Clara’s Barn Restaurant
Vergenoegd Wine Estate

Vergenoegd’s historic barns and the werf spaces surrounding them are a provincial heritage site and hold intrinsic value as one of the oldest and most authentically intact examples of this type of Cape farmstead. The design proposes the conversion of the old barn into a new restaurant and kitchen which has been designed with chef and restaurateur Bertus Basson. The proposal was informed by an extensive heritage process and these considerations here completely integral to the design.

The transformation of the barns into a restaurant required the addition of a dedicated kitchen, ablutions and seating space. It was proposed that these take the form of two annexures along the backs of the barn buildings. The design of the annexures responds to language of the vernacular, forming part of a family of similar additions at Vergenoegd. The focus is on simplicity and functionality, ensuring that the new additions are visually subservient to the historic fabric.

The restaurant is approached through the historic South Werf, with the main entrance in an existing doorway on the east side of the barn. The new additions cannot be seen from this space thus, visitors’ first experience of the buildings is their historic facades in the context of the beautiful southern werf. The kitchen annexure pulls back from the East gable which, together with the werf wall, articulated entrance piers and gate, is of great historic significance. The simplicity of the façade of the kitchen annexure; its low sloping roof which leaves the thatch eaves of the barn exposed; as well as the planting which screens the new addition, maintain focus on the historic elements.

“Without a doubt the southern werf behind the homestead is... one of the most aesthetically alluring and original yards of its type in the Western Cape.”
Tim Hart, ‘Historical Archaeological Impact Assessment’

Typology                           
Heritage, hospitality, winery, architecture

Client                                 
Livia Winery (Pty) Ltd, Germany

Location                            
Vergenoegd Wine Estate, Faure

Year                                    
2018 heritage approval, completion 2021

Team                                  
Urban Concepts - architecture and heritage
Peter Buttgens Architects - heritage input
ACO Associates - archaeology
Riverside Consulting - quantity surveying
Grobler and Associates - structural engineering
Consultmech - mechanical and fire engineering
AVDM Consulting - civil engineering

Image credits                   
Drawings, graphics and site photographs by Urban Concepts