01Studio YulanIn progress

Valabh Residence, Entrance Hall

Typology: Residential / Joinery
Context: Private client
Location: Johannesburg
Date: 2026

One material language — oak, stone and concealed light — carried across a main wall, a niche and a contained garden so arrival reads as a single gesture.

Studio Yulan. Design visualisations of a scheme in progress.

The main wall: oak slats, framed artwork and a floating stone console beneath concealed light — Area 01 — The Main Wall

Detail of the floating console with stone fronts and warm light washing the oak behind — Console detail — stone front, oak carcass

Natural oak veneer sample showing straight grain — Warm oak — slats, console, cabinetry

Recessed niche with dark veined stone, oak cabinetry and warm light beneath each shelf — Area 02 — The Niche

Deep veined stone sample used as the niche backsplash — Deep earth stone — feature, contrast

Ivory stone sample with soft gold veining — Ivory stone — walls, console fronts

Contained garden of potted planting, white pebbles and sculptural stone beneath the stair — Area 03 — The Zen Garden

White rounded pebbles forming the base of the contained garden

Sculptural grey stones set among the planting

View all 9 images full size

Narrative

The entrance hall is the only room in a house that everyone uses and nobody stays in. The proposal treats it as a sequence rather than a surface: a tall composition of vertical oak battens and a floating stone console, a recessed display cabinet held against deep veined stone, and a contained garden of potted planting and pebble.

Light does most of the work. Concealed linear LED sits inside the joinery itself — behind the slats, under each shelf, beneath the console — so texture is revealed rather than lit. Nothing in the composition competes with the artwork it frames.

The scheme was documented to fabrication, priced in three veneer options, and set out so that cabinetry and stone pass through at the fabricator's own quoted price.

Key decisions

Vertical fluted oak battens used to draw the double volume upward and frame the artwork
A light stone console front, floating, to keep the mass of the wall visually light
The niche pitched darker than the main wall so it reads as a counterpoint, not a repeat
Planting fully contained in planters — nothing planted into the floor, everything serviceable

Nicole's role and scope

Concept
material and stone selection
technical drawings
procurement
project management and installation oversight

Next project

02

Shahaboodien House

Double-height study with tall glazing and a black marble media wall