Nanga Sumpa Lodge
Nanga Sumpa Lodge at Ulu Ai, Sarawak is the flagship jungle lodge for Borneo Adventure. The new building will provide a range of spaces including a dining room, a library, river and forest view rooms, a dormitory, and a staff wing – giving a fresh face to a much loved lodge.
The building is conceived as a floating, elevated plane beneath a protective sweeping roof form, unified by a central courtyard. The program of the building is separated loosely into three wings: public, private, and support – all linked by the shared courtyard. Each wing is specifically oriented to maximize its connection to the surrounding landscape and take advantage of prevailing breezes.
The main dining area is perched on the river’s edge – opening up to dramatic views of the ever changing river and the rainforest canopy. Outdoor decks on either side – a cantilevered river deck and a sheltered forest living room, flank this central space. A new library sits at the river end. River and Forest View rooms extend into the jungle, offering a quiet refuge and a more private experience of the sites diversity of flora and fauna. The staff wing – which also contains the entrance lobby – acts as a mediator between the lodge and the longhouse, providing both privacy and a point of contact for visitors and community members/staff. Anchoring the far edge of the courtyard, a dormitory provides room for large groups and long-term guests.
Inside and out, the design takes many cues from the typology of the traditional Iban longhouse and their healthy weaving and craft culture. The building is clad with woven bamboo panels and varying timber screen, which create a playful mosaic of light patterns and rhythms, as well as various levels of transparency throughout the lodge. Larger openings and sliding screen windows create ‘pools of light,’ mirroring the longhouse Ruai with its many doors.
…while adding a few new twists such as a leech field to treat septic tank effluent; stabilised earthbags for foundations, and the use of biocrete for insulation and evaporative cooling.
Close to 200 years old, the Nanga Sumpa community sits at the confluence of the Sumpa and Delok Rivers in a remote area of Sarawak called Ulu Ai (Upper Ai River). Located close to the Sarawak-Kalimantan (Indonesia) border, this isolated region serves as a gateway to the Batang Ai National Park and the Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary – protected forests that harbour Sarawak’s last remaining wild orangutans.
Borneo Adventure strives to offer an alternative to the usual ‘staged’ forms of cultural tourism, working hard to forge a meaningful and sustainable partnership between hosts and visitors, where visitors experience the local lifestyle on the host’s own terms. Borneo Adventure have been working with the Ulu Ai community for over 25 years- the longest partnership between a tour operator and a community in the country. The focus of trips to Ulu Ai is the experience of upriver travel; traveling by longboat, visiting the longhouse, hiking in the jungle, visiting farms and experiencing the day-to-day life of a small farming community.
