This contemporary coastal bolt hole, designed by John Jacob, subtly subverts the rules of ocean-house living.
Take a peek
into any of the houses strung along Cape Town’s glittering peninsula and you will find there is a particular aesthetic that has emerged over the past decade: sleek lines, voluminous gallery-like proportions, grand open-plan living spaces and jaw-dropping sea views.
While this coastal bolthole – tucked away on a wind-free stretch of the Atlantic Seaboard- has no shortage of sea views, it eschews the ubiquitous vernacular for something altogether more welcoming. ‘This house is not about that unobstructed open living,’ says designer John Jacob of John Jacob Interiors. ‘It’s about contained softness.’
Stretched over three floors, this space is undoubtedly vast, so to achieve softness, John opted for defined living areas over interconnectivity. ‘Because of its size, we conceptualised a more traditional layout, where a room has a function and it only has that function.’ As a result, there is no blurring the lines in this project. ‘There is a clear visual break between the lounge, dining room and kitchen.’ Rather than sweeping horizontals, John sought out lean verticals that lend the home its elegant proportions, evident in the slender windows that offer peeks out to the greenery and ocean, the grated screens and linear arches that frame a room without cutting it off, and the luxuriously long drops of curtain, which tickle the floor when nudged by a gentle sea breeze. ‘The use of verticals results in a very soft, way more classic feel, ‘ he explains.
While each living area is geared to a specific function, the same can be said of the home’s three stories, each carefully conceptualised for purpose. The top floor of the house-also its entrance-is the home’s nucleus, a showstopping series of entertainment areas each with intoxicating views of the icy Atlantic. Down on the lower level, you are plunged into an almost sylvan oasis planted with full-height trees. ‘We made the more personal, cosy zones in the green lushness, which is the ground floor level, so you have these two completely different living experiences in the same house,’ John recalls. Sandwiched in the middle are the bedrooms, which enjoy the best of both worlds, overlooking the leafy canopies to the expanse of the ocean. ‘What is wonderful about this property is the combination of the green and ocean aspects. On the Atlantic Seaboard, it is usually one or the other, so to have both in a very strong way is not something you often find.’
Those familiar with John’s houses will know that his work is underpinned by the central architectural notion of proportion. ‘Ultimately, a volume is the first thing the body reads when it enters a space and if the volume is too great, you feel instinctively uncomfortable.’ To offset this John creates wildly outsized pieces of furniture, effectively balancing the scales in lofty rooms. ‘If you saw a three-metre-by-three-metre coffee table in a shop, you would say that is crazy,’ he explains, ‘but when you take that proportion and put it into this interior, it creates an anchor. ‘Among the custom pieces, you will also find designer decorative features, like the Kelly Wearstler, Arteriors and Ralph Lauren Lighting. ‘The client has lovely taste, ‘ says John, ‘and they are design informed-they know their Kelly Wearstler from their Aerin Lauder’.
Amid the dramatic scale, there is a sophisticated thread of cohesion woven throughout, as seen in the pared-back neutral palette and texture, but it is very quiet, calm and restrained, ‘he explains. ‘It is one of the things I love about this house.’ The result is an amalgam of timeless and modern, comfortable and upmarket, utterly vast yet effortlessly cosy. ‘I like for my interiors to embrace you and make you feel at peace,’ says John. ‘That is the design language
Read more John Jacob Interiors Magazine Features here.