This was a wonderful and challenging project where we were
approached by clients to assist with the restoration of the ruins of an old
farm cottage on a beautiful nature reserve on the banks of the Breede
River.
The existing stone work was badly weathered, the stone walls had mostly
collapsed. Our clients wanted to restore the building in such a way that
the entrance façade resembled the typical Karoo platdak cottages, but the back
stoep was to open up to the wonderful views of the river valley. The solution was to create a butterfly roof
to give height and volume to the stoep.
The contractor and his team did a beautiful job with the stonework using stone from around the site. Traditional building techniques were used for the whole structure and reclaimed windows and doors were sourced.
Gawie Fagan’s historical book “Brakdak”, about the old flat roofed buildings of the Karoo, was an inspiration and a wonderful source of information for this project.
