Studio: Uganda

Instructor: Michael Garrison

Semester: Fall 2012

*co-designed with Garland Fielder 

Murchison Falls National Park, in Northern Uganda offers a unique safari experience.  Slightly larger than Yosemite National Park, MFNP exhibits a wide variety of big game animals and over 450 species of birds.  The charge of this studio was to design a 21st century eco-safari lodge that would attract visitors from around the globe.

The Victoria Nile bisects the park and sets this safari location apart from those in Kenya and other parts of Africa.  For this reason, the presence of the Nile is a key feature of the site that inspired our design in three ways: 1) collection - for millenia, the Nile has had a magnetic quality, drawing both man and animals to its banks; 2) transportation - serving as a major thoroughfare, countless civilizations have relied on the Nile for travel; 3) adventure - with Class V rapids and 140 ft. waterfalls, the danger and beauty of the Nile is unforgettable.

RIVERWALL

The lodge is a collection of rooms attached to a central axis.  The axis serves as the singular circulation hall which connects all stages of a guest's experience.  Along the east side of this hall, a 104 foot long sculptural mapping of the Nile is cut into the stone.  Collected rainwater slowly spills out of the stone and ripples down the wall.  At the edge of the floor, a copper channel catches the water from the wall and carries it through the hall to the upper pool.  From the upper pool, it cascades down to the lower pool and over the edge of the lower pool to a catchment system that pumps the water back to the storage cisterns to be filtered before entering the cycle again.

SKY TENTS

Due west and visible from the lodge, one of the park's primary game trails brings a variety of animals to the riverbank.  A 300 foot pier invites visitors to walk 30' above the Nile out to a viewing platform for a more complete view of the animals and river.  Suspended from this pier, six, luxury "Sky Tents" provide a one-of-a-kind experience, where guests will sleep above the river with breathtaking views of the rapids upstream and the animals gathered downstream.

ANDREW GREEN