Anne-apolis

  As this is my last blog for 2024, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the various craft projects that I completed throughout the year. I have quite recently become a knitter - it all started in 2021 as a way of managing my anxiety. Before that, I had always hated knitting and dreaded every Easter when we had to knit squares and jerseys for charities supported by my school. My knitting this year started with a marathon - matching emerald green jerseys for my nephew and his family. The next was a real scale change - a pale grey jersey and beanie for a newborn baby of one of my daughter's best friends. Jersey and hat for a newborn baby The pattern for the jersey is a big favourite with all of the new mom friends, as it has buttons at the neck so that you don't have to pull a tight neck over the little face. Soon after, I used the same pattern, this time with variegated yarn, for a darling toddler who is a keen gardener, so the colours won't show the dirt. I like ...

Stone in its natural state has many imperfections, some of which we prize for aesthetic reasons, such as the veining in white marble which gives it a unique look. The problem with these characteristics is that it makes a stone element unpredictable when used in any construction application. For this reason, natural stone has been traditionally used with very thick components, such as the very deep beams in an Ancient Greek temple. When the stone bends under its self-weight or because of weight placed upon it, such as roof timbers, it develops stresses, which, if they follow the same line as the grain of the stone (the veins in the marble), the beam will crack and come crashing to the ground. The thicker the beam, the better it can withstand the forces acting on it. So what is engineered stone? Any material used in engineering needs to be predictable to be able to optimise the use of material and make each element as lightweight as possible. This is arguably even more important than the...

Whether you are designing a large building, or the interior of a single room, it is useful to have an overall guiding principle, the most basic of which would be mirror symmetry. This can be seen in the original wing of the building where I live. It follows a simple rhythm of 'abbabba', where 'a' is a two-bedroom apartment and 'b' is a one-bedroom unit. The entrance is in the centre, flanked by two studio flats, which fit neatly under the two-bedroom unit in the centre on the upper floors. Photo of the original wing in the early 1930s When the building was enlarged, just two years later, a different firm of architects was employed with more modernist ideas, so while the detailing borrowed from the original wing, the overall composition was asymmetrical, with a greater variety of apartment layouts.  The later wing with its syncopated rhythm In comparing the two photos, we have a good example of the differences of approach, with the symmetrical layout being more c...

  My daughter recently moved into a new home, so I will no longer have access to her old apartment where she introduced a number of great storage ideas.  I had a last opportunity to photograph these storage solutions, which included wardrobes in the bedroom, kitchen fittings and a bathroom refurbishment. These all followed a minimalist aesthetic, as she did not want the storage to be the focus in any of the rooms. The most minimal of all is in the bathroom - a floating shelf above the toilet with a plain white finish that blends in with all the other fittings in the room and indeed in the whole apartment. The shelf was used to display an air diffuser and some scented candles - essential for those long, relaxing baths at the end of a busy day.  A floating shelf in the bathroom As this bathroom is very narrow, all the fittings that she introduced are "floating" to enhance the sense of space and improve the functionality of the room. Parallel to the bath on the opposite wall...

  A couple of days ago I spotted an excellent example of Modernist architecture up for auction  in Houghton, Johannesburg. It must have been a jewel in its heyday, with striking three-dimensional treatment complemented by rolling lawns. It appears to be largely unaltered, offering plenty of scope for restoration. House on auction November 2024: all photos from auctioninc.co.za The entrance is very modest, emphasised by an overhanging rectangular volume on a slender steel column. The main feature of the house, the semi-circular bay windows, project to the right and the entrance door is tucked away to the left. The volumetric articulation has an affinity with the works of Erich Mendelsohn, the German-born architect who emigrated to the UK in the 1930s. This is interesting, as most of the modernist architecture in Gauteng is inspired by the French architect, le Corbusier.  The entrance Moving round the house, the bay-window motif is repeated, inviting the viewer to experien...

  There are  many ways that stained and coloured glass can be used in a domestic setting - for privacy, to reduce glare, to block an unsightly view, or to accent a space such as a stairwell. I have had the pleasure of spending the last few days with Elizabeth Beard , a stained glass maker from the UK, so it seemed like a great opportunity to get her thoughts on this art form. All the photos in today's blog are examples of her work in domestic settings. She has also done extensive work in commercial and religious settings, which we will look at in a future blog. Probably the most practical application of stained glass is to provide privacy: the glass can be coloured, painted or obscure (textured) glass or any combination. Strictly speaking, stained glass is painted with the finer details and the glass is the fired in a kiln to fix the paint. The term is loosely used to describe leaded-light work, fused glass and other variations of decorative glasswork. The photo below is a det...

  I am spending a week 'on holiday', house-sitting for a family member. She has just moved in but even in these early days it is interesting to see how she has conceived the spaces in this much larger home and how this differs from the more multifunction spaces in my own one-bedroom apartment. The most noticeable feature of her house is the spaciousness, from the moment you come in to the large entrance hall, with its beautiful timber staircase as the focal point. From here, the reception rooms open out in an open-plan arrangement with three zones, demarcated by a fin wall and a change in level. The lounge with a 1m level change  From the entrance hall, your view is attracted to the area that she has designated as her main reception area, the lounge. She has on order a much larger couch and we still have to put up all her pictures, but it is already looking very inviting, with the dramatic view through the wooden sliding doors. The dining area Directly to your right, on the sa...