Athlone Studio
Athlone 8, Westdene
Bloemfontein
I bought this property, my first house, in 1991. It was a typical student house. All the rooms were bedrooms and the verandah was used as a studio for us architecture students. The students had to make way for my new roommate, when Liesl and myself got married in 1995. This typical 1930's Westdene residence received a face lift shortly after, when a new studio was built. This was to be used as a photography studio and later had to host my newly established architecture practice.
The fasade of the existing house was changed in order to complement the use of materials and design of the new studio. It was important to maintain the residential Westdene character of the area. This was resembled in the proportions of the fasade of the new studio. However, the interior was modern with the use of raw materials such as exposed brickwork, a steel rectagrid mezzanine floor and a steel and timber spiral staircase. The trusses were exposed and the roofspace utilised to accommodate studio lighting on the one end, and the mezzanine office space on the other.
Completed 1997
Owner Builder
