{"id":766031,"date":"2026-07-16T10:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T10:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/766031\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T10:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T10:04:13","slug":"these-invisible-buildings-are-hidden-in-the-namibian-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/766031\/","title":{"rendered":"These \u2018invisible buildings\u2019 are hidden in the Namibian desert"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n From towering converted castles<\/a> to Olympic-sized infinity pools perched nearly 1,000 feet above the ground<\/a>, luxury resorts are often, by design, hard to miss. Yet in Namibia, some high-end havens are being built in pursuit of a seemingly counterproductive aim: to be as difficult to find as possible.\n <\/p>\n

\n Invisible architecture, as it\u2019s known, is on the rise across the southern African country, as upscale retreats bid to offer an elusive brand of exclusivity by blending seamlessly into some of the region\u2019s most remote environments.\n <\/p>\n

\n Few locations anywhere on the planet are more isolated than Namibia\u2019s Skeleton Coast, an ends-of-the-Earth<\/a> 310-mile-long sandy expanse where 100-meter dunes spill into shores littered with shipwrecks.\n <\/p>\n

\n As lions, elephants and sharks drift between the abandoned vessels, the rusting corpses are effectively the only signs of humanity to be found within \u201cThe Gates of Hell.\u201d<\/a> That is until you peer a little closer through the Atlantic fog at 10 of the beached structures in Skeleton Coast National Park.\n <\/p>\n

\n Doing so reveals Shipwreck Lodge, an assortment of luxury cabins designed to mimic the beached boats from which \u2014 in addition to the bleached bones of whales and seals washed ashore during the whaling era \u2014 the region takes its name.\n <\/p>\n

\"Shipwreck<\/p>\n

\n Opened in 2018, they are the brainchild of prominent Namibian architect Nina Maritz, who set out to recreate the desperate feeling of searching for shelter that scores of stranded sailors experienced there centuries ago.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen you get there, there is a really strong sense of remoteness, of being really in the middle of nowhere, the farthest away from anywhere you can get on the planet,\u201d Maritz told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere\u2019s something that happens when you go inside a building and it goes quiet around you and out of the wind. It\u2019s like a catharsis, which I think very few people experience anymore \u2014 we\u2019re not in tune with our senses.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cSo when I designed the building, I wanted to kind of recreate that feeling so that people can go there and they can get that feeling of, \u2018I\u2019m exhausted. I\u2019ve been in the sun and the sand and the wind all day and now I have refuge.\u2019 It\u2019s this contrast between the scale and the immensity of the landscape and how much bigger it is than we are.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Equipped with king-size beds, private bathrooms and Wi-Fi, the cabins offer weary travelers far silkier sanctuaries than those which mariners could have fashioned from the remains of their broken ships. Yet the decision to imitate the rudimental designs that castaways could have lashed together was just one aspect of a more complex visual approach.\n <\/p>\n

\"Maritz<\/p>\n

\n In Maritz\u2019s eyes, buildings placed in nature should always come second to the surrounding environment. As such, the cabins are built with weathered timber \u2014 simple enough to remove if the resort\u2019s concession from the Namibian government one day ends \u2014 and positioned intentionally to have no impact on the skyline.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe whole experience of a place like the Skeleton Coast is that we are not here to dominate. We are subordinate, so it is very important that we place it in some way that we don\u2019t see it,\u201d Maritz explained.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cNow, unfortunately, architecture has become kind of embroiled in an aesthetic pursuit that ignores all the other aspects of buildings. And for me, aesthetics is one of the many functions that buildings have \u2026 I\u2019m more interested in making eternal, long-serving architecture than making fashion statements.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Head inland to the rocky desert plains of Damaraland, and another luxury escape is doing its very best not to be found. In the case of Onduli Enclave, though, the natural landscape does not hide the architecture so much as it is the architecture.\n <\/p>\n

\n Built high into a granite outcrop that overlooks Brandberg Mountain, Namibia\u2019s highest peak, the enclave is a private villa promising all the perks of a glamorous resort amid the arid 1,540-square-mile confines of the Doro Nawas Conservancy \u2014 home to an estimated mere 1,500 people but a teeming array of wildlife, from black rhinos<\/a> to leopards and cheetahs.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cFloating\u201d on stilts with reddish-tinted roofs that blend with the surrounding rock, the villa comprises a series of interconnected canopied rooms, with stairs leading up to an outdoor pizza oven, campfire circle and pool.\n <\/p>\n

\n Inside, three climate-controlled suites fitted with frameless glass stacking doors offer panoramic views of the surrounding landscape, skirted by a decking that props up wood-fire hot tubs and loungers.\n <\/p>\n

\"Onduli<\/p>\n

\n After a swim in the pool, guests can unwind by scoping out the nearby waterhole with pairs of Swarovski binoculars, provided by a staff that includes a chef and butler.\n <\/p>\n

\n Among the team is Berwald Awiseb, one of the retreat\u2019s private guides whose responsibilities include black rhino tracking tours and \u2014 most importantly of all \u2014 helping travelers find the villa to begin with.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cSometimes I would get funny questions like, \u2018How far are we? Is it there?\u2019\u201d Awiseb recalled.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOnce we are approaching, if they start to see the building, they are amazed. Especially when they start to see it looking like it\u2019s literally falling off a mountain.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s an approach intentionally choreographed by designer Trevor Nott, who \u2014 long before the site hosted its first residents in 2024 \u2014 envisioned a herd of metal giraffes, protruding from a granite boulder, signaling the end of the travelers\u2019 search for their lodging.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s extremely important that you don\u2019t see this thing when you travel up towards it,\u201d Nott explained.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou walk up and then this thing opens up \u2026 suddenly the whole world is open to you. The Brandberg in the background and these little granite inselbergs (isolated boulders) are dotted all over. You just have to stand there and get tears in your eyes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Formerly an ecologist at Etosha National Park, Nott is a self-taught designer who has kept his nature-focused roots. Translating to giraffe in the local language, Onduli was built \u201corganically\u201d from the ground up, said Nott.\n <\/p>\n

\n Much of the villa\u2019s biodegradable materials were sourced locally, be it calcrete (limestone soil and gravel) sourced from nearby pits or logs from dead trees in local woodlands.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe way you do it is with what\u2019s around you,\u201d Notts said. \u201cYou pick up whatever there is around you and then you grow this thing organically.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From towering converted castles to Olympic-sized infinity pools perched nearly 1,000 feet above the ground, luxury resorts are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-766031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}