As the young, hip and modern sibling of Elaleni, Lush presents a new take on estate living; a Sectional Title scheme within a large estate (Elaleni Coastal Forest Estate) Lush straddles the best of two worlds: cool, modern and compact living and open, spacious and green estate life.
There is a clear architectural relationship between Lush and Elaleni, and what’s most interesting is from where and how the architects at Lush took cues from beyond our shores to create a product unseen on KZN’s North Coast.
The term Brazilian brings to mind many things; Samba, Caipirinha and the Rio Carnival but seldom does one think of Brazil as having much influence on architecture. But the team behind Lush, Bloc Architects, begs to differ. Inspired by the apartments seen in cities like Rio de Janeiro, Ian Rall of Bloc Architects explains how they translated this aesthetic for the South African market: “Compact, vertical living is not only numerous but necessary in densely-populated cities like Rio. With little space to expand outwards, buildings can only expand vertically translating into multi-levelled living which with homes which overlook the rooftops of the city. With space at a premium, these Brazilian apartments are most often accompanied by rooftop gardens as well.”
Rall continues, “Fortunately, we are not in Brazil and confined to the city and thus we are able to take the best of Brazilian condo-style living and put a new spin on it. At Lush we have the Mahogany duplexes which exude an urban Brazilian flavor but with the added benefit of the space of Elaleni, the surrounding greenery and access to the estate’s amenities as well. Lush has its own communal gardens which are dotted with Mahogany trees- we designed around the trees as opposed to on top of them.”
Ian describes the challenges of bringing this unique development to the market, “The challenge for us was not the aesthetic alone but rather a combination of factors- balancing cutting-edge design and quality finishes with cost while bringing something new to the market which we wholeheartedly believe in.”