Lintel

A presentation model of a two-storey house on a sloping birch base: face-brick walls, a thin concrete roof with solar panels, a brick screen across the upper floor, a long veranda on slender dark columns and a blue lap pool, with violet jacaranda and green model trees and small white figures.

We show you the building before it exists.

Lintel is an architecture studio in Pretoria. We design houses and small buildings that face the sun, in brick, concrete and shade, and we build the model before anyone pours a footing.

House in Waterkloof

Model at 1:100. Four bedrooms on a north slope. In design, building starts in 2027.

Move the pointer to move the sun. Scroll to take the house apart.

  1. Roof

    A thin concrete slab that floats on a band of clerestory glass. Its edge stands 1.6 m past the bedroom glass: the high summer sun stays out, the low winter sun comes in.

    Solar panels tilted 26° to the north, the latitude of Pretoria.

  2. Brick screen

    Maxi bricks laid two high with a brick-length gap. The bedrooms get light, air and privacy from the street.

    Half of the wall is open.

  3. Upper floor

    Four bedrooms off one corridor, all facing north. The slab under them is the roof of the stoep below.

    It steps out 1 m over the garage.

  4. Ground floor

    Living, kitchen and dining open fully to a 3.3 m stoep. The south wall is solid brick, against the winter wind.

    Brick piers carry the slab; the glass slides away.

  5. Plinth

    A stone base that holds the house level on the slope, with the pool along its north edge.

    1.2 m above the garden, three steps down to the gate.

Turned to the sun

Every Lintel house starts with where the sun goes. In Pretoria it crosses the northern sky all year, so the house turns its long side and its glass to the north, and the roof is sized to the sun.

A section through the living room and a bedroom, at noon, from midsummer to midwinter.

21 December

The same model taken apart in five layers: the roof lifted highest, the brick screen pulled forward, the upper floor with its four bedrooms, the ground floor and the stone plinth.

  1. Roof

    A thin concrete slab that floats on a band of clerestory glass. Its edge stands 1.6 m past the bedroom glass: the high summer sun stays out, the low winter sun comes in.

  2. Brick screen

    Maxi bricks laid two high with a brick-length gap. The bedrooms get light, air and privacy from the street.

  3. Upper floor

    Four bedrooms off one corridor, all facing north. The slab under them is the roof of the stoep below.

  4. Ground floor

    Living, kitchen and dining open fully to a 3.3 m stoep. The south wall is solid brick, against the winter wind.

  5. Plinth

    A stone base that holds the house level on the slope, with the pool along its north edge.

Turned to the sun

Every Lintel house starts with where the sun goes. In Pretoria it crosses the northern sky all year, so the house turns its long side and its glass to the north, and the roof is sized to the sun.

The model seen from straight above at nine in the morning, the shadows of the house and trees falling to the west.
9:00 on 15 October. The plan from above: the morning sun in the east-north-east, the shadows falling west.
A section through the house at noon on 21 December: the sun almost overhead, the bedroom glass in the shade of the roof edge.
21 December, noon. The sun stands 88° up: the roof edge keeps the bedroom glass in shade.
A section through the house at noon on 21 June: the low sun coming in under the roof edge and through the brick screen onto the bedroom floor.
21 June, noon. The sun stands 41° up and lies 1.8 m across the bedroom floor.

Work

Houses and small public buildings in and around Pretoria. Each one began as a model on our table.

Point at a project to see its model become the building.

  1. House in WaterkloofHouseWaterkloof, Pretoria2027
  2. Chapel at LynnwoodChapelLynnwood, Pretoria2023
  3. School pavilion in MamelodiSchoolMamelodi East, Pretoria2022
  4. Library in HatfieldLibraryHatfield, Pretoria2024
  5. Clinic in SoshanguveClinicSoshanguve, Pretoria2021
  6. Weekend house in the MagaliesbergHouseMagaliesberg, North West2025
The covered stoep: face brick piers and open glass doors on the left, slender steel columns, a lawn, a lap pool and a jacaranda in flower on the right.
The living room looking north through a wall of steel-framed glass to the shaded stoep, the pool and a jacaranda; a concrete ceiling, a brick wall and a timber kitchen island.
A concrete stair rising along a tall brick wall, lit by a band of clerestory glass, a diagonal band of sun across the brick.
A bedroom with full-height glass and a hit-and-miss brick screen outside it; winter sun throws a chequered pattern of light across the concrete floor and the bed.

Walk through the house

The house in Waterkloof from inside, as it will be, from the stoep to a bedroom upstairs.

  1. The stoep

    8:00 in October

    The front door opens off a covered stoep 3.3 m deep. In the morning the sun comes in low from the east and lays the columns' shadows across the floor.

    18 m long, 3.3 m deep

  2. Living room

    12:30 in October

    Living, kitchen and dining in one room. At midday the stoep roof keeps the glass in shade while the garden stays bright.

    18 m by 6.4 m, 3 m high

  3. The stair

    15:00 in October

    A straight concrete stair along the south wall, lit by the clerestory under the roof. In the afternoon a band of sun crosses the brick.

    16 risers of 187 mm

  4. A bedroom

    9:00 in June

    In winter the low sun comes through the brick screen and lays its pattern across the floor. In summer the roof edge keeps it out.

    3.6 m by 4.3 m

  1. The covered stoep: face brick piers and open glass doors on the left, slender steel columns, a lawn, a lap pool and a jacaranda in flower on the right.

    The stoep

    8:00 in October

    The front door opens off a covered stoep 3.3 m deep. In the morning the sun comes in low from the east and lays the columns' shadows across the floor.

  2. The living room looking north through a wall of steel-framed glass to the shaded stoep, the pool and a jacaranda; a concrete ceiling, a brick wall and a timber kitchen island.

    Living room

    12:30 in October

    Living, kitchen and dining in one room. At midday the stoep roof keeps the glass in shade while the garden stays bright.

  3. A concrete stair rising along a tall brick wall, lit by a band of clerestory glass, a diagonal band of sun across the brick.

    The stair

    15:00 in October

    A straight concrete stair along the south wall, lit by the clerestory under the roof. In the afternoon a band of sun crosses the brick.

  4. A bedroom with full-height glass and a hit-and-miss brick screen outside it; winter sun throws a chequered pattern of light across the concrete floor and the bed.

    A bedroom

    9:00 in June

    In winter the low sun comes through the brick screen and lays its pattern across the floor. In summer the roof edge keeps it out.

How a project runs

Our fee is 9% of the building cost, paid stage by stage. Before that, one fixed fee for the site and the brief.

  1. The site and the brief

    2 to 3 weeksR18 000, fixed

    We walk the site with you, measure the slope and the sun, and write down how you want to live. You get a survey, a sun study and a written brief.

  2. Sketch design

    4 to 6 weeks20% of the fee

    Sketches first, then the first model on our table. We change it with you until it is right.

  3. Council drawings

    8 to 12 weeks, then the City40% of the fee

    Every wall, window and brick course drawn, the plans submitted to the City of Tshwane, and the builders' prices compared.

  4. Building

    10 to 14 months30% of the fee

    We are on site every week, from the plinth to the roof, and we sign off every payment to the builder.

  5. Handover

    1 month10% of the fee

    Snags fixed, keys handed over, and the model is yours to keep.

The house in Waterkloof at the stage: the site and the brief.The house in Waterkloof at the stage: sketch design.The house in Waterkloof at the stage: council drawings.The house in Waterkloof at the stage: building.The house in Waterkloof at the stage: handover.
The house in Waterkloof at every stage, rendered from our model.

Start a project

Tell us what you want to build. We answer within two working days, and the first conversation costs nothing.

What do you want to build?
Roughly what budget?
When would you like to start?