Reel to Real in Uganda

Maisha Film Lab headquarters

  • 1 / 12

    Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda

    The new headquarters of Maisha Film Lab wants to synthesize life in cinema and architecture. Maisha is a non-profit training initiative for emerging African filmmakers, founded by Mira Nair in Kampala, Uganda. Maisha Film Garden is cultural, environmental and architectural project to see and narrate a new Africa. It is intended to sum up life in cinema and architecture. The project is conceived as a film sequence inspired by the evolution of life, as Maisha means life in Kiswahili.

  • 2 / 12

    Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda

    The headquarters is the heart of the project; it houses the school management, a video archive, a video room with 54 seats and two editing rooms, as well as some services for the garden. It is the first and the last leg of the living path. Symbolically it represents the beginning and the end of the human adventure.

  • 3 / 12

    Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda

    Mira Nair created the Maisha Foundation to address the absence of a viable film industry in Africa.

  • 4 / 12

    Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda

    The mission is to empower artists by giving them the tools to tell their stories in a global scene.

  • 5 / 12

    Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda

    The project is inspired by the shape of the kilns and by the technology of brick.

  • 6 / 12

    Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda

    The bricks are hand made using kilns made on site in order to promote local production.

  • 7 / 12

    Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda

    The technology of brick is used for the two types vaulted ceilings.

  • 8 / 12

    Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda

    Its proximity to Lake Victoria endows the area with an eye-catching panoramic view.

  • 9 / 12

    Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda

    It is a building made entirely of bricks and a theater/terrace overlooking the landscape.

  • 10 / 12

    Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda

    The walking path includes functional activities and reveals sights of cultural relevance.

  • 11 / 12

    LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 for Middle East Africa prize handover ceremony, Nairobi

    Acknowledgement prize winner TAMassociati of Trieste and Venice, Italy represented by (l-r): Massimo Lepore and Raul Pantaleo for Reel to Real: Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda.

  • 12 / 12

    Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda

    TAMassociati, architects, Trieste and Venice, Italy

  • Awards Acknowledgement prize 2017–2018 Middle East Africa

By Raul Pantaleo - TAMassociati, Trieste, Italy; Simone Sfriso, Massimo Lepore - TAMassociati, Venice, Italy and

Ideas: Circular Design

Film training center in East Africa conceived as a cinematic series of spaces wrapped in brick and intended to empower a new generation of filmmakers to see and narrate their experiences for a global audience.

The building’s reduced material palette, consisting almost entirely of bricks produced from high-quality local clay, establishes an appropriate cinematic framework for a range of spatial sequences.

Reel to Real in Uganda

Project authors

  • LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 for Middle East Africa prize handover ceremony, Nairobi
    Raul Pantaleo

    TAMassociati

    Italy

  • Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda
    Simone Sfriso

    TAMassociati

    Italy

  • LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 for Middle East Africa prize handover ceremony, Nairobi
    Massimo Lepore

    TAMassociati

    Italy

  • Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda
    Laura Candelpergher

    TAMassociati

    Italy

  • Maisha Film Lab headquarters, Kampala, Uganda
    Enrico Vianello

    TAMassociati

    Italy

Project updates