The Nesting Hut // Rachel Reinhard and Sam Bell-Hart

The Nesting Hut was developed for a competition seeking designs for a short-stay “hut” at a yoga retreat in Kep, Cambodia. The design needed to be simple to construct, economical, capable of being sited in a variety of locations, and an example of sustainable building in Cambodia.The Nesting Hut offers guests a modest, yet flexible space for their stay.

A traditional, climatically-adapted form is enclosed with shade netting to provide thermal comfort and protection from insects. Bamboo blinds afford guests control over levels of light and privacy between a series of spaces. At once intimate and open, the hut contains the potential to take in the surroundings.Lifted above the ground plane, the hut becomes its own space, ideal for relaxation and meditation, and protected from the possibility of flooding.

When the huts are placed in proximity to one another the same shade netting that comprises the primary envelope also appears beyond the footprint of the hut. The versatile material is strategically placed within the landscape to mediate views between huts and walking paths. Nested within the landscape, the huts provide the solace of meditative isolation while maintaining connection to the community at the Vine Retreat.Programming for the huts was determined by a typical stay of 4 to 5 days.

It allows guests to adapt the space for a range of activities and to varying degrees of privacy. The interior of the hut is arranged into three bays, demarcated by structure, serving the activities of resting, changing, and washing. Each bay is enclosed by a combination of shade netting and bamboo blinds, providing a series of spaces that alternately feel intimate and expansive, open to views of the landscape beyond..

The Nesting Hut Gallery