Designed by Bloc Architects + Kevin Lloyd ArchitectsThe Forest House is an exploration into materiality, light and the integration of architecture into the landscape. Situated in an exclusive forest estate in Durban, South Africa, the forest house strives to frame the landscape with clean horizontal lines.

The home celebrates raw materials, which helps soften the transition between built form and the precious landscape that surrounds it. This raw materiality reinforces the honesty behind the architectural tectonics of its construction.

Through subtle manipulations of materials and forms, we sought to alter perceptions. By chamfering brutal edges, we revealed concretes cool elegance. Concrete Frames are propped off steel columns converting heavy and cumbersome to light and agile. Photography: Peter Oravecz
The pool straddles inside and out, pulling ephemeral reflections of sky and clouds deep into the house. The indigenous wild grasses on the roofs blur boundaries between the landscape and architecture. Besides adding an animated aural experience, the planting offers a more pragmatic insulating layer from the outside.

Conceptually, the house consists of two rectangular boxes on ground (?Service? and ?Storage? boxes), on either side of the site. On top of this another box, the ?Living? box, bridges across the two lower boxes.

The ?service? box, to the West, houses the triple garage, laundry, scullery, staff apartment, gym, and office. The ?Storage? box to the East, hous...