Vaal De Grace Golf Estate – arc africa architects won the design competition award and commission to design the Vaal De Grace Golf Estate, Parys. Working closely with Nick Price (golf course designer), held meetings at the offices of Nick Price West Palm Beach USA. 

The project was initiated in 2003. I still remember the day crossing the imposing steel bridge across the river onto the island. Thinking what a special site and piece of un spoilt landscape. There were herds of antelope roaming wild, two otters making out on the embankment, with the sound of ligavanes splashing into the water. Natural clusters of indigenous trees surrounded with the tranquility of the Vaal River. This is South Africa unspoilt.

Our design challenge was to design a structure which would compliment the landscape and at the same time blend in to the natural elements. Our design team embarked on a three month design and brain storming sabbatical, deciding on complimentary materials and colour schemes. The eventual selection of materials was as follows:-
Terracotta satin face brick plinths, which matches the soil colour and contrast well with the natural grass.
Dolphin grey corrugated iron roof sheeting, which blends in with the indigenous trees. Trees sometime appear to be green but from a distance they are grey.
Natural rock features keeping in with the existing boulders and rock formations.
Timber sash windows and mock shutters bringing warmth, while contrasting with the hard rock and the cold river system.
Walls Finished with a wood float plaster and painted in earthy colours, matching the natural veld grass and the treescape.
Once we selected the above elements we had to fit them together forming a design which would be proudly South African; while complimenting the site as well. We eventually included a wrap around stoep as a standard feature forming a modern Karoo style farm house.
Once the golf course was completed and the houses began to be erected, it was obvious that our choice of design elements and colour schemes complimented each other.