Design Inside Film meets Coetzee Steyn. He is a South African–born architect, founder of an award-winning design studio, based in London. He approaches design as great storyteller and listener, very attentive to the cultural history embedded in the region, surrounding and nature. The context is for him a source of poetic possibility. We had the pleasure of visiting a holiday house on Spain’s Costa de la Luz designed by Coetzee Steyn, where his philosophy unfolds with quiet confidence. The house was inspired by Moorish and Andalusian architecture and more specifically by the traditional Spanish courtyard house – cortijo. This simple building creates an amazing connection between architecture, landscape, and cultural context. Light, shadow, texture, and proportion are carefully orchestrated. The interplay between open and enclosed spaces reflects the Andalusian tradition - simple and layered, at the same time.
I think in the most basic sense, we all hunger for that connection to nature.
What impacted me as a kid the most was the town and the landscape in particular.
Roche is an urbanization. It was developed in the mid-70s.
So it doesn't carry the history of some of the other Spanish towns.
What is beautiful about the place, it's set within what they call in Spanish a pinar.
It's a pine forest. So it's full of stone pine trees, which really defines its character.
It's close to the beach. It's got a beautiful coastline, dramatic coves.
And the sunsets and sunrises are spectacular.
The dust which blows over from the Sahara.
And being South African, it's quite special as well because on clear days you can see Africa from here.
The brief was relatively simple in that the client wanted a cortijo.
Now cortijo is translated to English courthouse.
It had to be open and flowing and breathing.
Not a very cellular architecture, but a very open flowing architecture.
The house is a modern interpretation of the Moorish architecture.
We picked these very select pieces which are visible throughout the house.
One of it is the big entrance door which you open into the civilian patio or courtyard.
And inside that space, the fountain feature is a very old Spanish wash basin.
Also from the 18th or 19th century which has been carved from a solid piece of rock.
I'm always about place.
And of course if you work in Europe as a context, it's got all this really strong history.
So you have to respond to that history.
The pool reminded me of the Alhambra and the way that the pool relates.
It's not just a functional thing, it's also a visual thing.
It's about the communication of the inside to the outside as well.
It's creating these little views towards the outside and heart connects to the garden.
But it's not just about the transparency of the walls.
It's also about all these pockets of spaces.
There are certain times of the day that this space is really nice to be in because the light is a certain way.
So apart from being inside the house and connecting to the outside, it's also about being outside the house.
And not be forced to only spend your time in one place but find your place around the house as the day changes.
And I think that's quite an interesting dynamic as well.
The beauty of a house is the ability to have it rich in these moments.
So you can say that this time of the day, that's my favourite place to be and that time of the day, that's my favourite place to be.
It's a holiday home, which also is the reason for it being so modest.
I think when you do a house close to the sea, you need to make a decision.
Am I going to fight nature or am I going to work with it?
All the materials here have been chosen with the purpose that it can age.
This property is very forgiving in that sense.
That it can age and change and if anything happens, it's okay.
It's nice to build architecture which tells a story.
It's a silent story because you're setting up a narrative of how you, in your mind, how you want people to experience space.
That experience of space is also telling a story.
I think art is a bit like that as well.
Artists don't necessarily have the whole essay of why he did it like that on it.
It's for you to communicate your own story.
I think the bond is then stronger.
It's the same like nicknames on a project.
If people nickname a building, it means that they've accepted it and they've interpreted it a certain way and made it part of their story.
One of the people on the opening, there was a party here when the house was finished.
Lights were on, sitting all in the back and he was like,
Mini Alhambra!
And I was like, okay, thank you very much, but this is quite modest.
