Single Residential

SINGLE RESIDENTIAL
SILVER BAY
Shelley Point South Africa
The site is positioned at Shelley Point on
the West Coast Peninsula which runs from
Saldanha Bay in the South, to St Helena
Bay in the North. Shelley Point sits on the
Northern tip of the Peninsula and is a small
spur of land that juts into the Atlantic with
West, North and East facing beaches.
St Helena Bay itself is made up of a number
of bays and the site faces into one of the first
of these, Stompneus Baai. Uniquely for the
West Coast, the site faces East over the bay
looking towards the mountains behind the
small Swartland town of Aurora.
The bay is home to populations of common
and endemic Heaviside Dolphins, Southern
Right Whales and is an important stopping
point for migratory birds. The climate is dryer
and warmer than that of the Cape Peninsula
and is characterised by strong South-Easterly
winds in summer which switch to a North-
West direction in winter. The site slopes from
the street on the West down to the beach on
the East.
The design is largely formed by three
contextual conditions. The first is the elevated
entrance which placed the living spaces
on the upper level and the bedrooms and
playroom on the lower level. This decision
allowed the living spaces to maximise the
views of the bay and to see the water’s edge.
The second issue is the prevailing South-
Easterly wind. The challenge here is that the
views are in this direction and a large set of
glazed sliding doors allows the maximum
view.