In the extensive refurbishment of And Beyond’s Sossusvlei Lodge set on South African–based Fox Browne Creative, one of South Africa’s leading luxury lodge design and development teams, with architect Jack Alexander, placed the emphasis on the surreal desert landscape, with floor-to-ceiling glass walls, large private verandas with outdoor showers and fire pits, and desert-inspired accents like semiprecious agate and quartz.

As a luxury lodge in such a special and unique location, our ambition was threefold: create an extraordinary guest experience, design structures that are in harmony with the natural setting and minimise human impact on this sensitive environment. All three of these have been done through the architectural design that has been developed.

The real story here is the clever and intentional repurposing of the old 90s buildings to create something contemporary, timeless and appropriate within the landscape - without wasting the already heavy infrastructure that was previously built or creating another scar on the landscape.