Blinds in Camps Bay

Camps Bay sits on the far side of the same Lion's Head and Kloof Nek saddle that shelters Fresnaye's slope, opening out onto its own beach with the Twelve Apostles running along behind it. Homes here climb from the beachfront strip up into the foothills, and the great majority are built for the same thing: a west-facing view of the sun going down over the water, taken through as much glass as the site allows.

Because the beach itself sits more open to the swell than the more sheltered upper reaches of Fresnaye's slope, homes lower down in Camps Bay generally take a more sustained, direct wind off the water, while properties higher up toward the mountain get some shelter from the ridge but a longer, harder run of afternoon sun. Both problems show up on the same house here more often than not — a west-facing living wall that needs external shading, and an exposed deck that needs wind-rated screening rather than an ordinary drop blind.