Design Your Own Eco Cabin  /  The First Case Study Group

Before week one

Everything I need from you before we meet the week of 12 October.

You're in.

Thank you for taking one of the five founding places. I don't take that lightly, especially in a first group where you're backing something before there's a wall of testimonials to point at.

Here's how the next few weeks work.

We have six weeks together, and I want to spend them designing your cabin rather than gathering paperwork. So this page is the gathering. It takes about fifteen minutes.

Three things happen here. You tell me about your land, you tell me what you want the cabin to become, and you choose the day and time that suits you for our weekly session. There's also a short list of what to have ready before we start.

The more I know about your site before week one, the further we'll get in it.

XShaan

Progress
0 of 5
01

Who you are

This is how I add you to the private group.

All the session times below are South African time, so let me know if yours are different.

02

Your land

This is what Phase 1 is built on, so the more detail here the better.

On your phone: open Google Maps, press and hold on your land, then share the dropped pin. This lets me look at your orientation, contours and surroundings before we meet, which is a good part of Phase 1 done in advance.

What's already on the property

Tick everything that applies. There are no wrong answers here, and the awkward features are often the most useful ones.

Water
Services and access
Buildings
Land and vegetation
Views and surroundings

In the southern hemisphere, north-facing is the sunny side. If you're not sure, leave it and we'll work it out from your pin.

The Surveyor General diagram shows your exact boundaries, dimensions and erf or farm portion number. Your conveyancing attorney or the seller usually has a copy. If not, it can be ordered from the Surveyor General's office using the erf or portion number on your title deed. Let me know if you have any trouble getting hold of it and I'll help you track it down.

03

What you want it to become

Short answers are fine. I'd rather hear it in your words than in architect language.

This shapes the material palette and the construction system, so a rough figure is more useful than none.

04

When we meet each week

One live session a week, 90 to 120 minutes. All times below are South African time (SAST, UTC+2).

How this works

Please mark all six, including the ones that don't work for you. I'm looking for the slot that everyone can make rather than the most popular one, so a clear no is just as useful to me as a yes.

Slot Can you make it?
05

What to have ready

Tick these off as you get them. Whatever isn't ticked when you send this, I'll help you sort out before week one.

The photos matter more than you'd think

Stand roughly where you imagine the cabin going and take a photo in each direction. Then the approach from the road, the views you want to keep, the trees you won't cut, and anything that gives me a sense of the ground underfoot. Include the ugly bits. Those are usually the ones we design around.

WhatsApp them to me on +27 84 244 2422 once you've sent this page.

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The six weeks

Hold these weeks now. The day and time are confirmed once everyone has voted, and I'll send calendar invites with the first session.

Wk 1
Week of 12 October Phase 1, Find Your Place. Your cabin criteria and site strategy. Sun, views, water, access, what needs protecting.
Wk 2
Week of 19 October Phase 1 continues. By the end of this week you'll have a clear set of criteria driving every decision that follows.
Wk 3
Week of 26 October Phase 2, Develop the Big Idea. Site plan, core design premise, first pass at the floor plan.
Wk 4
Week of 2 November Phase 2 continues. How the cabin sits on the land, how you move through it, what spaces you actually need.
Wk 5
Week of 9 November Phase 3, Bring It to Life. 3D form, visualisations, material palette.
Wk 6
Week of 16 November Phase 3 continues. Construction approach, and pulling the whole thing together into a coherent design.
After
Your 1:1 Next Steps session Thirty minutes, just the two of us. We look at your finished concept and work out what happens next. Builder quotes, municipal drawings, engineering input, or simply a plan.
The safety net, so you don't have to go looking for it

Show up for the first two live sessions. If you take part and decide it isn't right for you, tell me after the second session and I'll refund you in full. That's the week of 19 October. No awkwardness, no hard feelings.

Send it to me

This opens an email to shaan@landled.co with your answers in it. It also copies everything to your clipboard and shows it below, so nothing gets lost.