To understand the South African wilderness, you need to immerse yourself in the landscape, taking in the omnipresence of nature: the sounds of chirping birds and frogs, whistling wind through the trees, and the rustling of the grass in the breeze. It was this atmosphere that Belgian brothers Xavier and Damien Huyberechts wanted to capture when they built the Witklipfontein Eco Lodge in the Vredefort Dome area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that marks the world’s largest impact crater roughly 75 miles southwest of Johannesburg.

“It was love at first sight,” says architect Xavier Huyberechts of the site, which is characterized by a dramatic impact crater—the world’s oldest and largest. “The farm has a variety of landscapes—plains, hills, two dams, and a canyon-like river stretch—all in a relatively small area of 200 hectares [494 acres],” he says. “The hills are so smooth and gentle; tranquillity and harmony are the main words that come to mind.” " layout="wide" credit="Photograph by Elsa Young" photoUserId=""/>

The brothers originally built Witklipfontein Eco Lodge as a family home, but they soon decided to rent it out to guests to help with the running costs of the farm. “We try to come once a month, however, to spend good family time together in nature,” says Xavier, principal at Johannesburg firm GLH Architects. “We have a large vegetable garden, a green house, goats, and chickens—we can almost live completely autonomously.”

Xavier and Damien, who worked as the builder, designed the idyllic holiday home to sit softly on the landscape, creating as small a visual impact as possible. To achieve this, the pair used earth-and-stone walls that speak of the local vernacular. They describe “lifting up” the landscape to insert the house beneath it, carpeting the green roof in native plants. “The aim was to have the house disappear as much as possible and still have the living areas open widely to the outside,” Xavier says.

“On the mountain side, you can only see the green roof, and on the plains side we kept the house behind trees to create a ‘buffer’ between the animals and humans,” the architect continues. “A lot of people do not understand this approach and would have cut all the trees in front of the house—but that’s not our style and way.”

Approached from the hillside, the lodge’s entrance leads down between its two green-roofed wings and extends through an entrance hall to the open kitchen, living, and dining area. The primary living spaces connect to a stoep (Afrikaans for veranda) through 16-foot-high stacking doors. “It’s like living in nature, just protected from the sun by a cool, shading roof,” says the architect. “We like to blur the boundaries between inside and outside, but still be able to close the house when it’s cold, windy, or raining.”

The dining area includes a 12-person table situated between the lounge and covered patio." layout="" credit="Photograph by Elsa Young" photoUserId=""/>

Adjacent to the living area is one of the more unusual spaces in the home: A circular room known as “the dome” that’s completely enclosed apart from a door and an oculus that brings natural light into the space. “It serves as a relaxing meditation space, but is also ideal for family board games or reading,” Xavier says.

The entrance hall also leads to a separate passage that offers access to the bedrooms, which have space for 10 guests. There are two identical family suites, each with a king-size bed, a full bath, and a steel ladder that leads to a mezzanine-level sleeping area with two single beds. The main bedroom is located at the end of the hallway and features an en suite bathroom that dramatically opens to the landscape.

The lodge is characterized by its thick stone and compressed earth block (CEB) walls, which were used to bring warmth and a variety of textures to the interior spaces. The combination of operable glazing and protective shutters with the heavy thermal mass walls, floors, and green roof help regulate temperatures throughout the building.

The walls were constructed using earth from the excavations to avoid material transformation and transport. The granite floors are made of off-cuts and waste material from quarries." layout="" credit="Photograph by Elsa Young" photoUserId=""/>

“All of the walls and the green roof are thermal storage elements that help regulate the temperature of the house,” Xavier says. The sustainable construction helps keep the home cool in summer and warm in winter, with no need for artificial heating or cooling, apart from the two large fireplaces in the primary living areas.

“Being our own client left us quite naked—there was nobody to tell us what to do or what budget to stick to,” Xavier says. “It was an incredible achievement to design, build, and complete such a project ourselves. Although it was quite a tough and long process, it was worth all the sweat. It is a very rewarding life experience.”

Learn more about the Witklipfontein Eco Lodge and/or book a stay here.

A Floating South African Cabin Borrows From the Landscape

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: GLH Architects / @glhplus

Builder/General Contractor: Damien Huyberechts

Structural Engineer: Pure Consulting / @pure_consulting

Interior Design: Dorothée Dehon

Marble Offcuts: VT Marble & Granite

Photography: Elsa Young

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