Design Work from Kigali Studio Exhibited on Fayetteville Square

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Nine students in the Fay Jones School of Architecture have put together an exhibit of studio work created during and since their journey to central Africa in September.

The exhibit, “Designing Kigali: Revealing the Hidden Intelligence of a Developing African City,” is on display through Thursday, Nov. 17, on the main floor at East Square Plaza, 1 E. Center St., in Fayetteville. It will feature drawings, photographs and models, along with supporting research and design proposals.

A public reception is planned from 5:30-7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9. Refreshments will be served.

For this studio, the University of Arkansas students have worked with Peter Rich, an architect from South Africa who is the John G. Williams Visiting Professor in the Fay Jones School, as well as Korydon Smith, associate professor of architecture in the school. Rich was the recipient of the 2009 World Building of the Year award at the World Architecture Festival. His design practice focuses on creating authentic contemporary African architecture.

“This semester has offered the students both a deep cultural experience and a unique design experience,” Smith said. “They have done first-hand research with residents of Rwanda and have developed architectural strategies that build directly on this research. It is a semester that will remain with the students throughout their careers.”

Students in the studio are Samuel Annable, Andrew Arkell, Ryan Campbell, Enrique Colcha, Long Dinh, Kareem Jack, Hanna Ibrahim, Tanner Sutton and Ginger Traywick. Arkell and Ibrahim are both Honors College students. Students and faculty also worked with Tomá Berlanda and Sierra Bainbridge, faculty members in the architecture program at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology.

During two weeks in September, the Fay Jones School students and faculty traveled to Kigali, Rwanda, which is a fast-growing city comprising historic neighborhoods, modern developments and informal “squatter” settlements. There, each Arkansas student was paired with one student from the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology to conduct interviews and develop architectural sketches in both rural and urban households.

They sought to understand the relationship between daily life and domestic space, such as material and spatial manifestations of cooking, eating, bathing, etc. They recorded verbal responses in field notes, and developed on-site sketches of land use, building-site relationships, territoriality, interior and exterior space and construction systems. Their research and analysis led to the nine individual design proposals for a central neighborhood in Kigali.

Kigali is the central, capital city of Rwanda, a country in the center of the continent along the Great Rift Valley that serves as the source of the Nile and Congo rivers. Called the “Land of a Thousand Hills,” Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa, with a population of around 11 million people. Two films offer a striking contrast to Rwanda’s recent past. Depicted in the 1988 film Gorillas in the Mist, the volcanic jungles to the north are home to three-quarters of the world’s gorillas, which contribute to a growing eco-tourism industry. In contrast, as depicted in the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda, an estimated 800,000 adults and children were killed over the course of three months during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The economic, political and historical issues of urban Africa are diverse and complex, and mass urbanization is replacing what has historically been an evenly distributed, mobile population. Less than a generation removed from the genocide, Rwanda’s population has doubled, and the city of Kigali is expected to triple in size in the near future. Kigali will comprise a diverse mix of expatriates, long-standing residents of the city and rural Rwandans moving to the city as first-generation urban dwellers.

To prepare for this, city officials are developing strategies for improving public health and infrastructure, guiding public and private development, creating higher-density neighborhoods and providing housing.

The work in the “Designing Kigali” exhibit demonstrates the students’ research and responses to these design challenges.

Like the rest of the country, Kigali is a city of hills and small neighborhoods. The area of focus for this studio is a steeply sloping area of 25 acres with modest single-family residences and small commercial spaces. The area exists on the border of three umudugudu, or neighborhoods, and is adjacent to an agricultural wetland.

As part of long-term planning efforts in Kigali, officials there identified this area for large-scale commercial development and the creation of a wetlands park. Relocation would disrupt employment, jeopardize housing security, and fracture social networks of current residents.

In this studio work, students sought to honor and incorporate Rwandan cultural customs, building practices and aesthetic sensibilities. They also aimed to develop alternative strategies that could better serve the residents, while still meeting the overarching aspirations of the city. They also hope their work could provide a viable model for future development practices.