Adobe walls rise up out of the landscape
to form a low open building facing southwest toward a public Amphitheater.The city of Bandiagara serves as the
gateway to Pays Dogon, a place rich in natural beauty and seat of the Dogon
culture for over 600 years. The eco-tourism center for this UNESCO
world-heritage site is part green design, part urban planning – incorporating a
vision of tree-lined streets, green space, and a visitor center that will be a
model for sustainable community-building. The team worked with the US Forest
Service and Solimar International to coordinate site selection, assess local/regional
capacity, and develop this vision with city leaders and the Cristina Nardone
Foundation. Funding was provided for by the USAID Global Sustainable Tourism
Alliance initiative.Located in the center of Bandiagara, the
site is made up of landforms that evoke the cultural landscape of Pays Dogon
(Dogon country). Stone retaining walls create stacked low terraces planted with
indigenous wild and cultivated plants. Adobe walls rise up out of the landscape
to form a low open building facing southwest toward a public Amphitheater. The
building is open to trade winds blowing from the southwest and shaped to
provide buffering from the windblown dust storms of the Harmattan out of the
east. Elements of Dogon culture inspire the details – carved rain scuppers, indigo blankets,
caiman masks, and the concept of the Kanaga linking heaven and earth, man and
spirit. A sinuous thread of bioswales wind their way across the north edge of
the site collecting rainwater to nourish plants and trees in the dry season.
The facility is designed with low impact development and passive building
strategies to provide clean water, fresh air, and natural light while
celebrating the cultural heritage of the people of Dogon.
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