Patrick O'Brien's Design & Landscape Work: Interior designs

Tuesday, 26 January 2016

Interior designs

Head office interior for a steel company, 1978.
Designed while employed at RFB (Rhodes Harrison Fee and Bold)

Office renovations to an existing building, Pretoria, 1987

Head office interior for a steel company, 1978
Done when I was at RFB

Residential bedroom, house in Morningside, 1974

Apartment interior, Wynberg, Cape Town, 2001

House interior, Benmore Gardens, Sandton, 1983

This third of our three family houses in Johannesburg featured floor-to-ceiling window and door openings throughout. No lintels, no sills; therefore the walls never cracked. The roof design was similar to an aircraft wing: it was slim, lightweight and self-supportedly spanned all openings.

House interior, Morningside, Sandton, 1975

Bedroom interior, house in Waterbridge, Johannesburg, 1971

House interior, Waterval Estate, Johannerburg, 1972.
At the Johannesburg College of Art, students had to make whatever they designed.
In my 4th year, I designed and made the stools and coffee table in the JCA workshop. The couch is my own design which an upholsterer made for me, 1969.
The JCA course was based on Bauhaus principles.

This first of our three family houses in Johannesburg featured floor-to-ceiling window and door openings throughout. No lintels, no sills; therefore the walls never cracked. The roof design was similar to an aircraft wing: it was slim, lightweight and self-supportedly spanned all openings.

House interior, Benmore Gardens, Sandton, 1983

The roof was completed in 11.5 hours, which included all beams, trusses and pre-painted panels. The house was completed in 11 weeks, on a subcontract basis.

House interior, Benmore Gardens, Sandton, 1983

House interior, Morningside, Sandton, 1975

This Johannesburg house featured floor-to-ceiling window and door openings throughout. No lintels, no sills; therefore the walls never cracked. The roof design was similar to an aircraft wing: it was slim, lightweight and self-supportedly spanned all openings. The roof as supported on a grid of steel posts; none of the masonry walls were load-bearing, which I expressed by having glass clerestory windows.