dormitory, no more than two children
share each of the four bedrooms per
house.
Within the bedrooms, adjustable
bunk-beds with individual cupboards,
loose bookshelves and writing desks
allow each child to customise their own
private space within the room. Bright
colours (green, blue, red and yellow)
theme each bedroom differently. Small
touches, like two windows per room so
that each child has their “own” window,
add to the sense of protected private
space.
Opposite the bedrooms on every
floor, bathrooms are separated into
functions (shower, toilet and bath). This
helps to reduce the morning “traffic
jam” when children get ready for school.
These walls are also brightly mosaictiled and painted, with the rest of the
house painted in more muted colours.
Building positions and design largely
follow the site contours to reduce the
environmental impact of construction
and minimise extensive earthworks
costs. The rather steep site created an
opportunity for split level interiors, with
the living room on a lower level and the
kitchen-dining area a bit higher on the
half-level between the two bedroom
floors. As a result passage connections
are open and immediate. House parents
can see at a glance what is happening
anywhere in the house, which reduces
opportunities for bullying, vandalism or
other anti-social behaviour.
The kitchen is designed with a
long worktop on one side to cater for
several children cooking or baking at
the same time (they are taught basic
household skills and are expected to
do chores as in a conventional family).
Mosaic tiles behind the stove-top and
on the stair-column pick up the house
colour. The central long dining table
acts as additional worktop, homework
centre and sit-down family meals. The
open-plan lounge steps down from the
kitchen, with the level change forming
seating benches on two sides, and
projects out into the outdoors with
wrap-around floor-to-ceiling windows,
rather like the enclosed stoep of old
holiday houses. A large horizontal
clerestory window lights up the centre
of this op en-plan living space, directing
winter sunlight into the kitchen.
Off the lounge to one side, a smaller
room provides multiple opportunities
– as a private, quieter lounge, a place
to meet family while engaging in
counselling, a bedroom for occasional
relief staff, and a guest bedroom for the
“parents’” private guests. It can link to
the parents’ private quarters and guest
shower or to the children’s section by
simply closing one door and opening
another. This space also gives access to
a small private stoep for added flexibility
in case of school-leaving children
staying on longer.
All furniture was purpose-designed
in contemporary style in the warm
reddish-brown colour of prosopis timber,
which immediately creates a home-like
atmosphere. Complemented by the
bright colours and soft furnishings, the
spaces are welcoming and cheerful.
On your arrival at House Maerua, the
small administration building welcomes
you into a reception area linking to
two offices half a level above and the
director’s office and multipurpose room
half a level below. Allowance was made
for potential future expansion onto the
roof of the multi-purpose room, which
serves as boardroom, classroom for
extra-mural classes, gathering space
for events and social space linked to the
spacious veranda outside. This building
echoes the house designs to blend into
the general townscape and create a
friendly, non-institutional appearance.
The steep, north-east facing site
was covered with natural vegetation,