Two world-leading Bath architecture businesses are working with an international design team to develop a first-of-its-kind sustainable development in Africa.
FCBStudios and Grant Associates are helping masterplan the pilot phase for Green City Kigali, a sustainable and affordable scheme in Rwanda.
The 600-hectare city extension will integrate green building and design, efficient and renewable energy, recycling and inclusive living as well as homegrown solutions and local construction materials.
It is expected to serve as a model for sustainable urban development that can be replicated across Rwanda and the wider region, with residents enjoying the social and economic benefits of urbanisation while limiting their ecological footprints.
The project is being led by masterplanners from FCBStudios in collaboration with a dedicated team of creative partners including internationally-renowned landscape architecture practice Grant Associates.
Green City Kigali is seen as an important milestone on the road to creating more sustainable green cities in Africa and worldwide.
More than 40,000 people a day move to African cities and many of them find themselves without adequate housing and basic infrastructure.
The project will be grounded in three integrated and indivisible pillars – sustainable urban development for social inclusion and reducing poverty; sustainable and inclusive urban prosperity and opportunities for all; and environmentally sustainable and resilient urban development.
FCBStudios’ masterplanning study starts with the development of a prototype hillside neighbourhood community of around 10,000 people.
A key challenge is to develop an approach to the vulnerable sloping topography typically underutilised in urban and rural Rwanda.
Integrated green space will make the most of the hillside site, giving space for food production and breathing space. The plan is also born from a deep understanding of Rwandese social structures and living patterns and will create an urban framework which nurtures community and locality – life and activities that are cherished – while promoting opportunities for new activities and livelihoods.
FCBStudios senior partner Peter Clegg said: “This is a truly extraordinary opportunity to address one of the major global environmental challenges we face in the next 50 years – the projected mass urbanisation and population growth across the African continent.
“The bringing together of innovative, sustainable viable, affordable, and culturally relevant solutions has been at the heart of our approach as it has to be realistically replicable.”
He said FCSStudios was excited to bring together a team of experts to address these challenges, as well as bringing forward its long-term commitment to East Africa with research and charity work through the Feilden Foundation, which was set up in memory of the firm’s founder Richard Feilden to use its resources to empower communities in A
Grant Associates Associate Landscape Architect Yasmin Alzadjally, added: “Green City Kigali is one of those rare projects where we not only have the opportunity to create robust, resilient beautiful landscapes which are unique of their place, but whose fundamental aim is to safeguard landscape as an asset for the people whose lives and jobs rely on what their environment can provide.”
The project is being developed by the Rwanda Green Fund (FONERWA) with financial support from the German Development Cooperation through KfW Development Bank and the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
Other partners include regional architects Light Earth Designs, A Studio Space and Studio FH Architects and with multidisciplinary Rwanda based consultants FBW and Turner and Townsend as cost consultants while the international team includes Grant Associates, AKTII and Atelier Ten.
Grant Associates is globally recognised for its environmentally driven work such as the iconic Supertrees and Gardens by the Bay in Singapore and, more recently, this year’s Tower of London Superbloom project, part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
FCBStudios, formerly known as Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, also has offices in London, Manchester, Belfast and Edinburgh. In Bath it has carried out projects at Bath Abbey and the Dyson Centre at the Royal United Hospital while in Bristol it is working on YTL’s Brabazon housing development at Filton and the University of Bristol’s new innovation campus.
Grant Associates, FCBStudios and the Feilden Foundation previously teamed up in 2017 to help Bristol Zoological Society save critically endangered wildlife on Madagascar.
