Designs · 2016 — 2024

Site plans for gardens, farms and water systems.

Site plans for community gardens, crèches, schools and farms in South Africa and Lesotho. Follow the design from base map to water management and planting, then open any sheet to see the detail.

Nonkqubela site drawing, with swales, basins, tanks and pipe runs laid over an aerial survey — From survey to planted groundExplore the three layers

Rory Clark and fellow Permaculture Design Course participants working around a hand-drawn site plan — Design practice during my Permaculture Design Course

Learning to see the whole site

A design begins with observation and conversation.

Working around a shared plan during my PDC. The same habit runs through the drawings below: understand the site, work through the relationships between water, access and planting, then make the plan useful to the people who will build it.

Explore teaching and practical learning

One site, three layers

Nonkqubela CBO1: site survey, water and planting.

Three design layers for a community garden near Matatiele, Eastern Cape. The base map records boundaries, buildings, slope and climate. The earthworks plan locates swales, basins, tanks and pipes; the planting plan identifies trees and crops.

A3 base-map sheet for Nonkqubela CBO1: a drone orthophoto of the site with the boundary, buildings, slope arrows, sun-angle diagrams and a climate panel drawn around it — 01Base mapNonkqubela CBO1 · December 2019 · drone orthophoto on Google Earth imagery

A3 earthworks and hydrology sheet for Nonkqubela CBO1: swale lines, basins, a tank and pipe runs drawn over the drone orthophoto, with a legend — 02Earthworks & hydrologyNonkqubela CBO1 · December 2019 · drone orthophoto on Google Earth imagery

A3 proposed plant layer for Nonkqubela CBO1 on a white ground: tree canopies drawn as circles, vegetable beds as hatched blocks, each species named with a leader line — 03Proposed plant layerNonkqubela CBO1 · December 2019

ASAP community-based organisations · Matatiele, Eastern Cape

Silukhanyo, Sinikithemba and Reahasetjhaba.

Site surveys, water systems and planting plans for three community-based organisations in the ASAP programme near Matatiele. The drawing files are dated December 2019; the programme engagement is recorded separately as 2023.

A3 base-map sheet for Silukhanyo CBO3: drone orthophoto with the site boundary, buildings, slope and sun-angle diagrams — **Silukhanyo CBO3 · Base map**December 2019 · drone orthophoto on Google Earth imagery

A3 earthworks and hydrology sheet for Silukhanyo CBO3: swales, basins and pipe runs over the drone orthophoto — **Silukhanyo CBO3 · Earthworks & hydrology**December 2019 · drone orthophoto on Google Earth imagery

A3 proposed plant layer for Silukhanyo CBO3 on a white ground: tree circles, hatched vegetable beds and named species — **Silukhanyo CBO3 · Proposed plant layer**December 2019

A3 earthworks and hydrology sheet for Sinikithemba CBO2: swales, basins and pipe runs over the drone orthophoto — **Sinikithemba CBO2 · Earthworks & hydrology**December 2019 · drone orthophoto on Google Earth imagery

A3 proposed plant layer for Sinikithemba CBO2 on a white ground: tree circles, hatched beds and named species — **Sinikithemba CBO2 · Proposed plant layer**December 2019

A3 base-map sheet for Reahasetjhaba CBO4: drone orthophoto of the fenced site on Google Earth imagery, with inset photographs of the compacted soil, the site from the air, the broken borehole and the existing vegetable garden, a slope diagram and a climate panel — **Reahasetjhaba CBO4 · Base map**December 2019 · drone orthophoto on Google Earth imagery

A3 earthworks and hydrology sheet for Reahasetjhaba CBO4: swales, basins and pipe runs over the drone orthophoto — **Reahasetjhaba CBO4 · Earthworks & hydrology**December 2019 · drone orthophoto on Google Earth imagery

A3 proposed plant layer for Reahasetjhaba CBO4 on a white ground: tree circles, hatched beds and named species with leader lines — **Reahasetjhaba CBO4 · Proposed plant layer**December 2019

Ithala Permaculture Design Project · KwaZulu-Natal

Water and garden plans for four crèches.

Earthworks, irrigation and land-use plans for African Conservation Trust’s Ithala project, drawn between 30 November and 3 December 2020. The selected sheets cover Syathokoza, Zamokuhle, Ithembalethu and Masithuthuke crèches.

A3 earthworks and hydrology sheet for Syathokoza Crèche: a drainage line, new tanks, a municipal pipe run and drip lines drawn over satellite imagery of the crèche — **Syathokoza Crèche · Earthworks & hydrology**30 November 2020 · base imagery: Google Earth

A3 land-use sheet for Syathokoza Crèche: three colour-coded garden zones drawn over satellite imagery of the crèche — **Syathokoza Crèche · Land use**30 November 2020 · base imagery: Google Earth

A3 earthworks and hydrology sheet for Zamokuhle Crèche: earthworks lines, tap lines and labelled callouts drawn over satellite imagery — **Zamokuhle Crèche · Earthworks & hydrology**1 December 2020 · base imagery: Google Earth

A3 land-use sheet for Ithembalethu Crèche: coloured zones for gardens, orchard and access drawn over satellite imagery — **Ithembalethu Crèche · Land use**1 December 2020 · base imagery: Google Earth

A3 earthworks and hydrology sheet for Masithuthuke Crèche: swales, tanks and pipe runs drawn over satellite imagery — **Masithuthuke Crèche · Earthworks & hydrology**3 December 2020 · base imagery: Google Earth

A3 land-use sheet for Masithuthuke Crèche: colour-coded garden zones drawn over satellite imagery — **Masithuthuke Crèche · Land use**3 December 2020 · base imagery: Google Earth

Crèche gardens · KwaZulu-Natal

Crèche gardens and rainwater harvesting.

Water and planting plans for Mbuzeli, Mzomoyethu and Ubhejane crèches from 2019, plus a September 2021 concept for Tembe Rainbow Crèche near Jozini. Original drawing titles retain the spellings Mbuzeeli and Mzamoyethu.

A2 earthworks and hydrology sheet for Mbuzeli Crèche: swales, infiltration beds, tanks and tree basins drawn over a drone orthophoto of the crèche, with a rain-water harvesting panel that works the roof catchment from the local rainfall figure and the number of children — **Mbuzeli Crèche · Earthworks & hydrology**July 2019 · drone orthophoto base · A2 · the sheet spells the site Mbuzeeli

A3 earthworks and hydrology sheet for Mzamoyethu Crèche: diversion mounds, swales, drip irrigation lines and a tank drawn over a drone orthophoto of the crèche — **Mzamoyethu Crèche · Earthworks & hydrology**October 2019 · drone orthophoto base

Mzamoyethu Crèche plant layer on a white ground: a vegetable garden and a staple garden as hatched blocks, fruit and shade trees as circles, every species named — **Mzamoyethu Crèche · Plant layer**c. 2019 · Mandlakazi crèche programme

A3 hydrology and earthworks layer for Ubhejane Crèche: swales, berms, tanks, a pond, infiltration basins and raised vegetable beds drawn over a drone orthophoto of the crèche — **Ubhejane Crèche · Hydrology & earthworks**October 2019 · drone orthophoto base

Ubhejane Crèche permaculture design on a white ground: a vegetable garden of named beds, a staple-crop block and fruit, nut and indigenous trees drawn as circles, every species labelled — **Ubhejane Crèche · Permaculture design**October 2019

A3 concept sheet for the Tembe Rainbow Crèche garden in the Jozini area: beds, tree circles, a tank and fencing drawn over satellite imagery — **Tembe Rainbow Crèche · Concept**September 2021 · base imagery: Google Earth

The Ubhejane Crèche record

RVCC demonstration gardens · Lesotho

Khoelenya and Lithipeng demonstration gardens.

Plans for two RVCC demonstration gardens in Lesotho, showing tree basins, growing beds, tanks and water supply. The 2021 drawings use drone surveys of each site; the Lesotho project page includes the wider garden network.

Line-work plan of demonstration garden K1 in Lesotho on a plain ground with a faint drone footprint: six rows of tree basins drawn as circles, a hatched tank, house outlines, a pipe run and the boundary, with a scale bar and north arrow — **K1 · Khoelenya demonstration garden**2021 · RVCC site plan

Line-work plan of demonstration garden L1 in Lesotho on a plain ground with a faint drone footprint: a ring of tree basins around the boundary, inner tree rows, bed blocks and a tank, with a scale bar and north arrow — **L1 · Lithipeng demonstration garden**2021 · RVCC site plan

Lesotho project and garden network

Earlier and other drawings · 2016 — 2024

School gardens, farms, nurseries and water systems.

Drawings from 2016–2024 include school gardens, KwaDabeka allotments, farm irrigation, nursery tunnels, roof-water harvesting and market-garden crop plans.