7/27/2023 0 Comments Dian fossey gorilla fund campus![]() ![]() ![]() MASS and the Fossey Fund began working together in 2015. Once feared by Dian Fossey to be extinct by the year 2000, mountain gorillas represent a rare conservation success story, with the population in the region growing from a low of 250 in the 1980s to more than 600 today. Its work combines daily protection and study of individual gorillas with people-centered programs aimed at training the next generation of African conservationists and addressing the basic needs of the people who share the gorillas’ forest home through food and water security, livelihood, and education programs. The campus will do more than inspire a generation of conservation activists in Rwanda, it will model new ways for global conservationists to bind ecosystems and communities in support of one another." Purpose-Built: MASS and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Collaborationįounded by the legendary Dian Fossey, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is the world’s largest and longest-running organization dedicated to gorilla conservation. For this campus, that meant the prioritization of local labor, customized fabrication of furniture and fittings created by Rwandan artisans, and environmental stewardship that aligns with the goals of conservation and habitat protection. ¨When new buildings, landscapes, and institutions are conceived in the way that the Fossey Fund and Ellen DeGeneres have imagined-to have as much impact as possible-reciprocal opportunities are created. "The campus demonstrates how new infrastructure can catalyze conservation and species protection,” said Michael Murphy, MASS Design Group Founding Principal and Executive Director. The project employed more than 2,400 Rwandans in its design and construction, accounting for 99 percent of the total labor. The campus also marked the first project completed by MASS’s construction company, MASS.Build. This shift is not just important for the Fossey Fund, but for the region and the world.”įrom the start, MASS and the Fossey Fund worked in partnership to develop all aspects of the project-from visioning, architectural and landscape design, engineering, construction, furniture fabrication, exhibition design, and media-while leveraging its impact on the surrounding community and advancing the Fossey Fund’s mission. “The beauty of the campus elevates people’s thinking about conservation, helping them realize how important conservation is. Tara Stoinski, the Fossey Fund’s President and Chief Scientific Officer. “From the outset, the mission of this project was focused on creating a space to engage the many stakeholders in conservation-students, scientists, tourists, conservation partners, community members-to advance our collective goal of saving gorillas and more broadly, the planet,” said Dr. An extensive living laboratory was created on the former agricultural site through the planting of more than 250,000 native plants and the use of green roofs, rainwater harvesting, and a constructed wetland for wastewater treatment. The campus was named one of Africa’s 10 most anticipated architectural projects, featured on CBS’s 60 Minutes, and in Architectural Digest. Local labor and materials were used throughout design and construction to minimize the campus footprint, develop an immersive reforested landscape, and ensure job training and economic return to the local community while creating a modern facility for public use and education.Īdjacent to the Volcanoes National Park on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the campus has three main buildings: the Sandy and Harold Price Research Center, the Cindy Broder Conservation Gallery, and the Rob and Melani Walton Education Center, as well as housing for visiting students and researchers. The 12-acre campus models MASS’s “Purpose-Built” methodology, which balances and evaluates capital infrastructure alongside a project's mission, design, and feasibility. ![]() The new multi-building campus is a $15 million investment that anchors the region as a conservation hub for ecological preservation and education in Africa. MUSANZE DISTRICT & KIGALI, Rwanda, J– The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, The Ellen Fund, and MASS Design Group celebrated the opening of The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Fossey Gorilla Fund in a ceremony at the campus this week. The campus, positioned in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda is a global model for ecologically responsible design and construction
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