In addition to their strengths in terms of carbon and concept, earth and wood are also the materials that were most readily available in the region, ones whose supply chain could be understood. For a project prioritizing health, ecology, and ethical production, and using exploitation-free labor, “picking things out of catalogues would in some ways be more challenging,” Ricks says. “In the U.S., architects have more or less outsourced everything. But if we want to have agency, we need to start taking more responsibility for the process.”

Photo courtesy of Iwan Baan

Photo courtesy of Iwan Baan

Doing that at the scale of this project presented challenges. Timber, for example, was initially unavailable on the local market in the quantities and sizes RICA required. By working with foresters regionally, extending into neighboring Tanzania, the project team used the dimensions, lengths, and strengths of harvestable forest stands to inform the design of RICA’s roof systems, and was able to introduce new sizes of tested and graded lumber into the nascent timber market. RICA’s use of wood is also helping to rehabilitate a material that’s commonly regarded in the region as “not modern,” Ricks says.

Promoting the use of wood in a deforested country may seem counterintuitive, but in fact developing a market for sustainably managed forest products encourages the planting of endemic trees, such as the Markhamia lutea used in the project’s furniture. MASS’s research has shown that farmers can earn more over the lifetime of a tree by harvesting it for lumber instead of cutting it earlier for charcoal, the currently common practice—a concept that RICA’s curriculum is expected to include in the coming years.

Photo courtesy of Iwan Baan

The campus encompasses faculty housing and student residences. Learning takes place both in the field and in the classroom.

Photo courtesy of Iwan Baan

Perhaps the biggest challenge in using earth at this scale—especially structurally—was a lack of regional precedents or even books for guidance, says Jean Paul Uzaba­kiriho, design director in MASS’s Rwanda office and site project manager for RICA. All of the earth for the blocks in the superstructure was quarried on-site, and yet, Uzabakir­iho says, “it was hard to believe there could be so many different reactions and behaviors of soil from different pits.” So, rather than assuming “earth” is a singular material, he says, “every time you are trying a new natural material, testing—and recording and relying on the results—is the key.” Solving problems through experimentation led to three major successes. As the first, “it empowered the community to make use of these materials, and it empowered the local team to feel part of the process and of the project’s bigger achievement,” Uzabakiriho says. At the start, many of the workers had little or no construction experience. They were dubious about the viability of these materials at this scale, and even the trade experts were skeptical. Uzabakiriho credits the turnaround to an authentic and comprehensive process of engagement. “Presenting the concept at the outset, and being honest about what we know and what we don’t, changed the way of thinking,” he says. “They were all basically encouraged and fighting to get that final product.” By the end, the novice masons, carpenters, and plasterers who had developed solutions through trial and error had become experts. “For someone doing construction for the first time, from scratch, using a new material, in the end to feel that they now have the skills that will shape their career and their future, that I would say is success number one,” Uzabakiriho says.

Photo courtesy of Iwan Baan

Local artisans and cooperatives collaborated with MASS to create RICA's furniture and fittings, such as the lighting fixtures at the upper-year housing complex.

Photo courtesy of Iwan Baan

Photo courtesy of Iwan Baan