Spa House by Metropolis Design
Amazing guesthouse designed by Metropolis Design located on a mountainside overlooking Hout Bay in Cape Town, South Africa.
Description by Metropolis Design
The building is conceived of as a hovering set of abstract sculptural elements, lightly suspended over a large waterscape, which forms an extended terrace on the mountainside.
The inter-penetration of two simple forms, in combination with the staggering of the floorplane, allows a surprising amount of volumetric complexity and spatial interplay in and around the building. Transparency, an apparent lack of structural support, and the gaps between elements, dematerialize the building and create a presence in the landscape which is of nature, despite its abstraction.
Water as a rejuvenative element, constitutes the primary experience of the building and provides its symbolic language.
The guest accommodation block hovers dramatically over the water and projects into space towards the mountain and sea. It shelters the dining area, itself submerged below water level. Pool decks are arranged as islands in a sea of water, connected by a bridge. The underwater spa with large viewing windows into the pool has a sense of stillness and mystery.
The ground floor opens up entirely and entrances the experience of the building as a light platform in a vast landscape.
- by Matt Watts
