Inferno Sanctuary: safeguarding and revitalising Knysna Forest's indigenous vegetation and wildlife against past and future forest fires

Abstract

The Inferno Sanctuary is a wild fire-resistant conservation and ecotourism building design intended to be placed at the heart of the Garden Route National Park (GRNP) in Western Cape, South Africa. The site chosen is the abandoned mining town of Millwood and is an opportunity for reactivation of activity in the area. The region is prone to unpredictable and reoccurring wildfire attacks which spread quickly and get hot enough to destroy structures, endanger lives, and put the naturally occurring forest biome at risk. One of the biggest concerns with the capricious fires is that the alien invasive vegetation in the region tends to repair faster than the native fynbos and century-old trees in protected areas, leaving no room for the indigenous plant life to thrive. The Inferno Sanctuary provides a forest-central space that becomes a place of proactive wild-fire ready defence, landscape repair, wildlife research and education through public engagement. The unassuming building will have a big impact in removing and replacing invasive species in the wake of the fires. Ephemerality contrasted with permanence is embraced with tectonic biophilic elements to reduce the tendency of fire-resistant architecture typologies to resemble a closed-off bunker. The hope is that the Inferno Sanctuary will be able to resist bushfires and allow for repair (both in the building as well as the wider region) while becoming a sanctuary for those who use it. The building should be secondary to nature, meaning that users should appreciate and acknowledge their surroundings resulting from the building. The Inferno Sanctuary will serve to remind us of how the region’s fynbos is our heritage, and much like the building, must be conserved at all costs.