Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture

About

Located in the village of Gashora, in the Bugesera district of eastern Rwanda, this educational campus is devoted to conservation agriculture, a sustainable field that seeks to increase the productivity and resilience of the agrarian system while protecting the environment. For the construction of the complex, which features student housing besides academic buildings, the projoect MASS Design Group uses predominantly local materials like rammed earth for the walls, which minimizes carbon dioxide emissions and is earthquake-resistant. The wooden roofs are topped with terracotta tiles fired with waste coffee-bean husks, while stone forms the foundations, reducing the amount of concrete needed. The accommodation building for second- and third-year students is distinctive because of its shape: a figure eight containing two circular courtyards. This was drawn from traditional Rwandan architecture and from pivot-irrigation fields. The dimensions of the eight’s two circles were determined by the desire to optimize the use of earth blocks, minimizing the cutting thereof.