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Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Namibia Architecture News - Feb 03, 2020 - 12:47   13686 views

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

South African architecture firm Fox Browne Creative and architect Jack Alexander have built pavilion-like lodges on the desert of Namibia, which offers an industrial feeling to its guests.

Called andBeyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge, the design of the lodges aimed to harmonize the existing hills and sand dunes with these industrial-looking structures to stay even if they were built with other elements such as glass and rock-work to soften the overall appearance. 

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

The project brief intended to transform the three existing buildings built in 1990s into a contemporary intervention, yet timeless and undeniably appropriate series of spaces - all punctuated with natural materials and a sense of desert-inspired luxury.

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

The lodges are suspended on the horizon where the earth curves away from view and the sky reaches down to touch the sand in the middle of the Namib desert in Namibia. The team tried to create a supreme emphasis on the surreal desert landscape in which the lodge is set.

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

"The architectural gestures are simple and yet extremely sensitive to the desert," said the architects. 

"By using the form of the buildings to draw a series of geometric lines in the sand, the glass, rock-work and steel pavilions form a counterpoint to the organic, sweeping curves and natural shapes of the surrounding hills and sand dunes."

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

The ambition for the designers was threefold: create an extraordinary experience for the visitor; design structures that are in harmony with their natural setting and minimize the human impact on this sensitive environment. 

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

The roofs of the structures have been clad in PV panels allowing the buildings to harness the harsh natural environment (where temperatures often reach over 50 degrees Celsius), and use the sun to create enough energy to ensure the lodge is entirely self-sustained. 

The electricity generated is then used to power a series of environmentally responsive air-conditioning and water recycling systems to ensure the lodge positively affects the environment from which its design was derived.

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Site plan

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Main area plans

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Main area ground floor area

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Main area roof plan

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Main area section

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Main area upper floor plans

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Guest suite plan

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Guest suite section

Fox Browne Creative and Jack Alexander design pavilion-like steel lodges on a desert of Namibia

Family suite plan

Project facts

Project name: andBeyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge

Architects: Fox Browne Creative & Jack Alexander

Size: 4100m2

Location: Namibia desert, Namibia

Client: andbeyond

Interior design: Fox Browne Creative

All images © Dook Photography

All drawings © Fox Browne Creative & Jack Alexander

> via Fox Browne Creative & Jack Alexander