SHELTER · STRUCTURES · HOME SYSTEMS
Protect the systems that make your home more capable.
Useful structures reduce friction. They keep people, plants, tools, water and future animal systems working through Cape Town’s wind, winter rain and dry summer heat. Follow this sequence to build protection where it earns its place.
Choose your next shelters and structures step
- Step 1Assess Your Site and Plan a Useful Structure
Map wind, sun, drainage, access and the systems that need protection before buying materials.
- Step 2Create Shade, Wind and Rain Protection
Use layered protection to make people, plants and water systems more dependable.
- Step 3Build Dry Storage and a Work Zone
Keep tools, seed, feed, harvest supplies and maintenance materials dry, accessible and secure.
- Step 4Protect Water Systems and Service Routes
Make tanks, filters, pumps, pipework and service points easier to maintain safely.
- Step 5Build a Protected Growing Space
Use a nursery, tunnel or greenhouse only where ventilation, water and daily care are practical.
- Step 6Build a Chicken Coop for Daily Care
Prepare shelter, cleaning access, feed storage, water and predator protection before adding birds.
- Step 7Prepare for Livestock and Fish
Check housing, water, feed, waste handling and daily care before moving into animal systems.
Previous pathway: food production
Harvests are more useful when the growing system has a dry place to work, store, prepare and protect what it produces.
Next pathway: livestock and fish
Once the physical support is working on ordinary days and through difficult weather, you can assess the specific needs of chicken, fish and other animal systems.
Learn before you buy
A shelter earns its value when it protects a working system. Use the Resource Centre to choose the next useful build.