Architecture and interiors studio ARRCC has completed a safari retreat in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, a South African park that is home to elephants, lions, rhinos, giraffes, hippos and cheetahs.
Cape Town-based ARRCC aimed to create an "afro-minimalist" aesthetic at Cheetah Plains, by combining traditional safari-style architecture with more simple, contemporary details.

Smooth concrete walls and large frameless windows stand alongside more weathered, natural surfaces like rugged mica stone and Corten steel. These are complemented by locally made furniture and art, as well as views of the open landscape.
According to the design team, the aim was to create "something beautiful in the unexpected creative contrast of seemingly opposing forces".
"Our lifestyles are modern; nature is raw and primal. It is in that honest contrast that a beautiful tension exists," explained architect Stefan Antoni.
"The architecture exists to enhance the experience of the outdoors, not to mimic it, but to complement it so that guests may experience the bush more directly, more immediately."

The lodge features a trio of villas, called the Plains Houses. Rather than organising each of these around a courtyard, as is more traditional, the architects chose to create each one as a cluster of several buildings.
Each home features a main building, containing a mix of indoor and outdoor communal spaces, along with a series of four bedroom-suites that can also fu...