Rivergardens is a 4.5 hectare commercial and residential development situated on the northern fringes of Arusha in Tanzinia. It sits by the main road to Kilimanjaro airport and is lined with trees and vegetation, which have been preserved in the proposals as a wildlife corridor.
White Adamski, in collaboration with local architects Dust, have developed a masterplan for the whole site comprising 2,500m2 of commercial space and 27 residential plots, and provided the detailed design of the 1 hectare commercial site immediately adjacent to the road. The office and retail buildings on the commercial site are arranged around 2 courtyards, retail to the west and a less formal food quarter to the east. Tenants will include, amongst others: a supermarket, a bank, a health centre, local restaurants and a cafe.
The landscaping steps down and buildings reduce in scale across the site, allowing the smaller, more traditional typology of the food quarter to sit comfortably beside the wildlife corridor. The pitched roofs of the northern block provide a visual draw from the road and allow views out to the mountains beyond.