Great Heights

Great Heights

Great Brak River, Western Cape, South Africa

Great Heights was a living experiment conceived and developed by Daniela Puccini and me. The aim was to explore a piece of neglected land with zero infrastructure and make it live-able at extremely low cost. The secondary aim was to start the transition from a piece of land overrun with invasive, alien tree species to a mixed indigenous and edible plant species mix.

We developed the design for the tiny house dubbed ‘The Coup’ and it was installed and became our home for the next five months.

Product Design
House Design

Landscape Design

Ecological Restoration

Holistic management

Credits:

Daniela Puccini – Co-designer

Apex Wood World, George – Construction of ‘The Coup’

Aluplan Architectural Aluminium – Window Suppliers for ‘The Coup’

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SHAPING THE EARTH

A terrace was created by levelling the ground outside the entrance to the coup so that a comfortable, spacious outdoor area could be enjoyed and used. The terrace then lead to the first ‘orchard’, just visible in the background.

A terrace was created by levelling the ground outside the entrance to the coup so that a comfortable, spacious outdoor area could be enjoyed and used. The terrace then lead to the first ‘orchard’, just visible in the background.

Pictured left: Initial sketches for what would become ‘the studio’. A lofty roofed space designed and built with our own hands from wood harvested from the property. Pictured right: Harvesting and preparing fresh cut Australian Blue gum poles to be …

THE STUDIO

It started with a sketch. The idea was a to create lofty, roofed space to use as a creative space. Designed and built from wood harvested from the property. We harvested and prepared fresh cut Australian Blue gum poles and when once they were prepared