La Hilir: the eco glamping retreat hand-built from the forest floor up in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

Each tent faces something different. The first looks into the woods, the second toward the creek, the third toward a pool Casal had already placed in his mind years before there were funds to build it. The openings face outward rather than toward the communal areas, so each tent has its own view, while the shared spaces — dining, whirlpool, fire pits — serve the group collectively.

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The platforms rest on individual concrete footings rather than a continuous slab, an approach Casal borrowed from observing traditional houses in the surrounding villages. A poured slab would have interrupted the natural water movement across the site. The footings hold each platform at least a foot off the ground. During the construction of one tent, a budding anau palm — a species endemic to this part of Negeri Sembilan — turned up growing in the footprint. Casal redesigned around it. Six years on, the tree shades the tent for much of the day.

The pool required fifteen workers pouring concrete by hand through the night. Bringing machinery into the forest would have required clearing a path, which Casal was not willing to do.

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Timber throughout the property came from a local supplier that buys abandoned kampung houses and sells the salvaged materials. The outdoor dining table was built from it, as was the television counter in each tent and a console table constructed on an old sewing machine base. The pendant lights above the dining table hang from a piece of driftwood pulled from the creek on the property. Before any furniture decision was made on aesthetic grounds, three questions came first: was it available, would it last, and could it be replaced when its time came.

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The Isfahan carpet in each tent was the exception; for this, Casal spent time at a local shop going through patterns, looking for something that would sit comfortably in a canvas tent inside a forest without feeling incongruous. The bedding is entirely white, while cushions and throws work in earth tones against the natural canvas of the tents.

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As the property sits inside the canopy rather than at its edge, harsh midday light does not reach it. What comes through instead is diffused and constantly shifting, and during daylight hours, the tents need no artificial light at all. At night, three sources layer within each tent: a central pendant for utility, a table lamp at ground level, and, depending on the tent, a third accent light on the bedside table or television counter. The pendant wire runs down the centre pole, wrapped in jute.

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An outdoor kitchen is currently under construction adjacent to the existing dining area, and a new accommodation type is planned when resources allow. What Casal finds himself watching, more than any physical detail, is whether guests understand what they’re looking at. “Most people, when they have resources, build more,” he says. “The instinct is always toward addition. Some guests would suggest things we could add, expand, or develop further, and they mean it kindly. But knowing when to stop is its own kind of design decision. The empty spaces here are intentional. The fact that the forest is still mostly forest is not a limitation we haven’t gotten around to fixing. It’s the whole point.”

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