Paradys regained: this seaside house is a sensitive fusion of local influences tempered by Modernism.

'Paradys', architect Gabriel Fagan's own holiday and weekend house, sits above the beach of Langebaan Lagoon, an extensive inlet of sea on South Africa's west coast 70 miles north of Cape Town. To shut out views of neighbouring houses and not obstruct views from them, it nestles into the sandy hillside. Except where a brick-paved drive drops to the garage and front door by it, all that is visible from the road behind the house are the low-set white vaults of its roof and a tall sculptural chimney rising beyond.

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As well as wavy roof vaults, wavy walls with real portholes project below the sea-facing front of some vaults. These, like the ocean tones of the turquoise and ultramarine painted shutters that shade all large beach (west) facing openings, might seem an overly literal response to the seaside setting. But all are recurring elements in Fagan's architectural vocabulary, developed over a long career in a series of outstanding houses (for instance, AR March 1995) and other buildings that fuse the principles and inspiration of modern architecture with lessons of local vernacular and historical structures. His architecture also exhibits the influence of the Mediterranean vernaculars that inspired modern architects and are so apt for the Cape's climate and landscape.

To see the house in context is to understand the exclusion of its neighbours so only the presence of the sea permeates. Chosen because it is close to a harbour for Fagan's yacht, and for the security afforded, the site lies on an estate of holiday houses called Mykonos, an example of the marketing mania for themed developments. Here, each tiny plot sports a huge flat-roofed house with white stucco walls and gaily-painted wooden balustrades. Vaults, though common in the Cyclades, were excluded in the estate's design codes. But Fagan persuaded the overseeing committee and now new houses along the water's edge are encouraged to emulate Paradys's low vaulted profile.

The house owes as much to early Le Corbusier projects such as Maison Murondins, and the later Maisons Jaoul, as to Cycladean precedent. Here brick cross-walls support concrete beams from which spring the brick vaults of the roof. Diaphragm beams stiffen the vaults and are set in slightly from their ends to reveal their depth. Externally, vaults are plastered and painted, the reflective white paint, depth of material and quality of construction (by a small local builder) ensuring no need for further insulation and waterproofing. Internally, the walls, like those outside, are plastered and painted, floors are brick and the vaults' undersides are unplastered and simply painted.

As was once common in the Cape, the front door (here salvaged from and old building) is a stable-type, so the top half can be open while the lower half is latched. It opens directly into a room that fills two vaulted bays with living and dining areas forming an L round the open kitchen. On the sea side, the first (living) bay is closed by a fireplace between flanking windows; the dining area in the next bay opens through sliding doors onto a terrace sheltered by a boundary wall sloping forward from the end of the garage and folding into a solid sea-front balustrade. Here an outdoor fireplace shares the same tall sculptural chimney as the internal hearth. On the landside of the main room, where people pass from front door to bedroom corridor, are more sliding doors opening into a sunken court. This is a wind-free sun trap bringing more light and morning sun into the main living area, its vivid, warm red walls contrasting with the cool blue of the sea opposite, so emphasizing the contrast between introverted patio and extroverted terrace.

The fronts of the bedroom vaults step progressively backwards (a common device in Fagan's houses), to stay within the boundary and ensure that each room has its own patch of private outdoor space (providing some shade for much of the day). Walls curving forward from each bedroom enclose small shower and lavatory cubicles lit by salvaged portholes. Opposite, by each bedroom door, projecting rungs lead to children's sleeping alcoves that extend over the flat-ceilinged corridor. These low-ceilinged spaces allow a whole family to occupy a room if the house is crowded and have small pivoting windows oriented eastwards to the street which admit some morning sun into the bedroom and provide cross ventilation.

The house is simple and very compact, its form, as well as echoing local and Mediterranean vernaculars, directly reflecting function and construction. Yet it has a spatial magic and sense of serene generosity achieved by the embrace of the vaults, precise proportions and pared away detail. The lack of trim means little distracts from appreciation of pure volume, space and ever-changing light and views. Not only are the neighbours shut out, but the relatively closed sea front, which (with the shutters) helps control the fierce west sun beating off the water, and the closed head of the vaults (a small but telling detail) means that the presence of sea and sky is also judiciously measured. An awareness of the sea pervades but does not dominate the house, so that under the rhythmic embrace of the vaults, the sense is of being in a secure haven, snuggled securely into the sand and lapped by the indigenous vegetation planted by Gwen, Fagan's wife and collaborator.

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