Estate Living Magazine Investment - Issue 34 October 2018 - Page 10

CROSSWAYS FARM VILLAGE
Just over 200 kilometres east of Thesen Islands is Crossways
Farm Village, which also garnered an award for CMAI Architects
at IFLA this year. Unlike Thesen Islands, which is situated within
an established town, and even within a national park, Crossways
is a stand-alone development that is intended to create a whole
new community. But it’s not in the middle of nowhere – it’s a
mere 40 kilometres from the city of Port Elizabeth, so it has the
best of both worlds: rural quiet and, when needed, urban access.
CMAI Architects’s thinking behind Crossways Farm Village
(CFV) was to create:
t he first contemporary rural new town
based on commercial agriculture in South Africa
where anyone, irrespective of race or creed, could
purchase a plot and build a home, create a living,
participate in the economy, and benefit from what
a sustainable modern rural new town can offer.”
CFV extends over 540 hectares of land, of which 120 hectares
are under permanent irrigation with registered water drawing
rights out of the Van Stadens River. A full-scale analysis of soils,
vegetation, the degree of slopes, hydrology, climatology,
and existing infrastructure was conducted to map out the
site’s opportunities and constraints, and – ultimately – to
identify optimal locations for the three basic land uses, namely
agriculture, nature conservation and human settlement.
The IFLA award vindicates CMAI’s vision of creating a workable
contemporary rural community in South Africa, and, according
to the judges, ‘demonstrates that villages can be alternative
enjoyable places for people to live, work and play,’ and that it has
the potential to help resolve ‘conflicting issues of agriculture and
urbanisation.’
What is particularly heartening about these two awards is that
they recognise – as does CMAI – that it is only when we start
to put as much effort and creativity into creating affordable
and sustainable communities as we do into creating luxury
estates that we will really start to redress some of the inequalities
plaguing our beautiful country.
www.cmai.co.za
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www.estate-living.co.za
Di Brown