Kicking Off KICS and Heading to Rwanda

Assemblage Landscape Architecture, together with General Architecture Collaborative, has been selected to design the new Kigali International Community School Campus in the capital city of Rwanda, Africa. This project places Assemblage alongside an international team that will be working in collaboration on the design and construction of the new K-12 campus. 

For Assemblage, to be awarded this opportunity is an honor and is met with a great deal of excitement. We see this project as an opportunity to realize a regenerative approach to design that is at the heart of our design strategy.

The school will occupy an undeveloped hillside parcel overlooking the city of Kigali. The hydrology and topography of the site will be paramount in the process of discovering the possibilities of the landscape. The school can function simultaneously as a living laboratory to honor and integrate the ecology and history of this valuable location.

Sourcing and resources will be a big part of how we approach this project from the very beginning. We see this as an opening for developing benchmarks in how to build sustainably by prioritizing locally available resources. Rather than seeing it as a constraint, we see this as an invitation to work creatively with materials that are unique to the region. The project is a paradigm shift toward creating regenerative, learning landscapes that can benefit the students, the faculty, and the local ecology.

There is much to share as we begin this multi-year process. We’ll be sharing more as we begin to immerse ourselves in a deeper understanding of the site, the people, and the culture of Rwanda!