PORTFOLIO:
Xaranna enjoys luxurious solitude on its own Delta island within a 25 000 hectare (62 000 acre) exclusive wildlife concession. It is a delightful, airy camp with just nine sleek en suite safari tents that combine canvas and bleached timber. All the tents have sweeping views across the channels. Each tent has a romantic sala, private plunge pool, indoor bathtub and al fresco shower.
Time constrained to 8 months from conceptualization to opening in some of the severest project conditions imaginable, our long standing clients tested our skills to the maximum with a brief for an ultra luxury lodge that remained highly environmentally sensitive on a very remote and barely accessible site. Built entirely of sustainable, but ultimately biodegradable timber, combining inverter technology and the most environmentally appropriate waste management, the project achieves a light footprint without compromising the luxury required by its top end clientele.
Clean lines and simplicity were key concepts challenging stereotypes in a brief for “ a modern bush house using steel and glass.” We have developed a phrase, “we pare down the envelope between the inhabitant and the experience”. This ethos underpins all plan design in which no luxury is stinted but inhabitants projected as far as possible into the landscape that surrounds them. Nicholas Plewman Architects provided a full turnkey service from conceptualization through completion with negligible client involvement after design approval.
Design Architects responsible for concept, site planning and working drawings but construction supervision and some detailing by Sanjay Prakash & Associates. At Pashan Garh, close to Panna National Park we took the knowledge we have learned about the luxury hotel trade in Africa and infused it with inspiration drawn from Indian and specifically local building tradition. Inspired by the dry packed stone architecture of the region we used both rough and finely hewn local sandstone to create a contemporary take on local Haveli Design with its sense of sanctuary and coolness.
The design departs from the practice’s current oevre to satisfy client requirements for a traditional “Zimbabwe” style organic plan. In doing so it indulges itself fully in a typical lowveld lodge vernacular while providing an uncompromising level of luxury. Nicholas Plewman Architects delivered a full “turnkey” service including project management on demolition and remodeling of existing infrastructure, a new 16 bed lodge, power water and fire reticulation and a DWAF approved sewerage system
The challenge was to take a substantial accommodation schedule and the client’s requirement for a prominent site and then seamlessly stitch the one into the other with maximum environmental sensitivity. Full architectural service and principal agency.
European clients required a full architectural & project management service. The site, a very wooded bank of the Marico River, required maximum sensitivity to its large trees. The brief was for a typical thatch bushveld vernacular. The design resolution was to collide rectangular spaces at the corners, in thatch a geometric balancing act that dispensed with unnecessary passages and created courtyards in which the surrounding trees continue to grow. Stone, timber and glass were expressed with fine attention to junctions and detail.
The client required a predominantly tented but unique design to flagship the extension of a hitherto smaller luxury hotel brand. The site itself was unpromising but the views of the Waterberg are quite spectacular & the design evolved from the need to not only maximize but celebrate these views. The brief was for a full architectural service & principal agency but did not include project management.
The particular achievement of this design was to provide a large accommodation schedule within very restrictive development guidelines and boundaries and furthermore ensure that every principal space including all bedrooms and bathrooms has a view of the spectacular river frontage. Full architectural service and principal agency.
The brief included a full service including limited project management on a small remote island off Zanzibar. The design was for a “Louis Vuitton Fishing Basket” requiring maximum environment sensitivity & the use of traditional crafts & materials.
In a remote mahogany forest between the rift valley escarpment and Lake Manyara we created a village of tree houses ,elevated between the forest floor and the canopy, in the process creating a lodge that was not only of the utmost environmental sensitivity, but evolved a site that was highly sequestered from its regional context into something uniquely evocative in its own right.
