- Project: Kloof 145
- Architect: SAOTA
- Location: South Africa, Clifton, Cape Town
- Year: 2021
- Area: 1200 m2
- Photography: Adam Letch
Perched along Kloof Road in Cape Town’s prestigious Clifton suburb, Kloof 145 by SAOTA is a breathtaking cliffside residence that unfolds as a series of layered architectural volumes, harmonizing with the rugged terrain of Lion’s Head. With panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean, Clifton’s white sandy beaches, and the Twelve Apostles, this terraced villa reflects SAOTA’s signature approach of weaving contemporary form into the natural landscape.
Sculpted to the Slope
The steep topography was the primary design challenge—and opportunity. SAOTA responded with an arrangement of staggered blocks, rising organically from the mountainside. This design minimizes excavation while enhancing privacy and acoustic buffering from the street below.
At its base, a gabion-walled apartment anchors the home like a stone outcrop. Its interiors—dark-stained oak, off-shutter concrete, and earthy tones—echo the rocky strata of the mountain. Above this, a green terrace and braai area acts as a landscape threshold, bridging built form and indigenous context.
“The conceptual approach was to reinstate the qualities of a natural landscape,” explains SAOTA director Phillippe Fouché.
A Treehouse Experience with Urban Elegance
Floating above the terrace, a vertically slatted aluminium box forms a semi-enclosed pavilion, allowing bushwillow trees from the forest below to grow into the architecture. These screens, which resemble tree bark in tone and texture, can be adjusted to filter sunlight—simulating the shade of a forest canopy.
Moving upward, the main living level is set back into the slope to further enhance privacy while anchoring the occupants within the expansive views. A mountainside courtyard brings in natural light and air, softening the concrete geometry with planting and openness.
The space features rough-sawn plank concrete ceilings, timber floors, and a timber-clad scullery, exuding a raw yet refined materiality. Above the scullery, a mezzanine study is suspended like a bridge—adding to the home’s vertical dynamism.
Airy Minimalism Above the Canopy
The top floor master suite rises above the treetops and is expressed in pale timber, white marble, and glass walls that fold away, revealing a cinematic view of the sea and sky. Skylights further flood the space with light, evoking a sense of elevation, calm, and retreat.
A continuous sculptural staircase, designed as a folded timber ribbon, links the levels and gradually lightens in tone from bottom to top—mirroring the ascent from rooted mountain textures to air and openness above.
Natural Architecture for a Dramatic Setting
Kloof 145 is an exercise in contextual sensitivity and architectural poetry. Through terracing, material honesty, and landscape integration, SAOTA delivers a home that is visually powerful yet environmentally responsive, drawing on the firm’s deep experience in coastal and hillside living.
