Cheetah Plains by ARRCC reaches World Architecture Festival (WAF) 2021 final

Cheetah Plains by ARRCC

The Cheetah Plains project, developed by company ARRCC in the Sabi Sands Reserve within Kruger National Park, South Africa, has been selected as a finalist for the 2021 World Architecture Festival (WAF) award.

Cheetah Plains redefines traditional safari architecture, creating a completely new experience of interaction with nature. Combining cutting-edge sustainable building principles with innovative Afro-contrast design, Cheetah Plains blends modern inorganic forms with the natural landscape, creating beauty through unexpected juxtapositions of opposites. The architecture is designed to enhance the outdoor experience—not to imitate it, but to complement it, allowing guests to feel nature more directly and immediately.

Where architecture is clean and linear, interiors introduce softness and texture—sometimes retaining a certain ruggedness with rough stone walls, raw concrete, weathered steel, and glass panels. "The idea has always been to reframe luxury and create a new language of African design for safari," says ARRCC Director Mark Rillie. "The result is interiors that are uniquely African yet unmistakably modern, with natural finishes and refined details."

The integrated concept of architecture, interiors, and furniture gently revolutionizes the safari experience and advances discussion on lodge construction. As ARRCC Director John Casey puts it: "The buildings and interiors are symbiotic. It's one idea embodied in a unique place."

WAF is the world's largest interactive architectural award and festival, taking place in Lisbon, Portugal from December 1-3 this year.

-Project description and images provided by ARRCC