The Nest guesthouse – Namibia

South African designer Porky Hefer took cues from the the birds nests of the sociable weaver that dot the landscape to create this unique 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 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 also an evolution of the nest-like seating nooks that Hefer has created in the past by weaving plant stalks across metal skeletons, in-which he is well known for.
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.