Design Guidelines

Bluewater Estate lends itself to light-filled living spaces with unobstructed North-facing views across to Long Beach and Chapman’s Peak.

The site fronts onto the beautiful Wildvoelvlei and the sanctuary of a coastal nature reserve and so needs to be especially sensitive to its surroundings.

A simple and concise set of principles, guidelines and controls have been formulated to protect the inherent natural beauty of the site and for the good of the development as a whole.

Appropriate historical and vernacular references such as Cape coastal and Cape farm are referenced and incorporated. This document also draws from other coastal styles such as Cape Cod and Caribbean that refer to timber clad construction, corrugated metal roofs and light-weight verandahs facing the vlei.

Emphasis is on natural materials like stone and timber so that visual impact is minimised. However, modern glazing elements, such as unlimited glazing under verandahs, glazed gable ends and frame-less ‘picture windows’ can be used to improve views, internal light and indoor living. Landscaping will form an important part of the estate and indigenous planting with lightweight, permeable, boundary walls make for a sensitive development that responds to the area and gives the estate a particular architectural coherence.

Thus, the dwellings should be contextually sensitive and to this end it is vitally important that the owners and their architects buy into the vision for Bluewater Estate and work together and support the principals of the guidelines to create an environment that is of a high standard that is visually harmonious.

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Design Manual

All buildings must comply with the Architectural guidelines as well as the relevant Municipal Building Regulations,
as laid out in the The Architectural & Landscaping DESIGN MANUAL