Committee for the
Documentation and Conservation of buildings of the Modern
Movement. Owned by Bettina Woodward of Open City Architects
and her husband Jeremy, a scientist, the house is both a lovingly
restored example of Modernist architecture as well as an inviting
family home for the couple and their children, Tom (6) and Helen (3).
In response to the shape of the site and a row of maple trees
growing through it, the home splits into two distinct wings:
a public one containing the kitchen, dining room, playroom
and lounge; and a private one for the bedrooms and bathrooms.
‘The architects decided from the outset that none of the established
trees were to be removed, so the house weaves between them,’
says Jeremy. Adds Bettina, ‘Adèle and Tony essentially “unwrapped”
the building to accommodate these trees, which effectively created
the courtyard between the two wings that fills all the rooms with
light.’ Another consequence of this splitting of spaces is the sculptural
staircase, which passes over the entrance to the glazed courtyard.
Studying the original plans also revealed to the Woodwards
a carefully controlled set of geometric principles that underpinned
the house’s layout. ‘Most people who haven’t been here get
a big surprise when you open the door, because it’s unexpected
to be confronted with this sculptural, glazed atrium space that
contains a magnificent mature maple tree,’ says Jeremy of the
entrance, which leads to the high-ceilinged public living areas.
‘Tony and Adèle were exploring their own spatial ideas within
the Modernist paradigm, and went beyond purely referencing the
stylistic elements of Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier,’ says
Bettina. ‘Working closely with South African architect Roelof
Uytenbogaardt at the time, they pushed the envelope of avant-garde
architecture and achieved global recognition for their work.’
Due to the home’s heritage status, its renovation and restoration
had to be executed with an acute sensitivity to its context. Several
architectural journals in the 1970s had published features about
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