NOKA LAPALALA, THE EDGE OF THE WILD

SITE LOCATION: Waterberg, Lapalala Reserve, South Africa

Noka rests on an astonishing 100ft clifftop within the 50,000-hectare Lapalala Wilderness Reserve. Overlooking the winding Palala River, this luxury, off-the-grid camp offers breathtaking views of the reserve and a unique position to enjoy the spectacular sunsets.

SCOPE OF WORK

Textile Architecture and Engineering

Our scope was to design-engineer, supply, and supervise the installation of tensile membrane roof structures, insulated canvas walls, ceiling envelopes, and privacy screens for this signature camp's five luxury suites and main areas.

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Complex engineering processes drove the project's design strategy to arrive at a de-cluttered, highly optimized ecological structures that sit harmoniously in their surroundings upon a visually exposed relief.

We successfully overcame the challenges of the complex rocky ridge topography and local climate conditions by individually shaping and engineering each unit's tensile membrane and steel structure. In addition, we optimized each membrane's Cp factor (shape coefficient) to limit the wind pressure impact by adjusting the roof's curvature and cable specifications. 

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Engineered canvas corner trim and frame fixing details tie the high-performance canvas cladding (interior and exterior) and textile ceilings softly together into our tensile frames.