Butaro Hospital
MASS Design Group
Burera District, Kenya
Burera District is one of the last two districts in Rwanda to receive a district hospital, which when built will serve over 400,000 people. Innovative design developed in collaboration with infectious disease specialists from Partners in Health and the Harvard Medical School will seek to mitigate and reduce the transmission of airborne disease through several systems, including overall layout, patient and staff flow, and natural ventilation.
The design developed by the MASS Group team makes use of local materials - like the volcanic rock from the Virunga Mountain Chain – and labor intensive practices in an effort to deliver appropriate and sustainable design, as well as stimulate the local economy. The design and coordinated construction reduced the cost of this hospital to roughly two thirds of what a hospital of this size would typically cost in Rwanda. The Butaro Hospital brought architects, builders, and doctors directly to a community most in need and addressed global poverty by creating better built, more equitable environments and embedding systems that ensured its long-term, independent sustainability.
Photos by Iwan Baan
