Brian Bernhardt

Architect · Cape Town

Low-Cost Residential Design

Family House

Alexandra Township, Johannesburg

Jo Noero Architects · 1987–1995

A low-cost, compact family home built on the outskirts of Alexandra Township. A distinctive steel portal-frame structure allows the first floor to extend beyond the ground floor, creating the impression of a substantially larger home.

The ground floor contains an open-plan living area, with the kitchen positioned on a raised level. An enclosed external staircase leads to a passage providing access to the first-floor bedrooms and bathrooms.

Steel portal frames placed at regular intervals form the structural framework, supporting the Gunite wall system, timber panelling, steel-framed windows and pre-painted corrugated-iron roof.

The house reinterprets and gives new expression to materials traditionally associated with informal shack housing.