Nurler Resort

Hospitality / Resort · Lutembwe, Chipata, Eastern Province, Zambia · In development

Nurler begins with water. Across 1.5 hectares, the land falls towards the dam. Suites and chalets occupy the higher ground among existing trees, maximising views while leaving the water’s edge largely open.

In the current masterplan, water is drawn into the development as a landscape sequence leading towards the central gathering space. The principal pavilion forms the project’s social heart and sits closest to the dam. From its deck, guests can launch a canoe and explore the water.

The architecture is intended to work through atmosphere rather than spectacle: deep thatched roofs, warm earth colours and locally sourced materials, with shade, views and the sound of water guiding movement through the resort.

The project is in early design development. These images are concept visualisations; nothing shown has yet been built or tested.

Typology Hospitality / Resort

Location Lutembwe, Chipata, Eastern Province, Zambia

Site Area 1.5 hectares, bordered by a stream and dam

Status Concept design / Early design development

Inspiration The eastern sunrise, regional craft and Chadzunda, a figure within the Chewa Nyau masquerade tradition

Collaborators Cygnus Engineering, civil/structural · Nkonki & Associates, cost consultants · Kangwa Mubanga (Mfumu Creative), brand design

Following the Land to Water

Buildings occupy the higher ground and follow the fall of the land towards the dam, preserving views and keeping the shoreline largely open.

Concept masterplan: suites and chalets set among trees on the higher ground, a water channel leading to the central gathering landscape, and the principal pavilion beside the dam

Concept masterplan showing accommodation set among existing trees, water drawn into the central gathering landscape, and the principal pavilion positioned closest to the dam for canoe access.

Concept masterplan · Subject to further design development

The Concept: Crafted as the Eastern Sunrise

Nurler’s emblem brings the eastern horizon into dialogue with an abstracted study of Chadzunda, a figure within the Chewa Nyau masquerade tradition. Its geometry and palette are intended to inform crafted details across the resort.

Commissioned work by local artists and makers will extend this language into the chalets.

Line study of a rising sun and feather, half drawn in dotted line

01 The rising sun among the flora of the eastern valleys

Study of a Chadzunda mask: the left half carved dark wood with fibre framing, furrowed brow, narrow nose and circular ear; the right half redrawn in line

02 Chadzunda: carved form studied through line

Line study of the Nurler emblem, half solid and half dotted

03 Emblem construction: landscape and mask brought into dialogue

Atmosphere, Shade and Water

Early atmosphere studies exploring earth, timber, woven fibre and filtered light.

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