The Coronavirus Pandemic caused a devastating affect on the global economy. International travel ground to a holt for two years. The pacific island nations were some of the worst affected- around 40% of Fiji’s GDP comes from Tourism, so almost no income in this sector for two years has a devastating effect on peoples livelihoods.

The Urata Look Out Cafe project was a collaboration between the Urata Village Community and Savusavu Rotary Club to create a project which would appeal to the domestic tourism industry and generate a sustained income for the village people.

In 2020, the Savusavu Rotary Club responded to a call out by the US Embassy Fiji for applications for covid recovery grant funded projects with the proposal and discovered that they had been successful in their application.

The well known ‘Look Out’ site sits on the road between Labasa and Savusavu, the two main towns on Vanua Levu Island. It was a place where passers by often stopped to take in the view or have picnics. This meant that the site of outstanding natural beauty was often full of litter. This made for the perfect location for the cafe which would utilise the incredible site and prevent further littering and destruction of the site.

Following a lengthy process of community consultation, the business plan for the cafe was created and the brief for the space was developed alongside CAUKIN Studio.

The building contains a public facing cafe space with a large verandah, internal seating, kitchen space, servers and two public toilets. In addition, the building features a private caretaker’s residence, large enough for a couple, including a private verandah, open plan living space and ensuite bathroom.

Lease rental from the cafe space will go directly to the community with terms in place that require the cafe operator to employ a number of community members in the daily operations as well as a live in community caretaker.

The building was designed as a timber portal frame structure, enabling the frames to be prefabricated down in the village before being transported to the site and craned into place. The structure, with the help of ARUP Structural Engineers, has been designed to withstand future natural disasters.

The building features a striking form which exposes it’s cross bracing structure with the main facade aspecting to the road, attracting potential customers passing by in.

A series of tri-folding doors envelope the public cafe space, enabling the whole cafe to open up to the view on sunny days for an al-fresco coffee feel. The three main openings to the front of the building frame the incredible view across the bay towards Savusavu Town.

A flexible internal space allows for a variation of seating arrangements as well as the potential for the whole building to be hired out for private events.

We would like to say a huge thank you to all those that contributed to this project by way of donation, supply of materials or just a helping hand! A special mention to Judy and Seremiah Cakacaka for their dedication to the project and support during it’s construction and to ARUP Engineers Cardiff, who worked on the structural scheme and joined us on site during the project’s construction!