Beyond Living

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With Stefan Antoni

Found sitting squarely on the shoulders of the city’s beloved Lion, Beyond House is a contemporary space made to nurture life and art, where the ultimate comfort of modern living is considerately combined with elemental architecture inspired by its breathtaking setting. The home, which belongs to architect Stefan Antoni and was designed by his firm SAOTA, steps out from a steep hillside that drops off to the bustling strip of Camps Bay’s white-sand beaches to the Twelve Apostles, and further.

On the journey to visiting Stefan’s home, an entryway appears from Nettleton Road, offering a carefully composed impression of four lower stories with tantalising glimpses of two more levels towering above (it’s no wonder where the house gets its title). The lower levels host six bedrooms, built specially for Antoni’s family, three of which can be interlinked for a shared family suite, and to a double-volume entertainment space kitted with a spa, games, and a cinema.

ZA Beyond 1141 L5 BarLounge pp al HR
ZA Beyond 1011 L1 Entrance pp al HR

View from the top

The primary living area is all the way at the top of the building – an expansive, double-height open-plan space which houses the kitchen, bar, dining, living, and family rooms, as well as a winter lounge, study, and art studio at a mezzanine level. The boundaries between indoor and outdoor are merged by the inclusion of glazed lines, creating a continuously transparent space. Linked to this is a generous garden at the back, which is essentially a private piece of Table Mountain National Park. Add an infinity pool which stretches out towards the sea in front of the garden, and you have but a part of the epitome of self-designed luxury living.

Journey through space and light

Taking inspiration from one of the fathers of modern architecture, the entrance façade responds to the architect and designer Le Corbusier’s definition of this sacred practice: a ‘magnificent play of masses brought together in light’. The journey through space and light that follows once you enter is clearly inspired by the Modernist movement, a theme which continuously inspires Stefan’s taste in interiors. From the chiaroscuro contrasts of the vast entrance hall, the space lures you upwards towards the generous light of the upper living levels.

ZA Beyond 1301 L3 GamesRoom pp al HR
ZA Beyond 1122 L5 Living pp al HR

The spirit of a home

The overall spatial experience is equally considered; the house feels like a robust, seamless form whose functions are defined by intersecting planes, ceilings, and floor treatments. This concept is found in the macro scale of the bar, which slides dramatically out of the house, floating over the pool with a glass floor, to the material scale of the rough concrete over the main living room and timber ceiling on the level below. (In the true spirit of this house, this feature is made from the very same blemished boards which shuttered the concrete above.)

The masterful interplay of light, space, and raw materiality in the house highlights Stefan’s bespoke collection of contemporary South African art that adorns the ample surfaces and walls. The lines between home and gallery are blurred – art and life collide between these walls. From Paul Blomkamp tapestry and Paul Edmunds sculpture which animate the mystical entrance hall to Porky Hefer’s playful (and inhabitable) ‘Blowfish’ which floats within the double volume entertainment area, to the African masks beside and above the kitchen, this evolving home gallery is always carefully curated to complement the architecture.

With the interiors curated by ARRCC and OKHA (SAOTA’s stylish siblings), this home speaks to Stefan’s legacy as a design icon who knows what it means to embrace sophistication in every area of your home life, and, well, beyond…

ZA Beyond 1103 L5 Living pp al HR

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