The dome roofs and stone cladding give the Suyian Lodge, a Safari resort in Kenya, from the British companies Michaelis Boyd and the South African studios Nicholas Plewman Architects and Fox Browne Creative an organic look.
The resort is located within the 17,806 hectare Suyian Conservancy Nature Reserve in Laikipia and offers 15 independent villas for the luxury safari company & Beyond.
In addition to the villas, Michaelis Boyd, Nicholas Plewman Architects and Fox Browne Creative have also created a wellness center, a bar, a restaurant and a photo suite for the resort.
The structures are all designed in such a way that they are not built in a network and with natural materials to respect the surrounding landscape.
“The structure in such a remote and ecologically sensitive environment made the challenges of logistics and minimal intervention, but also offered the opportunity to design a lodge that feels deeply integrated into the natural and cultural landscape,” said Alex Michaelis, co -founder of Michaelis Boyd.
“The dome shapes reflect the nearby rock suggestions, while the color, the texture and materiality of architecture seamlessly fit into the environment and create a lodge that feels as if it has emerged organically from its surroundings,” he told Dezeen.
The Suyian Lodge is divided over several structures that are distributed over the huge nature reserve. In addition to a pool and wellness center, the main lodge contains a bar, a restaurant and a lounge with a sauna, a yoga and a gym. There are also 14 villas with a bedroom and a villa with two bedrooms.
Each of these is positioned in accordance with the contours and rocky editions of the landscape and aligned at the sunrise, visible by large terraces that are protected under wood roofing.
The arched shape of the villas is intended to create a spacious feeling in the bedroom and in the living area, while in the wellness areas rotating wooden shops enable to be completely opened into the landscape.
The stone cladding and tones from the region cover the outside of the buildings, while pale lime plaster and dark wood are used for the interiors, which were monitored by FOX Browne Creative.
“The curved, vegetation-covered roofs are to be emphasized as the defining gesture of the design, an architectural language that is rarely seen in African Safari Lodges,” said Michaelis.
“The villas consist of three interconnected vaulted areas, a living area, a bedroom and a bathroom that is connected by vaulted ceilings and opens on a terrace in full length with diving pools and shower outdoors,” he added.
The systems of Suyian Lodge are designed as possible, whereby the complex is not completely network and is driven by solar energy and water sources from boreholes.
The surrounding landscape was shot again with local planting, led by Nairobi Landscape Architect Tufaha Africa, and is complete with an elephant fence that enables the animals to roam to its extent.
Nicholas Plewman Architects and Michaelis Boyd previously worked in the Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge, a boutique Safari Lodge in Botswana.
In South Africa, Nicholas Plewman Architects worked with Studio Asaï to create the Tembo -Tembo Lodge, which was built with Rammed Earth in relation to the site nerves of the location.
Photography takes place by & Beyond/Dook.