Day 87: Concrete for foundations

Oh, what excitement. Every person on site spent the day rushing to get everything in place before the concrete trucks came at 03:30pm. The plastic layer of DPC was arranged in place. The steel reinforcement was bent, positioned and inspected by the engineer. And finally, the concrete was brought in and poured smoothly into place. It splashed everywhere. For a curious little architect it meant dirty jeans and a camera full of concrete spray.

Day 53: Excavation Movie

Day 52: We called in the big guns

Dear builder,

I will not go quietly into the night...

Love,

Rock

Day 5: Rock

It is unbelievable the amount of rock that can come out of a small piece of ground. We expected rock, therefore I designed the building core to be constructed using rock harvested from the site. I also included boulders in the design of the landscaping. But I have to admit, we got more than we bargained for.

In the beginning

In February 2008 my husband and I found a gorgeous little piece of earth. A green island in the ever-growing city. Only a massive 3 meter high rock was visible from street level. So, we scrambled up the rock onto a narrow 400m² site. On the northern boundary is a little hill belonging to the nature reserve, and on the southern a magnificent 180° view over Pretoria. We were hypnotized.

The site generates several challenges. To begin with, we have a big beautiful rock blocking our entrance. Then the total width of the site is only 12 meters.

We only started the design in January 2011 after returning from a year in Germany (www.48gradnord.blogspot.com). In May 2011 we were reasonably satisfied with the idea and consequently submitted our design for council approval. We had to get relaxation of building lines to enable us to use all of our 12 meters. This resulted in a timeous process and we only received approval in October 2011.

Day 1: Digging our basement

Day 2: More digging