“In Johannesburg, there is no mountain [and] there’s no sea. Here, you have to create your own habitat,” says architect Anthony Orelowitz, commenting on the geography of South Africa’s largest city. Houses here tend to look outwards, seeking to catch a distant glimpse of the ocean. That, at heart, was the basis of his response to Johannesburg’s urban character when he designed his family home in the city’s famously forested suburbs.
Orelowitz’s firm, Paragon, is responsible for some of the city’s most significant architectural landmarks; yet the architect confesses that he “[has] not done a house in nearly 15 years”. Nevertheless, by working closely with architect Elliot Marsden and interior designer
