The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Fossey Gorilla Fund / MASS Design Group

The campus, positioned in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda is a global model for ecologically responsible design and construction. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, The Ellen Fund, and MASS Design Group celebrated the opening of The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Fossey Gorilla Fund in a ceremony at the campus this week. The new multi-building campus is a $15 million investment that anchors the region as a conservation hub for ecological preservation and education in Africa. The 12-acre campus models MASS’s “Purpose-Built” methodology, which balances and evaluates capital infrastructure alongside a project's mission, design, and feasibility. Local labor and materials were used throughout design and construction to minimize the campus footprint, develop an immersive reforested landscape, and ensure job training and economic return to the local community while creating a modern facility for public use and education.