WATERBERG LODGE
CONCEPTS & STUDIES
The Waterberg is an ancient, ecologically unique mountain system, which enjoys increased attention as a natural heritage area worthy of large-scale conservation efforts. This project explores on a breathtakingly beautiful farm within the protected area, the spirit and experience of our African landscape. Free from time constraints, the architects and client could engage in an extensive, iterative design development process which sought to translate the dream of an “African retreat” into architectural form. The resultant architecture is envisaged as being at one with the site it occupies,
with materials from the region imparting colours and textures that blend with the context. The organic shapes of the buildings respond to the folds and curves of the berg and create an architecture that lives as much by interior enclosure as the exterior interstitial spaces between buildings. This imparts a character akin to African vernacular responses that have prevailed in these regions for centuries: an architecture that becomes as much an expression of its context, the manner of its making and, in its entirely organic character, of the social life it houses.
