Umubano Primary School / MASS Design Group
Architects: MASS Design Group
Location: Kigali, Rwanda
Architect In Charge: MASS Design Group
Design Team: Michael Murphy, Alan Ricks, Sierra Bainbridge, Ebberly Strathairn, Branden Collins, Andrew Brose, Marika Shioiri-Clark, Ryan Leidner, Eric Mutabazi
Area: 900 sqm
Year: 2010
Photographs: Iwan Baan
Butaro Doctors’ Housing / MASS Design Group
Architects: MASS Design Group
Location: Butaro, Rwanda
Architect In Charge: MASS Design Group
Area: 500 sqm
Year: 2012
Photographs: Iwan Baan
SEEDoc: Nyanza Maternity Hospital / MASS Design Group
Since June, we’ve been reporting on the Design Corps and SEED (Social Economic Environmental Design)‘s, SEEDocs, a series of mini-documentaries that highlight the stories of award-winning public interest design projects. As each mini-doc has been an excellent, inspiring exploration of the challenges and benefits of community-oriented design, we are pleased (and not a little sad!) to announce that the final seed-doc has just been released.
This month’s mini-doc, probably the series’ best, focuses on the Nyanza Maternity Hospital, designed by MASS Design Group. MASS of course garnered much attention for their Butaro Hospital, also in Rwanda (for an interesting inside-look at the construction of Butaro, read this excellent article by MASS co-founder Marika Shiori-Clark). Should this hospital be funded and realized, it will no doubt make more headlines for the innovative public-interest design firm.
Read more about MASS Design Group’s lastest project in Rwanda, after the break…
How to Balance Local Traditions and New Solutions in Public-Interest Design
Marika Shioiri-Clark is an architect who uses design to empower global change and battle inequality. While attending Harvard for her Masters in Architecture, she co-founded the non-profit MASS Design Group and began working on what would become the the Butaro Hospital in Rwanda. In this article, which originally appeared on GOOD as “Building a Rwandan Wall”, she explains the process by which the hospital was built and defends claims that the project, led by a group of Western architects, was somehow colonialist in nature.
As she puts it: “In a place like Rwanda, it’s not neo-colonialist to work on high-quality design projects as long as you’re deeply and authentically engaged with the community. In today’s world, it’s more neo-colonialist to assume that African people don’t want well-designed buildings and spaces.”
Read about Ms. Shiori-Clark’s experiences, and the delicate balance that must be struck between local knowledge and innovative techniques, after the break…
Architectural League Announces 2013 Winners of Emerging Voices Award
Emerging Voices is an award developed by the Architecture League of New York that annually selects eight practitioners in a juried portfolio selection. Award recipients are selected from the disciplines of architecture, landscape design and urbanism and display the sensibility of the profession in light of the larger issues related to the built environment. This year’s selection includes: SO-IL, PRODUCTORA, Ogrydziak Prillinger Architects, MASS Design Group, graciastudio , dland studio, DIGSAU, and cao | perrot Studio.
Details after the break.
Curry Stone Prize Winners’ Inspiring Videos
Each of this year’s winners of the Curry Stone Design Prize are incredible examples of the powerful, and truly varied reach, of Public-Interest Design – which is why we’re sharing these short films, by Room 5 Films, on each of the winning projects. From the Butaro Hospital in Rwanda designed by MASS Design Group to the “Liter by Light” project (that recycles plastic bottles to bring a safe source of light to the slums of the Phillippines), each of these films are inspiring snapshots into the work and worlds of each of these winners.
More videos on Curry Stone Prize Winners, after the break…
2012 Curry Stone Design Prize Winners Announced!
The Winners for this year’s coveted Curry Stone Design Prize, which awards talented designers who “harness their ingenuity and craft for social good,” have just been announced!
In honor of the fifth anniversary of the Prize, this year the five winners will share the $25,000 award equally. An awards ceremony will take place on November 15, 2012, at Harvard Graduate School of Design, followed the next day with a forum of presentations by the 2012 winners and panel discussions. The awards ceremony and daylong forum are free and open to the public.
A big congratulations go out to The Center for Urban Pedagogy, Jeanne van Heeswijk, Liter of Light, MASS Design, and the Riwaq Centre for Architectural Conservation! More info on these incredible organizations, after the break…
MASS Design Group wins the Zumtobel Group Award 2012
MASS Design Group was announced as winner of the Zumtobel Group Award for their innovative and cost-efficient Butaro Hosptial in Rwanda. They triumphed over the 230 projects from 30 different countries that competed in the “Built Environment” award category. Additionally, Atelier d’architecture autogérée (France) was selected as winner of the “Research & Initiative” category for developing a strategy of urban resilience known as the R-URBAN project in Paris.
“Through their decision this year, the jury have underlined the fact that it takes a holistic approach to make truly sustainable improvements in the built environment,” said Zumtobel Group CEO Harald Sommerer, who was also a member of the 8-strong jury. “We are particularly pleased to see that, this year, young and dedicated architectural practices have won the award with approaches to resolving social and ecological issues, both in the industrialized world and in developing countries.”
Continue after the break to learn more.
Help MASS Build Capacity
MASS Design Group is encourage everyone to help, in any way, in their efforts to design, build, and advocate for buildings that improve health and strengthen communities. Architects have a unique ability to affect change by producing Well-Built Environments, those that are efficient, effective, and empowering. By applying architectural thinking to the full project delivery process we can engender social and political affects that help fight social inequity. For more information and to find out ways you can help, please visit their website here.
Butaro Hospital / MASS Design Group
Architects: MASS Design Group
Location: Burera District, Rwanda
Client: Rwandan Ministry of Health; Partners In Health / Inshuti Mu Buzima
Sewage Plant Engineering: EcoProtection
Landscape Design: Sierra Bainbridge and Maura Rockcastle
Design Team: Michael Murphy, Alan Ricks, Sierra Bainbridge, Marika Clark, Ryan Leidner, Garret Gantner, Cody Birkey, Ebbe Strathairn, Maura Rockcastle, Dave Saladik, Alda Ly, Robert Harris, Commode Dushimimana, Nicolas Rutikanga
Structural Engineering: ICON
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 6,040 sqm
Photographs: Iwan Baan, MASS Design Group
P.S.1 YAP 2011 entry: “Bottle Service” by MASS Design Group
As we reported last week, Interboro Partners’ “Holding Pattern” was selected as the winner of the 2011 YAP organized by the MoMA and the MoMA P.S.1. As usual, and in order to extend the debate, we are presenting you the other entries.
We now present you “Bottle Service” by MASS Design Group. The practice has offices in Boston, Kigali and Monrovia, with a focus on resource-limited settings. They combine design and construction, accompaniment, and research to affect change, construct agency, and develop innovative solutions ranging from unique buildings to the development of national standard and policies.
Their entry proposes a strategy to involve the community (residents, students, artists, etc) during the construction of the installation, using materials (tyvek, plastic bottles) that will be recycled after the summer.
More information after the break:
MAXXI Joins Young Architects Program
The annual make-over of PS1′s courtyard is one of our favorite summertime events, as the competition brings fresh, crazy and creative proposals to the table. The NYTimes recently shared that the MoMA and PS1 have asked MAXXI – the National Museum of the 21st Century Arts in Rome – to be the third partner in their Young Architects Program. MAXXI will take part in transforming the Long Island City site, but there will also be a separate installation displayed in Rome.
Logistically, a New York jury and a Rome jury will chose the winning architects in February. The short list for MAXXI includes Raffaella De Simone and Valentina Mandalari of Palermo, Ghigos Ideas of Lissone and stARTT of Rome, Asif Khan of London and Langarita Navarro Arquitectos of Madrid (we’ve covered several Langarita Navarro works previously on AD here).
As we featured several weeks ago, the MoMA/MoMA PS1 finalists include Interboro Partners of Brooklyn, Matter Architecture Practice of Brooklyn, and FormlessFinder also of Brooklyn, MASS Design Group in Boston and IJP Corporation Architects of London.
You can expect full coverage of this exciting new partnership, especially the new proposals for the summer. We are looking forward to seeing if these proposals top last summer’s ideas.
