Ntigulirwa Marie Amelie studied for an MSC in Global Urban Development and Planning as an Equity and Merit scholar at Manchester. She has since returned home to tackle one of the key challenges facing Kigali, rapid urbanisation.
At the University of Rwanda a fault line cuts between buildings and iridescent lava cascades over volcanic rocks. “The design concept for the School of Architecture and Built Environment was inspired by the volcanoes in the northern part of the country,” Amelie explains. “It is really inspiring to be able to come back and train the future architects of Rwanda here.”
“A lot of development projects are attracting people from the countryside looking for jobs. Rather than have everyone concentrated in Kigali, secondary cities are being built to fairly distribute the population.
“Most of the buildings we have in the country have been built by foreign architects however, so being able to train local architects who understand the local contexts, and who understand the population and their needs is very important.”
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