Project Crossroads

Denkanikottai, Tamil Nadu
(October - December, 2020)

Size: 7.7 acres

Elevation(m): 820

Annual Rainfall(mm): 749

Climate: Tropical Wet & Dry / Tropical Savanna

Function: Whole systems design for a farm with camping and living spaces.

Key features: Cottages integrated with the landscape-Boulders, basins and bushes

This 7.7 acre farm is a living space as well as a commercial space for camping and workshops, as well as a space for urban children and youth to come and experience nature. 

The farm will eventually grow enough food to provide for the residents’ own needs as well as of those attending workshops and bootcamps. First, however, the priority is to capture and store the large volumes of storm water that make their way down the slope, in densely vegetated channels as well as on open land, past large boulders and off to the valley below. As depicted in the conceptual design below, this is being done with a series of interlinked earthworks including ponds - mostly seasonal, one perennial - as well as swales and shallow planted basins. Water from the roads will be managed in planted U-drains to prevent erosion and make the most of the run off along the edges.