ANKAYA

A residential and tourist complex in Zanzibar, Tanzania

The brief given by the investor was for a project of a residential complex, which is supposed to be branded as a resort complex for tourist needs, so as to make all single residence unit owners into shareholders. The property is placed on a plot of 18 decares, with a grove of coconut palm trees, immediately adjacent to the sandy beach. Genetically, the complex was to be developed in two stages: first: sale of the individual housing units: apartments, penthouses and detached villas, and second: the organization by the individual owners of a kind of branded cooperative, which would turn the complex into a tourist attractive village for IT nomads and kite surfers. The client request was for a combination of an apartment building with approximately 150 apartments and penthouses (later to be the hotel entity), and a series of 29 individual houses, (later to become villas for rent). Among the service sectors, special attention was paid to fitness and yoga spaces, a medical centre, lobby bars, a restaurant on the waterfront, etc. Due to the limited boundary of the plot face to the ocean, the design is expanding the water perimeter to the terrain and its residence facilities by introduction of a folded water serpentine, a “lagoon” (large scale swimming pool), that significantly extends the shoreline. Its banks are shaped as “dunes” rising 3 meters above the level of the existing terrain. Such landscape modelling of the terrain allows the villas to be directly overhanging the lagoon water with their terraces. The body of the apartment building was located at the bottom of the plot, in proximity to the entrance portal and transport approach to the complex. It is a three-story body planned as a flexible system of residences, based on a 60 sq m module. With a length of about 120 meters, the linear plan of the building and its gallery system of access to all units, allows all the apartments to have uninterrupted view to the ocean horizon. The modular flexibility allows the building to “react” to market demand by changing its apartment system in wide ranges: from 35 sq m studios, to 130 sq m apartments, and from 40 to 150 units depending on the preferred unit space. The penthouses are placed on the roof level as top end family houses with open gardens, terraces and pools. These residences can accordingly vary in floor areas in the range of 130 to 250 sq m of closed area per unit. The high free space under the building plays the role of an open lobby and reception area and gives the sea-seeking eye to find the ocean horizon from the moment one gets out of the car.

(In collaboration with Tower 151 Architects, Andrew Yeoman, and with consultancy on hospitality
issues by Henning Krippendorff)

Year: 2024
TFA: 12700 sq m, on a plot of 18000 sq m
Type: Residential and Tourist facility
Investor: Zanzi Island Ventures Limited
Status: in process of design