Architecture excursion to Kigali: Experience the future of healthcare construction!

Architecture excursion to Kigali: Experience the future of healthcare construction!

Architecture students and teachers from the Institute for Structural Design, Industrial and Healthcare Construction (IKE) at the Technical University of Braunschweig went on a formative excursion to Kigali, Rwanda in June 2025. The aim was to develop a master design for a rehabilitation facility for people with physical limitations. This trip not only offered participants the opportunity to expand their specialist knowledge, but also to recognize the social, infrastructural and design requirements for health-promoting construction. In recent years, Rwanda has developed into an important hub for international cooperation in the East African region, which is underpinned by the dynamic and international city of Kigali.

Within the city, the “Kigali Health City” is focused as a center for international development cooperation projects. The expansion of the health sector is being promoted centrally here. In this context, the IKE is planning to establish the EFFO Center of Excellence (EFFO-CoE), a special isolation ward specifically designed for the treatment of highly contagious infectious diseases (HCIDs) such as Ebola and Marburg. TU Braunschweig reports that this project has improved health infrastructure in Rwanda since 2014.

Insights into local architecture and social structures

The excursion offered the students valuable insights into local construction methods and the architectural conditions in Rwanda. A visit to the Nyarugenge District Hospital highlighted the differences in the design of healthcare buildings between Rwanda and Germany. The construction progress of the EFFO-CoE, which is scheduled to be completed by April 2025 and whose design aims to keep the risk of infection to a minimum, was also inspected. TU Braunschweig highlights, that in Rwanda the landscape and architecture are viewed as a unit, with factors such as topography, vegetation and climate integrated into the design process.

Another defining moment of the trip was the visit to the Genocide Memorial, which raised awareness of Rwanda's complex history. Participants also reflected on the social and infrastructural differences between the dynamic city of Kigali and rural areas, which significantly influenced their perspectives on global health and humane architecture.

Global dimensions of health

The challenges facing Rwanda's health system cannot be viewed in isolation. The Federal Agency for Civic Education describes the global inequalities in health policy, which became particularly visible due to the corona pandemic. Rwanda has been classified as a high-risk country by the World Health Organization (WHO), despite having almost 100% health coverage. Infectious diseases can overwhelm health systems and disrupt essential health services.

The EFFO-CoE will not only function as a high-level isolation unit, but also as a training center for health workers to strengthen the local health infrastructure. This is done in collaboration with German and Rwandan partners, which underlines the importance of such international collaborations for improving public health. Lessons learned from the Ebola epidemic include the need to improve local health systems in order to be prepared as a preventative measure against future epidemics.

In summary, the excursion shows how important a close connection between architecture and social requirements in healthcare is. It not only provides impulses for the field, but also sheds light on the challenges facing health systems in developing countries. Given the global health crises, strengthening local infrastructure is essential to ensure universally accessible healthcare.