Ida's Valley farm workers' housing

Abstract

For the workers’ housing at Ida’s Valley farm near Stellenbosch (1975), Fagan employs the stereotomic quality of the Cape vernacular in a masonry architecture that acts both as structure and enclosure, where brick walls and roofs merge to form unified entities. This type of structure achieves sufficient thermal mass in a Mediterranean climate. Here, the barrel vaulted roof structures require support at both edges. Fagan cuts limited openings in these supporting walls, leaving a substantial beam and edge to define each space.