IT'S THE KIND OF HOUSE YOU BARELY NOTICE from its jacaranda-lined street in Waterkloof Ridge in Pretoria. It is “very low-profile”, says Johan Wentzel of W Design Architecture Studio, which he and his partner in life and work, Grete van As, founded together. Given the home's spectacular setting, downplaying the grandeur of the entrance heightens the impact of what's to come when you cross the threshold.
“When you enter, the first thing you see is the garden,” says Johan. It's beautiful, with large, established trees and terraces, and with stone retaining walls running down to the “dog park”, as the locals call it (in reality, an expanse of lawns, woods and pools in a valley dropping down towards a dam). The boundary is barely discernible, so the garden seems to…
