A Hotelier Riffs on a Traditional Barn for His Family’s Retreat in South Africa

As co-creator of the Daddy Long Legs Art Hotel in Cape Town and the Elgin Valley’s Old Mac Daddy—where guests sleep in converted Airstream trailers—entrepreneur Jody Aufrichtig knows better than most that location is everything. And he knew just the spot for the vacation home he and his wife, Deirdre, envisioned for themselves and their four children: a west-facing site between a dam and an apple orchard not far from the Old Mac Daddy. The couple also knew just the architect for the job: Greg Scott of Scott + Partners, who had designed the hotel’s modern barnlike main structure.