South Africa-based architect Greg Katz is known for the original yet functional family homes he’s been designing in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs for the past two decades. It was his consistent emphasis on the unique, bespoke and experimental that attracted Kelly-Ann Myles and Julie Parker to his work when looking to design a new property on a plot of land they’d bought together.
‘We had an instant exchange of ideas,’ recalls Greg. ‘Their brief was for something simple and contemporary, and so I came up with three houses: one a cube, another a rectangle, and the third, a hybrid of both.’ The couple couldn’t choose, but that indecision led to something rather special.
‘I drew up a very simple diagrammatic study on my computer that combined many shapes: the triangle, the hexagon, the cube and the circle,’ says Greg. ‘They bought into it immediately, even suggesting the trapezoid-shaped windows that came later.’
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The idea for the house arose from a book that Greg was reading at the time on Euclid’s Elements, the Ancient Greek mathematics treatise. ‘I started to get excited about a building where the exterior of each shape is made from different materials, and the interior’s materials are consistent, to unify the spaces,’ he explains.
‘As the design began from the outside in, it was one of the most non-formulaic buildings I have ever created.’
The result is a home that feels more like a journey, enticing people to travel from the dramatically modern pyramid-like entrance through to the main living areas, all of which are connected to the outside thanks to large, geometric windows.
Greg cites his early work experience with architects Zvi Hecker (known for his emphasis on geometry and asymmetry) and Daniel Libeskind (renowned for his deconstructive, fragmented style) as inspiration. ‘Working for people like Zvi and Daniel teaches you to be brave, bold and independent in your thinking, as they’re constantly experimenting with form and materials,’ explains Greg, who has truly taken these lessons to heart. Thinking outside of the box in every possible way. gregorykatz.co.za
