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La Lucia House by SAOTA and Antoni Associates

The mission was a relaxed family beach house on the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, and that’s just what the Cape Town based firm SAOTA (Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects) delivered. Along with Antoni Associates who designed the interiors, SAOTA created the La Lucia residence that was designed around the fiercely protected milkwood trees. Overall, the house is a great mix of contemporary with a relaxed beachy feel.

The entrance has two of the previously mentioned milkwood trees on either side welcoming visitors to the home.

The most striking feature of the house is the facade that faces the ocean. It’s covered with a series of translucent screens that were inspired by the milkwood trees. The screens are made of bronzed anodized aluminum that slide to open the home up or to conceal it. The house is stunning either with the screens open or closed – you either reveal the beautiful architecture of the house and its interiors or you showcase the screens.

Once you enter the home, you can see straight through to the ocean, making it the perfect vacation spot that we all dream about. You also get a view of that to-die-for pool. The interior is filed with polished concrete floors in a sand color that are perfect for a beach house.

The ceilings are covered with aligned wood slats that make the eye continue to ocean ahead.

The ground floor is set up to be either a large open space or it can be arranged into smaller, more private spaces.

The upstairs houses four bedrooms that face the sea, each with its own terrace.

Photos by Karl Beath.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.