Project Name: House Steynberg

Location: Midrand, South Africa

Design Team: TwoFiveFive Architects

Total Floor Area: 414 m²

Completion: 2021

Photography: Paris Brummer

Feature:

Project - Nestled along the banks of the Jukskei River in South Africa's prestigious Waterfall Estate, House Steynberg emerges as a masterful testament to contemporary residential architecture. Designed by TwoFiveFive Architects, this 414-square-meter dwelling seamlessly merges minimalist aesthetics with a profound connection to its natural surroundings.

The residence stands as an elegant solution to a fundamental architectural challenge: creating a sanctuary that responds to both its topographical context and the client's desire for a home that fosters meaningful connections. Lead architects André Krige and Helain Foley have orchestrated a delicate balance between openness and intimacy, allowing the structure to breathe with its environment.

What distinguishes House Steynberg is its thoughtful volumetric composition, which creates a dynamic interplay between interior and exterior spaces. The architects have employed a sophisticated arrangement of clean lines and minimalist forms, using materials such as glass, concrete, and steel not merely for aesthetic appeal but for their durability and low-maintenance properties.

Floor-to-ceiling windows function as living canvases, framing the ever-changing riverside landscape while dissolving conventional boundaries between inside and outside. This permeability allows natural light to flood the interior spaces and invites the gentle sounds of the river to permeate the home.

The spatial organization reveals a nuanced understanding of contemporary living patterns. Open-plan communal areas encourage social interaction, while strategically positioned private zones offer moments of solitude and contemplation. This fluid circulation creates a home that adapts effortlessly to various modes of habitation, whether hosting gatherings or providing quiet retreat.

House Steynberg exemplifies how architectural design can achieve harmony between site-specific responsiveness and contemporary expression. The project stands as a refined example of residential architecture that honors its context while embracing a distinctly modern sensibility—where elegant simplicity meets purposeful functionality in perfect equilibrium.

Design Team - TwoFiveFive Architects is a commercial architectural practice and consultancy founded by principal architects Theo Kruger and André Krige with the intention of creating spatial and structural solutions that are powerful in both purpose and poetry – designs that challenge convention, inspire curiosity and instigate change, while remaining buildable and within budget.

With offices spanning Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa, they strive towards imbuing every project with local, site-specific relevance, no matter its national or international location. They work in consideration of the client's vision and budget, in sympathy with the site's context and community, and in advancement of their environmental agenda. Their creative mandate is to design environments that extend beyond form and function, to arrive at solutions that are as innovate as they are enduring. With the understanding that what they create will far outlive them, their studio aims to translate every design opportunity into an iconic architectural asset with inherent, inter-generational value.

Working in absence of any singular aesthetic, their output is first and foremost grounded in ingenuity and experience – where materials and processes are interrogated, adapted and refined to arrive at a compelling, considered design language that elevates each site and the way in which it engages its users. In doing so, they aim for their work to continually intrigue the mind and inspire the soul. Irrespective of the sector or scale of application, their commitment to this philosophy remains consistent – whether designing gender inclusive bathrooms for an educational institution, transforming a 100 m² inner city stand into a mixed-use multi-storey development, or custom-engineering towel rails for a private residence.