you are here: | Top Billing features a modern masterpiece of a home in Benoni
Top Billing features a modern masterpiece of a home in Benoni
Top Billing features a modern masterpiece of a home in Benoni
This week’s spectacular Top Billing featured home mixes a party feel with a modern vision in glass and steel and everything a young family could wish for in a house!
Some things are worth waiting and fighting for. Sean and Lauren Lourens wanted a one-of-a-kind home and architect Francois Marais was intent on delivering it for them. It took three and a half years but finally, all three could declare – victory!
The position of this stand and its acute angle generated its unique, angular design. But being in soft soil at the lake’s edge meant a robust concrete frame was needed to secure it in place. Lauren and Sean Lourens accepted the challenge and got their fantasy home.
Making the most of the corner stand views was the first priority. Allowing the maximum amount of Northern sunlight in was as important. Architect Francois Marais had to achieve these core functions and an ambitious, futurist design – all within the non-negotiable concrete structure required by the engineers.
Because the house sits on soft soil, it is built on pylons and with internal pillars. This was at odds with a feel of open movement between the spaces. So, they re-designed a stronger top slab, removed some pillars and transformed the flow of the house.
The décor has a sense of surprise and fun and of a party that can start any day of the week. Lauren was after lighting which did more than illuminate and Gibbie Fajardo made it central to the design. While there is an 80s, Club Tropicana and Miami Vice atmosphere to the house, it has been designed in a timeless style that does not hold itself to any current look. So, it shouldn’t date like contemporary architecture. But at heart, it’s about who lives here.
Like almost every other space in the house, Lauren’s walk-in closet and vibrant wardrobe suggest that a great party is never more than the right choice of heels and a handbag away. Or if mom prefers time out and a long soak in the tub, her bath with its 180 degree views of the golf course and dam has the feel of being set on the bridge of a five star cruise liner.
Growing up in this house must be the best of times. This is a family who don’t want to wait for December holidays to enjoy life.
The good times enjoyed here are the return on a lot of hard work invested by the owners. Their house is a place for business entertaining, a showroom for Lauren, a playground for their children and clearly a happy, family home.
