The story
A village for vocational training and social enterprise
Heartland’s proposal in the Stellenbosch region combines vocational learning, sustainable agriculture, and a residential base for interns working with township enterprises. Twenty compact houses, shared ablutions, a communal kitchen and living area, workspace, and greenhouses form a small village where participants can learn how projects operate before supporting them in surrounding communities. Housing rent was intended to contribute to financial sustainability, while construction itself created training opportunities in lower-cost alternative building methods for a locally recruited team. Journeyman International alumnus Trevor Chayce helped shape the development as part of a broader vision for social-innovation hubs.
Construction began in 2016, with the larger campus planned to grow in phases. The campus remains under development, with completed work supporting its longer-term vision. The design aims to bring learning, living, making, and enterprise into one place so people can test systems together before carrying that experience into other locally led work.