The Peech Hotel was awarded the National Arcellor Mittal Architecture Award by the South African Institute of Steel Construction.  The award was for our extension including new Luxury Rooms and a 2 Bedroom Peech Villa.

Judging Criteria:
Judges were impressed by the way in which the design of these new pavilions employed both industrial and natural materials, whilst still blending beautifully into the surrounding environment.  Says owner James Peech “We placed a lot of emphasis on ensuring natural elements such as light and fresh air were abundant, enabling guests to recover quickly after traveling”.

Design Inspiration:
At design inception, James decided to push the envelope by advancing the very concept of what an urban boutique hotel could and should offer. Principal Architect at Meshworks, Catherine De Souza explains that “in keeping with the residential feel of The Peech and its gardens, the additional rooms were conceived along lines that reject outdated notions of traditional hospitality, with bulky structures and sterile corridors. Instead the new rooms were designed as pavilions floating in the garden, sensitively integrated with extensive landscaping to make them feel as if they’ve always been there.”  De Souza says the new pavilions are envisioned as a “contextual response” not only to the original residence and gardens, but also to Johannesburg’s unique identity as a large African city, and one the world’s largest man-made forests. She calls the concept “garden urbanity”, and the aesthetics and materials of the pavilions reflect the steel concrete and wood of urban infrastructure, while the sculpted landscaping brings the largely indigenous vegetation right up to the rooms.

Meshworks was also awarded a commendation by the Gauteng Institute for Architecture for The Peech Hotel extension project.  We are proud of both accolades and thank the talented partners involved (namely Catherine de Souza, Principle of Meshworks Architecture + Urbanism, Johannesburg).