Project Description

The Masoro Health Center in Rwanda is a public campus designed to deliver comprehensive healthcare, wellness programs, community gardens, and inclusive gathering spaces accessible to all, regardless of health or financial status. The project responds to Rwanda’s steep topography with a series of terraces that organize curative services, preventive care, maternity and educational facilities, and public gathering areas.

In low-income and rural regions like Masoro, health access depends as much on social trust and inclusion as on clinical services. The center is conceived not only as a place of care, but as a civic space where individuals feel welcome regardless of medical need. This community-focused approach informed every stage of the architectural process—from planning and design through construction and post-occupancy evaluation.

Our expanded role included coordinating stakeholders and managing construction, which enabled the hiring and training of 390 local residents—over half of them women. These individuals, often excluded from construction work, gained valuable skills, income, and access to future employment. The project’s labor strategy reflects its broader goal: to support social equity, economic resilience, and collective authorship in the built environment.

The campus emerged from an existing clinic consisting of two uninhabitable buildings, which were restored to anchor the site. Instead of imposing large retaining walls—a common but material-intensive response to steep terrain—we designed a series of smaller terraced walls and native grass plantings to manage runoff and define programmatic zones. This method preserved openness, reduced erosion, and supported accessibility.

The resulting landscape integrates interior and exterior spaces with circulation paths and views of surrounding hills, privileging pedestrians and enabling flexible, phased development. The Masoro Health Center stands as a model of spatial and social responsiveness—where labor, culture, and community needs are valued alongside programmatic and performance goals.