New York-based practice Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects unveiled designs for the planned Mizengo Pinda Asali & Nyuki Sanctuary, to be built in Dodoma, Tanzania, earlier this week.
The earth-toned edifice built of locally sourced mud-fired bricks will host a honey extraction center, and, as the architects say, “will be an important educational and vocational tool in Tanzania.”
Three entities composed of American companies Follow the Honey and National Beekeeping Supplies, as well as Tanzanian-American enterprise Nyuki Safari Company, joined forces to make the facility a possibility, where efforts to support local beekeeping activities can be decentralized and improved.
“The partners hope to demonstrate how community-based resource management can stimulate return for all stakeholders and offer a means of economic independence to residents of rural communities,” the architecture firm said in a statement.
A cellular-patterned structure surrounding garden courts provides a framework for future expansion while fostering a sense of community, collaboration, and improvement.
Labor is sourced locally, and materials will be made on site. A custom brick bond recalls local weaving traditions, as it provides maximum ventilation to the building. The current design is intended to be built upon, accommodating expansion as the enterprise grows.
Construction on the Mizengo Pinda Asali & Nyuki Sanctuary project is set to start later this year.
Related Stories
| Oct 12, 2010
Richmond CenterStage, Richmond, Va.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Bronze Award. The Richmond CenterStage opened in 1928 in the Virginia capital as a grand movie palace named Loew’s Theatre. It was reinvented in 1983 as a performing arts center known as Carpenter Theatre and hobbled along until 2004, when the crumbling venue was mercifully shuttered.
| Oct 12, 2010
Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Gartner Auditorium was originally designed by Marcel Breuer and completed, in 1971, as part of his Education Wing at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Despite that lofty provenance, the Gartner was never a perfect music venue.
| Oct 12, 2010
The Watch Factory, Waltham, Mass.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards — Gold Award. When the Boston Watch Company opened its factory in 1854 on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, Mass., the area was far enough away from the dust, dirt, and grime of Boston to safely assemble delicate watch parts.
| Oct 12, 2010
Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, Cleveland, Ohio
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. The Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument was dedicated on the Fourth of July, 1894, to honor the memory of the more than 9,000 Cuyahoga County veterans of the Civil War.
| Oct 12, 2010
Building 13 Naval Station, Great Lakes, Ill.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. Designed by Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt and constructed in 1903, Building 13 is one of 39 structures within the Great Lakes Historic District at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.
| Oct 12, 2010
From ‘Plain Box’ to Community Asset
The Mid-Ohio Foodbank helps provide 55,000 meals a day to the hungry. Who would guess that it was once a nondescript mattress factory?
| Sep 22, 2010
Michael Van Valkenburg Assoc. wins St. Louis Gateway Arch design competition
Landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh and a multidisciplinary team of experts in “urban renewal, preservation, commemoration, social connections and ecological restoration” have been picked for the planning phase of The City+The Arch+The River 2015 International Design Competition.
| Sep 13, 2010
Second Time Around
A Building Team preserves the historic facade of a Broadway theater en route to creating the first green playhouse on the Great White Way.