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Building design is guided by the ‘’design with nature’’ ethos to promote a typical West Coast character, using an interpretation of the vernacular fisherman’s cottage and manifesting an indigenous and environmentally conscious attitude to development.

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The Jakkalsfontein Homeowners Association developed this Design Manual to identify principles that would

define and promote the environmental and architectural character of Jakkalsfontein.

 

Examples of existing significant design aspects are:

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• The West Coast traditional building vernacular of fisherman’s cottages, which originally inspired the planning and architecture of Jakkalsfontein Nature Reserve.
   

• Housing clusters, placed along the sea front, separated by open areas, to avoid obtrusive siting of houses in the coastal landscape. The clusters therefore project a more rural identity, reflecting the absence of an urban component in the coastal Sandveld environment.
   

• The muted green roofscapes have been profiled to harmonise with the undulating dunes and vegetation.
   

• The familiar “bak-oond” shape of the chimneys, together with the shutters, gables and buttresses, reinforce the West Coast vernacular of the houses.
   

The design principles and commitment to nature conservation are entrenched in the conditions of approval attached to the rezoning granted to Jakkalsfontein in 1990 by the Cape Provincial Administration and the West Coast District Council.

 

The Design Manual therefore gives practical expression to two overarching goals of the JHA:

 

1. to achieve and maintain the nature conservation goals contained in its conditions of approval;
    

2. and to protect the architectural integrity of the dwellings and other buildings. Achieving these goals will also promote and uphold mutual respect and harmony among homeowners.The Design Manual forms part of the Jakkalsfontein Memorandum of Incorporation and consists of two parts:

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Part A sets out the building design rules, which must meet the rezoning conditions for the development of Jakkalsfontein, the provisions of the Land Use Planning Ordinance, as well as local, provincial and national bylaws and regulations. Swartland Municipality controls, regulates, and approves proposals made in terms of Part A.

 

Part B describes the building design requirements specific to Jakkalsfontein. The JHA, through the Architectural Review Committee, will control and regulate the requirements contained in Part B.