Women for Women International, a Washington DC based non-profit which seeks to empower female survivors of war and genocide, commissioned Sharon Davis Design to build an educational campus in rural Rwanda in late 2008.
Known as The Opportunity Center, construction on the two-acre site began this summer in in Kayonza.
The Opportunity Center will be powered by onsite biogas, eschewing the traditional Rwandan fuel source of gathered firewood, which has lead to rampant deforestation in the country, whilst a unique roof design will be employed for rainwater catchment.
The Opportunity Center is to be composed of several different smaller buildings, so that it resembles a traditional Rwandan village, a layout that would feel familiar and safe to the women and genocide survivors being educated on site.
To generate a sustainable building material, the team at Sharon Davis Design refined the brick-making process at a local brick-manufacturing co-op and taught graduates from Women for Women International’s empowerment programs the craft of brickmaking.
The project was awarded second place among all categories of Future Projects at the World Architectural Festival; in its subcategory, Future Projects: Education, it came first.
The prestigious panel of judges, which included Michael Sorkin, Jo Noero, Professor Kongjian Yu, and Tim Macfarlane, praised the Opportunity Center’s focus on sustainability, female empowerment and using design to spur positive change: “The project’s design revives a lost Rwandan housing tradition, featuring social spaces from intimate classrooms to a farmer’s market and guest lodging. The innovative program also includes a demonstration area, helping local women produce and market their own goods, and in doing so help fuel the local economy.”
The Women’s Opportunity Center is scheduled for completion in 2012 and will serve up to 300 women at a time.
