In the Sabi Sands, South Africa’s renowned luxury safari destination, ARRCC’s Cheetah Plains pioneers an audacious new Afro-Minimalism.
The design comprises three luxury private houses, each with four double suites carefully connected to each house.
The main houses are fully equipped with a private entrance, commercial kitchen, dining spaces which each feature an organic leadwood dining table and hand-blown glass chandeliers, two lounge spaces, one with a bold raw steel fireplace; and a fully stocked wine room.
The houses have private boma’s and heated swimming pools with a sculptural, raw steel pool pavilion inspired by the canopy of the local Tamboti tree.
The bedroom suites are standalone structures with private lounges, full dressing room facilities and luxury bathrooms. The luxury suites are large enough to be considered as mini lodges of their own.
The plains houses pioneer an audacious new Afro-minimalism, offering uninterrupted views of the wilderness in all directions.
The interiors retain a sense of rawness and plush luxury. A sense of African-ness is ever-present in the interiors picking up on rhythms, textures and forms that are all modernised and simplified.
Furniture pieces were custom designed by ARRCC and OKHA in collaboration with local craftsmen like Martin Doller and Gerrit Giebel bringing a sophisticated counterbalance to the rough-hewn interior architecture.
Each of the houses features contemporary African art pieces by Lionel Smit and Galia Gluckman, amongst others, while custom Arend Eloff sculptures of cheetah and wild dogs by Gail Catlin hidden in the surrounding landscape make for surprising discoveries.
Last year more than 40 countries took part in the WIN Awards with strong showings from Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. And we saw some truly outstanding interior designs, take a look at the winners from last year here.