gorongosa biodiversity research centre
eco-tourism residential institutional master planning other
Gorongosa Biodiversity Centre
Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique is co-managed by ANAC (the Mozambique National Park Authority) and the Carr Foundation from America. Greg Carr signed a 10-year agreement (recently extended by another 10 years) to fund priority aspects of the Park’s management, focussed on conservation and community issues. One of his visions was the creation of a world-class facility in which scientists and researchers from all over the world can work, thereby growing awareness of the Park’s biodiversity – said to be among the highest in the world.
This led to the appointment of C&CA who provided a masterplan for the development of Chitengo Camp (the hub of Gorongosa) and the E O Wilson Biodiversity Research Centre. The first phase of this facility was completed in … and officially opened by Dr E O Wilson – the man who coined the term “biodiversity”. The buildings incorporate an unique passive design principle, whereby hot air in buildings are drawn upwards and out of roofs aided by a solar stack which forms an integral part of the roof design. Colder air underneath the buildings (which are lifted off the ground and built with a lightweight LSF system) are drawn into the buildings through openings in the floor. This unique ventilation system is found in nature also, in termite mounds, ensuring habitable conditions inside the nests.
An interview with architect Niel Crafford can be found here:
http://www.gorongosa.org/blog/park-news/architecture-without-boundaries
