The client wished to rehabilitate an old coffee plantation on the slopes of Mount Meru, Tanzania, converting it into a botanical garden and stingless bee sanctuary.
The welcome centre was to accommodate a restaurant, gift shop, ablutions, and condos and a wifi cafe for visiting researchers studying stingless bees and other insects, animals and plants. We opted to refurbish the existing building, extending it to accommodate the full program, and creating a courtyard with views out over the dense forest. laundry and staff accommodation are located behind the building, in prefab structures in line with the language of the Phoenix House Bungalows. The welcome centre would serve as the starting point of the day-visit trail through the gardens. The courtyard would serve as a spill out space for picnicking visitors from schools
The proposed material/colour palette included charcoal roof sheeting (to match bungalows), neutral painted plaster walls, raw concrete floors with brass transitions strips, and terracotta breeze block feature walls, inspired by the beehive structures, to aid in shading and ventilation, and as with the bungalows create a glowing lantern effect at night
