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      Birch hotel by Red Deer takes over an 18th-century English mansion

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      Architecture studio Red Deer carried out an understated overhaul of a centuries-old mansion near Hertfordshire, England to form the Birch hotel, which is designed to challenge the idea of luxury.Birch is set on a 55-acre estate in the English town of Cheshunt, occupying a heritage-listed brick mansion that dates back to 1763.

      Red Deer has designed the Birch hotel in Cheshunt with slightly stripped back guest rooms
      The 140-room hotel is the brainchild of entrepreneur Chris King and former managing director of London’s Ace Hotel, Chris Penn, with interiors by architecture studio Red Deer.

      While respecting the grandiose nature of the mansion, the studio wanted Birch to shift perceptions of luxury hotels.

      Each bedroom contains a bespoke valet stand. Photo by Fergus Coyle
      “[We] consider the term ‘luxury’ as degraded through overuse, and the parameters of what constitutes a ‘luxury hotel’ can be tricky to define,” said Red Deer.
      “For [us], luxury comes from the creation of a meaningful emotional connection between the hotel guest and the space they inhabit.”

      The cinema room has striped deck chairs
      “As the landscape for luxury hospitality has evolved, the onus is now focused on creating a unique and personalised one-to-one experience for guests,” it continued.
      “Hotels aren’t just bedrooms with smart technology, but memory-making experiences that create value and loyalty.”

      Birch has a spacious coworking area
      The guest rooms of the Birch hotel are therefore slightly stripped back in appearance, finished with white-painted walls, exposed-wire lights and simple rattan headboards.
      TVs and work desks have also been purposefully omitted so that guests can completely detach from the stresses of everyday life.

      The coworking space has patchy plaster walls
      Each room includes a bespoke valet stand that Red Deer commissioned London-based designer Jan Hendzel to make alongside designer Charlotte Kidger, ceramicist Emma Louise Payne and metalsmith Lucie Naujalis.
      The stands are anchored by colourful orb or pill-shaped bases that Kidger has crafted from waste plastic, held in by sycamore and ash wood frames made by Hendzel.

      Red Deer commissioned local artists to create a series of unique spaces
      Spokes of the frame extend up to form clothes hooks, balance flower vases by Payne or support hand-beaten copper bowls by Naujalis that can hold knick-knacks like keys or cash.

      Red Deer and Jan Hendzel Studio combine ceramics, beaten copper and recycled plastic for hotel valet stands

      “It felt crucial to bring local artists and makers on-board to work on the interior projects and create some truly unique pieces to be enjoyed by the guests, challenging the idea that uniformity was essential for large batch runs of furniture,” added the studio.

      Original details were retained in the hotel where possible
      Throughout the rest of the hotel Red Deer has tried to “only intervene where it counted”, contradicting the typical “wastefulness” associated with luxury spaces.
      Several spaces still boast the building’s original panelled walls and ornate cornicing. This includes the mint-green cinema room, where guests are invited to sit and watch the latest films or documentaries from striped deck chairs.

      The communal spaces contain original panelling
      The spacious coworking area has patchy plaster walls, while the reception room features elaborate wooden boiserie and floorboards marked with white-painted numbers left behind by builders from the building’s last renovation.
      Rather than trying to cover them up, Red Deer instead decided to keep them as a quirky design feature.
      The central concierge desk, which has a faceted blue-metal base, brings a modern touch to the room.

      The Gun Room is a private dining area
      “We wanted to take a light touch on the existing features and celebrate the Georgian building,” said ​Ciarán O’Brien, co-founder of Red Deer. ​
      “The building created a really strong backdrop, so we looked at each space from the point of what already existed,” he continued. “Any intervention within a space needed to work with that, and once you build that design story it allows us to imagine how that room will operate.”

      The Zebra Riding Club is one of three restaurants
      Other on-site experiences that guests can enjoy include an interactive bakery, a pottery workshop, fitness studios and an open-air swimming pool.
      There are also three restaurants: Zebra Riding Club, which will serve “unfussy” dishes made with ingredients from Birch’s farm, The Gun Room, a wood-lined private dining room that seats just eight guests and Valeries, an all-day eatery that features sky-blue walls and chandeliers dangling from the ceiling.
      Red Deer is based between London and Barcelona and was founded by Lionel Real de Azúa, Ciarán O’Brien and Lucas Che Tizard.
      Previous projects by the studio include a pastel-green pasta restaurant and a virtual reality arcade which has neon interiors inspired by the work of artist James Turrell.
      Photography is by Adam Firman unless stated otherwise.

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      Decada Muebles spotlights local craft inside Mexico's Escondido Oaxaca Hotel

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      Interiors studio Decada Muebles has filled this boutique hotel in Oaxaca City, Mexico with pieces made by the region’s artisans.A majority of the Escondido Oaxaca Hotel takes over a former family home that dates back to the 19th century.
      Inside are four of the hotel’s total 12 guest rooms – the last eight are located just beyond the house within a more contemporary concrete tower erected by architect Alberto Kalach.

      The Escondido Oaxaca Hotel lobby. Top image: a bedroom in the concrete tower
      This mixture of old and new influenced Decada Muebles’ design of the hotel, which has been almost exclusively decked out with pieces crafted by local craft makers.

      “We wanted to create a feeling of timelessness inside an authentic Oaxacan house, where the guests could feel the presence of a craftsman’s hand through their work in every nook and cranny,” the interior design studio told Dezeen.
      “With a mix of minimalism and clean lines in our furniture choices, and the lush landscaping and garden design, we aimed to maximize the possibility of relaxation and sense of serenity as the underlying state while at the hotel.”

      The hotel restaurant features green cement tiles
      Guests enter the hotel via the old house, walking through a spacious lobby that’s dotted with oversized terracotta plant pots.
      Red bricks run across the floor, while the walls are loosely rendered with stucco – faded patches of paint left behind from the house’s old fit-out are still visible.
      These rustic walls continue through into the restaurant, which serves up a menu of Mexican fusion food.

      The split-level culture room features stucco walls
      Local craftsmen have used Sabino, a Mexican wood, to make the tables and chairs that appear throughout the room. They complement a gridded timber shelving unit that openly displays liquor bottles and glassware.
      The floor here is clad with locally sourced green-cement tiles – the colour was specifically chosen in a subtle nod to Cantera, a green-hued volcanic rock that’s native to Oaxaca and used to build several of its buildings and roads.

      The concrete facade of the new tower
      When they’re not relaxing around the pool, which is up on the roof, guests can head to the split-level “culture room”.
      It includes a small library and a cosy sofa area decorated with earth-tone vases.

      Bedrooms feature sabino wood furniture
      Guest rooms in the old house and the concrete tower have been finished in the same material palette that’s been applied throughout Escondido Oaxaca Hotel’s communal spaces.

      Monte Uzulu is a boutique hotel in the Oaxacan jungle by Taller Lu’um and At-te

      Green-tinted cement tiles cover surfaces in the en-suite bathrooms and sabino wood has been used to create the rooms’ side tables, bed frames and shutters, which can be pushed back to reveal balconies or foliage-filled patios.
      Details like the woven palm leaf headboards were also custom made in Oaxaca.

      A bedroom opening onto a courtyard
      Escondido Oaxaca Hotel is longlisted in the hotel and short-stay category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
      It will compete against the likes of Trunk House, a boutique hotel in Tokyo that includes a miniature disco, and Casa Palerm, a guest villa in Mallorca which is fronted by a huge cinema screen-like window.
      Photography is by Undine Pröhl.

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      The Wayfinder hotel designed to “feel as if you were staying with friends” in Rhode Island

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      New York design practice Reunion Goods & Services has renovated this hotel in Rhode Island to be reminiscent of a colourful home with a fireplace and cosy seating nooks.Formerly the Mainstay Hotel, The Wayfinder property is located in Newport and was refurbished by Reunion Goods & Services for developer Dovetail + Co. It includes 197 suites, a restaurant, lounge, patio and outdoor swimming pool.

      Reunion Goods & Services designed the hotel to be evocative of a house rather than a hotel and sought to optimise the amount of natural light. White walls are enlivened with a variety of colours like burnt red, blue, green and mustard.

      “The goal of this project was to freshen the spaces and bring as much light into the rooms as possible,” the team said. “The intent was always for the rooms to feel as if you were staying with friends or at a summer house.”

      The rest of the interior design is a combination of existing details, like stone and terrazzo floors with wood-panelled walls, alongside woven and wooden furniture pieces for a relaxed yet playful feel.
      The lobby features its original white terrazzo flooring with a new dark blue ceiling for contrast, while a free-standing fireplace in mustard with a glass enclosure is the focal point. It is surrounded by a custom white sofa in a U-shape.

      The hotel rooms have a paler palette reflective of the hotel’s beach location with off-white walls and chair railing in soft blue and green tones.

      Tourists hotel in The Berkshires takes cues from classic American motor lodges

      Continuing the relaxed, residential aesthetic is a lounge area with couches, pouffes, indoor plants, chairs, woven roller shades and woven cane dining chairs. Colourful fabrics enliven the space with its stone floors, while window trim is teal.

      The sitting area joins the hotel restaurant Nomi Park, which has bolder colours like red-tiled walls, burnt orange leather banquettes, a bar clad in light blue tiles and dining benches upholstered in a cheetah print.
      The wood dining chairs in dark blue are made locally by O & G Studio that is one of the emerging studios based in Rhode Island.

      Art by more local artists rounds out the interiors, including a piece in the restaurant by Mea Duke and a mural outside in the patio near the swimming pool by Sean Spellman. Others artists whose work is displayed are Catherine Druken, Jenn Shore, Jenny Brown and Liz Kelley.

      In addition to the Wayfinder hotel, other boutique accommodations in small towns and rural areas of the Northeastern United States are Tourists hotel in Massachusetts’ Berkshires region, Scribner’s Catskill Lodge, Sound View on Long Island and Troutbeck hotel by Champalimaud.
      Photography is by Read McKendree.

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      The Other Season applies natural palette to boutique hotel by Dutch seaside

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      Linen, bamboo and sandy-beige tones appear throughout Strandhotel Zoomers in the Netherlands, which has been designed by creative studio The Other Season.Strandhotel Zoomers huddles up against the sandy dunes of Castricum beach in north Holland.
      The hotel was completed by Dutch practice Breddels Architecten at the beginning of 2020 and features a facade clad with different-hued strips of timber.

      Creative studio The Other Season has applied a similarly warm and natural material palette throughout the hotel’s interior, which accommodates 12 guest rooms.

      Smaller rooms have views of the dunes, while larger rooms are orientated to overlook the calming ocean waves. There’s also a large apartment-style room for families visiting with children.

      “The outside of the building reflects the inside of it; simple and pure with beautiful nuances in colours that make you feel welcome and at ease,” said the studio, which is led by Jasmijn Boots and Marry Broersen.
      “We chose natural patterns, colours and materials for the flooring, doors and window coverings like bamboo and wood, as they reflect the wooden covering on the exterior of the hotel and of course the tones of the grasses and sand in the dunes.”

      Each room boasts simple white walls and an exposed concrete ceiling, but has been exclusively decorated with products from Dutch design brand HK Living.
      Taupe or maroon-striped scatter cushions have been used to dress the beds, as well as sandy-beige linen throws.

      Photo by Enstijl
      Storage is provided by bamboo-panelled cupboards, complementing the bamboo armchairs that appear underneath the rooms’ writing desks or beside the windows.

      Space&Matter converts Amsterdam’s bridge keeper’s houses into hotel rooms

      Shell-shaped ornaments, amber-hued vases and woven rugs have also been used as decor, along with oversized lamps that have been printed to feature spindly illustrations of faces.

      There’s no on-site restaurant at Strandhotel Zoomers, but instead a cosy breakfast room where guests can enjoy beverages and snacks.
      Wood has been used to craft the room’s prep counter, cabinetry and central dining table, which is surrounded by white wire-frame seats.
      More food is available just a stone’s throw away at the hotel’s sister company Beach Pavilion Zoomer.

      Other spots to stay around the Netherlands include Kazerne in Eindhoven, which has just eight guest rooms and an exhibition space that displays works from the city’s leading creatives.
      There’s also the Sweets Hotel in Amsterdam, which takes over a series of vacant canal-side bridge keeper’s houses in Amsterdam. It won the hotel and short-stay interior category at the 2019 edition of the Dezeen Awards, where it was praised by judges for “questioning the idea of hotels in the era of Airbnb”.
      Photography is courtesy of The Other Season and One Two Studio unless stated otherwise.

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      Sivak & Partners imagines contemporary beachside guest suite in Odessa

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      Craggy rock walls and a hot-spring style bathtub would feature in this imaginary Odessa hotel room that interior design studio Sivak & Partners has envisioned in a series of renderings.The guest suite would come as part of a boutique beach hotel in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa that Sivak & Partners’ chief designer, Alexey Gulesha, was challenged to create just over a year ago.
      He decided to share the studio’s renderings when the global coronavirus crisis began and put a pause on the design process.
      “This project started from the idea to make something different from other hotels in Odessa – the client had bought a plot and asked us to design something which we wanted to see there, so this is our proposal,” Gulesha told Dezeen.

      Influenced by the dazzling settings seen in James Bond films from the 1980s, Gulesha has envisioned the guest suite as being fronted by a curved, full-height window that offers sweeping vistas of the sandy shoreline and rolling ocean waves.

      In almost every room he has tried to foster a sense of “tactile contrast” – for example, in the bedroom, the hard stone floor is topped with a fluffy cream-coloured rug. A plump bed frame has also been placed beside a couple of Italian architect Cini Boeri’s glass Ghost chairs.

      “I like to draw people’s attention to the fact that the materials to the touch may not be what they seem visually,” Gulesha explained.
      “The Cini Boeri’s armchairs look like a cold piece of glass, but they are surprisingly convenient and comfortable when you sit in them.”

      A wall that resembles a craggy cliff face would feature in the study. Other than a simple steel desk and wooden chair, Gulesha has largely omitted standard office paraphernalia so that guests would be more inclined to spend relaxing time down on the beach instead of doing work.
      “The idea of the materials is that in this digital era, when work means sitting on the PC and answering email for two to three hours, I want to see and feel something natural,” added Gulesha.

      A focal point of the suite is the circular tub in the bathroom, which would slope up from the stone floors to make guests feel like they’re “bathing in a hot spring”.
      Bathroom facilities would be housed inside a see-through volume that, using smart-glass technology, would turn opaque whenever in use.

      Architectural visualisers imagine rainbow-coloured Sonora Art Village during pandemic

      The suite would also include a small kitchenette, should future guests not want to dine at the hotel’s restaurant. At its centre would be a timber prep counter that balances across a pair of chunky stone blocks.
      A couple of rounded boucle sofas would then be used to dress the lounge area, along with a blush-pink abstract artwork that is meant to mirror the texture of the surrounding mottled plaster walls.

      The pandemic has encouraged several architects and designers to turn to the medium of renderings and imagine getaway destinations.
      Siblings Mary and David Javit imagined Sonora Art Village, a community of rainbow-coloured houses in Mexico where people could head to escape “grey reality”. Inspired by the vivid architecture of figures like Luis Barragán and Ricardo Boffil, the houses would be surrounded by cacti and swimming pools.
      Child Studio also imagined Casa Plenaire, a blissful seaside villa where those in lockdown could picture enjoying the “perfect holiday”.

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      CL3 unveils interior design for Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles City

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      Sailing and nautical aesthetics informed CL3’s interiors for the Intercontinental hotel in the Raffles City Chongqing complex in China, which includes guest rooms that draw on the design of yacht cabins.Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles City is located in the Raffles City Chongqing development, which features a “horizontal skyscraper,” the Crystal skybridge that connects four 250-metre tall skyscrapers.
      The hotel’s location in the city’s Chaotianmen area, where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet, was the starting point for the designers.
      “The project has a geographical and historical significance by being where the ancient emperor sent his fleet to meet the people,” CL3  said.

      This nautical past not only informed the design of the eight streamlined skyscrapers that make up the Raffles City Chongqing complex, which features sail-like screens, it was also carried through into the interior design.

      CL3 was approached to create the interiors after working with architect Moshdie Safdie of Safdie Architects on the Marina Bay Sands project, and designed the interiors of the hotel’s main areas as well as the residential lobby and common areas for five of the towers.

      The studio was also responsible for the design of the residential clubhouse inside the signature Crystal skybridge that connects four of the towers.
      Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles City’s grand reception is located on level 42 at the skybridge and nods to the sailing theme with a reception desk shaped like the hull of a ship, complemented by lighting in the same shape.

      “The shape design echoes the water reflection during sailing in the river,” the studio said. The link bridge reception area was also decorated with marine-themed Chinese motifs and crafts.
      In the arrival lobby area, CL3 added stylised drawings of traditional ships to the mirrored walls of the elevators.

      The lobby lounge was designed to create a “mountain landscape in the sky” and filled with green plants under an arc-shaped dome.
      It features views of the skybridge that stretches across the skyscrapers, which visitors can enjoy from enveloping seats in pale wood with an undulating, wave-like shape.

      For the interior of the hotel rooms, the studio used pale wood combined with beige and cream colours and softly curved walls.
      “The inspiration from the timeless ultra-luxury of contemporary sailing vessels is reflected in the ambience, furniture selections, finishes and guest rooms, ” CL3 said.

      The nautical theme is less apparent in the Jing restaurant, which has a dark stone floor and peacock blue detailing.
      The distinctive bar, where guests can sit and enjoy a meal, has been decked out in pale blue, bright blue and white stripes that pick up the blue hues in rest of the room.

      CL3 was also behind some of the residential areas in the complex, including the residential clubhouse inside the Crystal skybridge itself which has a swimming pool, gym and a spa, as well as private function rooms.
      Rattan lounge chairs with blue upholstery surround the pool, whose “modern shape and light colours reflect the rhythm of urban life,” the studio said.

      CL3 was founded in 1992. The studio is based in Hong Kong but also has offices in Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai.
      As well as the Raffles City Chongqing complex, Safdie Architects also designed a housing development in the city, Eling Hill, consisting of a set of stepped homes on a hill overlooking the Yangtze River.
      Photography is by Feng Shao.
      Project credits:
      Client: CapitalandProject name: Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles CityProject location: No. 2 Changjiang Binjiang Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, China 400010Completion time: 2020Interior design firm: CL3 ArchitectsInterior design team: William Lim, Jane Arnett, Simon Ho, Jun Tse, Katerin TheysArchitecture design firm: Safdie Architects

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      Kelly Wearstler's “fiercely local” Santa Monica Proper Hotel named AHEAD Americas Hotel of the Year

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      American designer Kelly Wearstler describes how she worked with local artisans and artists on the Santa Monica Proper Hotel in this video produced by Dezeen for the AHEAD Awards.Wearstler is the designer of Santa Monica Proper Hotel, a 271-room boutique hotel seven blocks away from the beach in Santa Monica, California.

      American interior designer Kelly Wearstler designed the Santa Monica Proper Hotel
      The project was named Hotel of the Year at the 2020 AHEAD Americas hospitality awards, as well as winner of the Guestrooms and Lobby & Public Spaces categories.

      The Californian interior designer, who has appeared as a judge on the Bravo reality show Top Design and designed homes for celebrities including Cameron Diaz and Gwen Stefani, described the hotel as “fiercely local” in an exclusive interview filmed by Dezeen.

      Santa Monica Proper Hotel was named Hotel of the Year at the AHEAD Americas awards 2020
      “We wanted to design a hotel where it felt like you’re in Santa Monica,” she said. “The inspiration came from everything that surrounds the hotel, the palm trees, the organic nature of the architecture, everything that you would find at the beach.”
      Natural and heavily textured materials, neutral colours and vintage furniture are used throughout the hotel to create a sensory experience that references Santa Monica’s beachside identity.

      Kelly Wearstler designs relaxed and beachy Santa Monica Proper hotel

      “There is a connection of materiality that speaks to the location” said Wearstler. “Organic materials, neutral colour stories, everything has a texture.”
      “There’s a patina, there’s a hand, there’s something that feels very warm.”

      The hotel also won in the Guestrooms and Lobby & Public Spaces categories
      Santa Monica Proper Hotel is filled with artworks and furniture pieces created specifically for the property by local artists and artisans.
      “Everything’s connected to somebody that is local in the city,” Wearstler said. “We’re so lucky to be in Los Angeles, the talent pool here is extraordinary.”

      The site comprises an historic 1920s building and a new curvilinear extension
      The site consists of the 1920s Santa Monica Professional Building, to which an extension by local firm Howard Laks Architects was added.
      “There’s an historic building that was built in 1928, in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, and then there’s a new contemporary building,” explained Wearstler. “We had to connect these two buildings with one voice.”

      Kelly Wearstler furnishes San Francisco Proper hotel with vintage European design

      “The atmosphere is something that’s just very relaxed,” the designer asserted. “When you come to California, it’s just super relaxed and it’s friendly, and there is a sense of style – it’s just cool. We can connect you to that coming to Santa Monica Proper.”
      The hotel is the latest in the Proper brand, which was founded by Wearstler’s developer husband Brad Korzen alongside hotelier Brian De Lowe, following the San Francisco Proper which Wearstler also designed.

      Wearstler collaborated with local artists and artisans to furnish Santa Monica Proper Hotel
      Previous hospitality collaborations from Wearstler and Korzen include the Tides hotel in South Beach, Florida, the Avalon and Maison 140 hotels in Beverly Hills, and hotels for the Viceroy brand in Miami, Palm Springs and Santa Monica.
      This year’s AHEAD Americas awards were shown in a video ceremony as part of Dezeen’s Virtual Design Festival after the event was called off due to the coronavirus pandemic. Previous winners of the Hotel of the Year award include the opulent Siren Hotel in Detroit and the Calistoga Motor Lodge and Spa, a renovated motel in California.

      Natural materials and neutral colours reference the hotel’s beachside location
      This video was produced by Dezeen for AHEAD. Photography is by The Ingalls and Matthieu Salvaing.

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      The Nest at Sossus guesthouse in Namibia features a thatched facade

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      South African designer Porky Hefer took cues from the amorphous shape of bird nests to create this off-grid guesthouse on a wildlife reserve in Namibia.The Nest at Sossus guesthouse is situated on the Namib Tsaris Conservancy, a 24,000-hectare reserve nestled between the Nubib and Zaris Mountains in Namibia’s Namib desert.

      It’s been designed by Porky Hefer to emulate the habitat of sociable weavers – a species of bird found in southern Africa known for building huge, bulging nests that are able to accommodate hundreds of birds at a time.

      The four-room guesthouse is an evolution of the nest-like seating nooks that Hefer has created in the past by weaving plant stalks across metal skeletons.

      “I was convinced that my smaller nests were bigger than a chair or a design piece,” said Hefer.
      “I designed these camps with nests all over them and then I tried the idea for three years, changing forms and materials according to the locations I was pitching them,” he continued.
      “People didn’t really get it and preferred four walls and a roof…but I kept on trucking.”

      When Hefer’s unusual accommodation concept was ultimately accepted by the owner of Namib Tsaris Conservancy, Swen Bachran, the designer did a series of hand-drawn sketches to consolidate what The Nest at Sossus would look like.

      Shipwreck Lodge’s wooden cabins evoke ships washed up on Namibia’s Skeleton Coast

      The three-storey guesthouse is completely off-grid and operates off its own supply of water and electricity. Like the nest of a sociable weaver, it swells at different points to form bulbous protrusions.

      Most of the facade is thatched with strands of reed harvested from northern Namibia, supported underneath by a hand-bent steel framework.
      Some walls have been built using rough chunks of granite that have been carefully arranged to emulate the bark of camelthorn trees, which populate the surrounding landscape.

      Walls inside the guesthouse are also thatched, but in some rooms have been set slightly apart from the external shell to allow for the insulation required during the colder months.
      Flooring and joinery throughout are crafted from Rhodesian teak wood.

      Hefer worked alongside his wife, Yelda Bayraktar, and creative consultant Maybe Corpaci to decorate the interiors.
      The trio opted to have the majority of the furniture built-in, much like components are in a nest, and relied on a handful of striking pieces to “bring in the modernism” – for example, the living area is anchored by a sunken Chesterfield-style sofa upholstered in oxblood-coloured leather.

      Outside, a swimming pool for guests has been created in the same space where there was once a dust bath for zebras.
      “The zebras have been known to join guests at the house’s outdoor movie theatre to enjoy the odd movie,” added Hefer, “and surprisingly the local troop of baboons have resorted to observing with interest rather than destroying out of curiosity.”

      Porky Hefer’s self-titled studio has been established since 2011. Prior to that he was running his own creative consultancy,  named Animal Farm. The Nest at Sossus is the designer’s first architectural project, and joins a growing number of design-focused spots to stay at in Namibia.
      Others include Shipwreck Lodge by Nina Maritz Architects, which comprises 10 rooms that are each meant to resemble ruined boats strewn along the sands of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast.
      Photography is by Katinka Bester.

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