Brief

The brief was to provide new accommodation on the northern most portion of the site, and area that is currently under utilised and vacant, as an extension of The Farmhouse hotel.  All rooms are to have a lagoon view and lead to a private patio and roof terrace or balcony to also optimise the outdoor living opportunities of the setting.  Rooms are to promote a luxurious feel and satisfy the expectations associated with a four star rated hospitality destination.  The entire new wing will primarily be used to expand the room accommodation to the existing hotel.  Provision must also be made for a secondary reception and lounge area to supplement the facilities in the original farmstead.  We also wanted to create a pool and a pool terrace that is state of the art and could compete with the best in the hospitality industry.

Design Concept

The brief and extent of the accommodation required does not support a quaint West Coast Village type architectural solution because the spatial requirements are simply too substantial.  The solution lay in a more terraced hillside village that fits into the topography of the site.  The primary building shape of the new wing is essentially a further repetition of the existing L-shaped development pattern already established on the site, which favours the climatic conditions and view opportunities.  The creative approach is focused to give expression to each individual room as a clearly identifiable entity within the new block.  Various architectural elements like small saddle roofs, recessed balconies, roof terraces, wing walls and balustrades are employed to distract from the “big-shed-appearance-approach” expressed in the other existing buildings.  The preferred approach to shaping the appearance of this built form, is a collection of terraced individual units rather than a bulky block.  The opportunity is also established to express typical West Coast detailing in certain architectural elements of the individual units with the collection.

The roofs over the upper floor units are saddle roofs orientated in a east-west direction towards the lagoon permitting view corridors to the lagoon to properties located behind it.  This in itself is a less selfish approach than a shed with a predominant north-south roof and ridge orientation.  Floor to floor heights are kept to the minimum and where possible the interior of the rooms are terraced down the slope.

Access

Oostewal Road on the western side of the property is currently not a formally proclaimed road and access cannot be taken from this road.  Sunbird Drive serves as the main access road to a substantial part of Myburgh Park and it is considered too busy and is too steep to safely provide access to the site.

Vehicular and pedestrian access is taken from Egret Street.  The access is 7m wide taken from a point 10.68m from the corner of the splay on Sunbird Drive and Egret Street.  This access point fully complies with the provisions of the Langebaan Town Planning Scheme.

New Pool As a culmination of the sloping site a large rim-flow pool and pool terrace is positioned on the lowest corner of the site.  The pool will form a focal point to this new wing and its setting will be further dramatized by shaping a lawned semi amphitheatre that reflects the pool curvature shape in concentric terraces also linking the terraced bedrooms in an intimate landscape for relaxation.  The terraced western boundary would be enhanced with a water feature/waterfall as a link element culminating in the pool. Vision We expect the Lagoon Terraces to be completed in time for the 2010 world cup.